The Column - December 2008 - (Page 8)

News The Column www.thecolumn.eu.com December 2008 News Dionex enters into agreement with Caliper Dionex has entered into an agreement with Caliper Life Sciences to purchase Caliper’s AutoTrace line of products for water sample preparation. The AutoTrace SPE workstation automates the extraction of large volume aqueous samples prior to analysis. Reportedly, it is a globally established platform with approved methods and applications such as the EPA 500 and 600 series for environmental testing of drinking water. The CEO and president of Dionex, Dr Lukas Braunschweiler commented on the agreement stating, “The addition of the AutoTrace product line is an important step in our strategy to focus on sample preparation in the water industry and to provide sensitive and robust IC and HPLC methods for environmental analysis. Together with our Accelerated Solvent Extraction technology ASE, AutoTrace will enable us to better respond to our customer needs in tracing minute amounts of contaminants in critical liquid samples.” For more detailed information please visit Dionex’s website at www.dionex.com Determination method for the “white-stuff” Thermo Fisher Scientific has launched a programme focused on assisting government and commercial food testing laboratories in the development and implementation of methods for the analysis of melamine in food products imported from China. This programme comes in response to the recent alert issued by the US FDA. The Alert #99–30 sets forth guidelines requiring the “Detention without physical examination of all milk products, milk-derived ingredients and finished food products containing milk from China as a result of the presence of melamine and/or melamine analogues.” It is expected that this alert will put pressure on food producers and retailers as well as increase demand for timely testing by commercial laboratories. Additionally, it includes specific guidelines for product testing as well as requirements that need to be met before a detained product can be released. Melamine is an inexpensive chemical that is primarily used in the manufacture of chemicals and cyanuric acid. It is added to milk-based products and food additives to increase the protein content but humans and animals cannot metabolize melamine and cyanuric acid, which can eventually crystallize in the kidneys resulting in a variety of illnesses. While the current FDA alert is focused on milk and milk-based products, melamine has been found in pet foods, eggs and produce. Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed a method based on its liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry Links: 8 (TSQ Quantum LC–MS–MS) system. This is currently being used as a reference by the labs under the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) in China to develop a method for the determination of melamine in milk and infant formula. In addition to the LC–MS–MS solution, the company has reported that it can provide screening and confirmation techniques based on its gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) technologies. Its ITQ series quadrupole GC–MSn or its TSQ Quantum triple quadrupole GC–MS with highly selective reaction monitoring (H-SRM), can reportedly perform quick and accurate analysis of melamine in complex samples such as milk and baby formula. For further details about Thermo Fisher Scientific’s offerings or about the company please visit the website at www.thermo.com/foodsafety Spike Mafford/Getty Images www.dionex.com www.thermo.com/foodsafety http://www.thecolumn.eu.com http://www.dionex.com http://www.thermo.com/foodsafety http://www.dionex.com http://www.thermo.com/foodsafety

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Column - December 2008

The Column - December 2008
Contents
Do Wrinkle Creams Really Work?
News
Incognito
Market Trends and Analysis
Tips and Tricks: GPC/SEC
UHPLC for the Analysis of Paracetamol
Q&A

The Column - December 2008