Focus Will Be on GC/MS, LC/MS, ICP-MS Measurement Solutions for Food Adulteration, Biotoxins, Veterinary Drugs and Trace Metals

SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 11, 2013 – Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced it will sponsor a series of free educational programs on food safety and quality. In four online events, industry experts Jack Cappozzo, Dr. Philipp Hess, Dr. Thomas Glauner, and Dr. Susan Ebler will share important data from recent studies using Agilent’s LC, LC/MS and ICP-MS technologies for food screening and analysis.

The webinars will cover a range of topics: profiling/origin identification of olive oils, metabolic studies of marine biotoxins in shellfish, screening for veterinary drugs, and profiling trace metals in wine.

The webinars will take place at 9 a.m. and again at 1 p.m. EDT on March 12, April 9, May 30 and Oct. 8. Each will also be made available for on-demand replay.

“Today, global food and agriculture industries face increasing demands for faster, more sensitive analytical testing solutions for food authenticity, quality and safety,” said John Lee, Agilent’s food market manager. “This webinar series will feature industry experts who are currently using our food testing and analysis technologies in a variety of important applications, and we invite all those who are interested in learning more to attend.”

“A hot topic in food testing right now is the adulteration of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), which has become a major trend worldwide for producers who wish to maximize the commercial value of their counterfeit olive oil products,” said Jack Cappozzo, director of chemistry at the Institute for Food Safety and Health, and guest presenter of Agilent’s first webinar. “We have developed a non-targeted Q-TOF LC/MS method for analysis of olive oils that will predict whether oils will meet standardized international classifications for EVOO.”

The four seminars are:

Profiling Extra Virgin Olive Oil Using Q-TOF LC/MS and Developing a Prediction Model for Geographical Origin Determination and Adulteration of Oils, Tuesday, March 12: Jack Cappozzo, director of chemistry from the Institute for Food Safety and Health, Illinois, will describe a study to develop a Q-TOF LC/MS method for analysis of olive oils, to classify oils of different origin using PCA (principal component analysis), and to create a sample class prediction model for predicting unknown samples into their correct groups. To register, go here.

Target Quantitation and Metabolic Studies of Marine Biotoxins in Shellfish Using Q-TOF Technology, Tuesday, April 9: Dr. Philipp Hess, from the Universite de Nantes, will discuss new LC-HRMS methods used to identify and quantify marine biotoxins in shellfish and marine environmental samples.

Screening, Identification and Quantitation of Veterinary Drugs by LC/QQQ and LC/Q-TOF, Thursday, May 30: Dr. Thomas Glauner, LC/MS food segment scientist of Agilent, will discuss how Agilent’s QQQ MS/MS, Q-TOF MS/MS, and UHPLC separation technologies enable the sensitive detection of several classes of veterinary drugs in one analytical run.

Uses of Profiling Trace Metal Composition of Wine by ICP-MS and Mass Profiler Professional in the Wine Industry, Tuesday, Oct. 8: Dr. Susan Ebler from the University of California at Davis will present.

For more information on the webinar series and to learn more about Agilent’s complete line of solutions for food testing and agriculture, visit Food Authenticity, Quality and Profiling Solutions.

The webinar series is being hosted by Separation Science (www.sepscience.com), a global portal for fundamentals, best practices and troubleshooting information for users of chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques.