Agilent Technologies Inc. and the National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST) announced on March 1, 2010 that they have entered into a collaboration to develop new scientific methods for food testing, with the goal of solving a wide range of persistent problems facing global food supply chains.

As part of the collaboration, Agilent will equip the NCFST lab in Summit-Argo Ill. with an extensive assortment of the latest analytical chemistry and life science instrumentation including:

• a Model 7890 gas chromatograph;
• a Model 5975B gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS);
• a Model 7000B triple quadrupole GC/MS, a Model 1290 Infinity ultra high performance liquid chromatograph (UHPLC);
• a Model 6400 triple quadrupole LC/MS;
• a Model 6500 Accurate Mass quadrupole time-of-flight MS;
• a Model 7700 inductively-coupled-plasma MS; and
• a Model 2100 Bioanalyzer, which is a lab-on-a-chip system set up to analyze DNA in fish samples.

In addition to the instrumentation, scientists from Agilent's food industry group will provide training and applications support, and service engineers from Agilent's Chicago office will support the instruments.

"This is an opportunity to positively impact many peoples' lives by giving researchers better ways of analyzing food-borne illnesses and food quality on a significant scale," said Mike McMullen, president, Agilent Chemical Analysis Group. "We're putting powerful analytical and biological tools into the hands of some very bright scientists from academia, industry and government, where their combined perspectives should produce creative solutions."

"The state-of-the-art technology provided by Agilent will allow NCFST greater capability to study chemical compounds of critical concern to the global food industry and regulatory authorities," said Jack Cappozzo, director, chemistry, NCFST. "Compounds include melamine; aflatoxins; pesticides; antibiotic residues, such as flunixin and clenbuterol; and Clostridium botulinum toxin.

"This collaborative effort will not only advance analytical solutions that help us better understand and mitigate emerging chemical contaminant issues in food, but also provides us with solid, science-based knowledge to make informed decisions that help ensure a safer, more secure food supply and improve public health."

Source: Agilent