Expertise, technology and knowledge-sharing available to food and environmental analysts

SAN JOSE, CALIF., (Aug. 14, 2013) – Government and industry laboratories worldwide have a new resource for improving methods for monitoring and measuring pesticides in food and the environment. The new Thermo Fisher Scientific Pesticide Analysis Center of Excellence (COE) recently opened its doors in Runcorn, UK to help users apply the latest technology and expertise to challenging pesticide analysis in food and environmental laboratories.

Launched at the 50th North American Chemical Residue Workshop in July, the new COE is modeled after the company’s successful POPs (persistent organic pollutants) Center of Excellence in Bremen, Germany, built to improve methods for detecting and confirming the presence of dioxins in the environment, food and animal feed. Both COEs focus on providing high-productivity analytical workflows that include expert consultation, instruments, software, sample preparation and consumables. For pesticides, this includes experiments for fungicides, herbicides and insecticides in a wide variety of matrices.

“Our company’s ongoing mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer, and the ability to detect and measure pesticides is critical to this effort” said Paul Silcock, Thermo Fisher Scientific marketing manager and member of the new COE. “We consolidated a considerable amount of expertise, instrumentation and other resources within the center of excellence to make them highly accessible to the environmental and food testing community.”

The Pesticide Analysis COE will also function as an information hub, where scientists can share techniques and experiences related to pesticide analysis. The company has built a web portal for this purpose, www.thermoscientific.com/pesticideanalysis, and is planning to host a pesticide analysis-focused event in 2014.