Agilent executive discusses role of food testing and safety in today's global food exporting/importing industry

	Mike McMullen, Agilent vice president and general manager of the Chemical Analysis Solutions Unit within the company's Life Sciences and Chemical Analysis business unit.

In this article, Agilent's Mike McMullen, vice president and general manager of the Chemical Analysis Solutions Unit in Agilent's Life Sciences and Chemical Analysis business, discusses the role of food testing and safety in today's global food export/import industry.

Q: Why is food safety so important today?
McMullen: Food safety is an issue that affects every person in the world. Almost every week it seems there is a new food related recall happening somewhere around the globe.

While much of the attention is currently directed at tainted products from specific locations, the need to monitor foods and ingredients is now truly global as food products are imported and exported virtually everywhere. Globalization, increasingly stringent import standards and consumer demand for safe food made with known and expected ingredients are driving tremendous progress as the list of components to be tested grows.

Q: Can you explain some of the global dynamics of the food import/export industry?
McMullen: The global dynamics are extremely complex and vary by region. Let's take, as an example, one of the world's largest food importers, the European Union (EU), which exerts a major influence on food safety testing globally. The EU Commission has named food safety a top priority, and published a White Paper on Food Safety designed to ensure that food products are safe at every step, "from farm to fork." This includes feed production, primary production, processing, storage, transportation and retail sale. Producers and supply chains in those countries must conform to the EU standards. However, with dozens of countries impacted, implementing these types of regulations take time and resources.

In other regions, not only are countries implementing increasingly stringent import standards, but, as in the case of some Asian countries, are also establishing quality regulations for food produced for in-country consumption.

Q: What are today's most pressing challenges in food safety testing, and what approach are countries taking to address these challenges?
McMullen: One of the biggest challenges for food testing laboratories is the need to continually acquire methods and instruments to detect new compounds as issues arise. For example, laboratories did not need to test for melamine, a compound that mimics protein levels in food, until the recent poisoning of thousands of dogs and cats which was determined to be caused by the compound being found in their pet food. Now, large quantities of wheat, rice and corn gluten used throughout the world must be screened for melamine and the related compound cyanuric acid

Approaches to food safety testing differs between countries, but generally there are three main types of laboratories concerned with food safety testing -- independent contract labs, commercial labs (connected with food manufacturers, importers/exporters), and government labs. These labs test for a wide range of compounds depending on their local import/export rules and in-country regulations. Some common compounds that are tested for include:

• Pesticides, which protect food from insects while it's being grown, but can be harmful to humans if ingested in high doses.
• Fatty acid methyl Esters (FAMEs), which are an important measure of food quality and healthfulness. The human body needs essential fatty acids for optimal health and wellbeing, so FAMEs are tested to ensure food quality.
• Veterinary Drugs, which are commonly administered to livestock and poultry to prevent and/or treat illness and also can be used to enhance growth. Residues of these drugs may be found in milk, eggs, fish and meat. As a result, government agencies around the world use strict surveillance and monitoring programs to prevent unsafe levels of these drugs from reaching consumers.
• Mycotoxins, which are widely regarded as some of the most serious naturally occurring toxins that can contaminate our food supply. This has lead to legislation setting stringent permissible limits on this important class of compounds.
• Additives, which are used to enhance the shelf life, color, texture and flavor of a variety of foods, but must also be proven to be safe, effective and measurable before being allowed in food products.
• Metals, which occur in many foods, either naturally or as a result of pollution, can be important nutrients, but higher quantities and other metals can be highly toxic.

Q: How does Agilent help address these food industry challenges?
McMullen: Agilent and its predecessor, Hewlett Packard, have a long history of developing analytical tools and methods used by government, food industry and private laboratories around the globe to test food for wholesomeness. Agilent instruments, systems and supplies are used throughout the food production chain, including incoming inspection, new product development, quality control, and packaging.

There are three main categories of Agilent instruments used to test food ingredients and finished products for quality and safety:

• Gas Chromatography (GC) and Liquid Chromatography (LC) are used to separate mixtures into their individual components. These techniques can often be used on their own to screen food products for prohibited compounds. The GC is the instrument of choice when the sample can be vaporized without too much difficulty. LC is useful for separating nonvolatile and thermally fragile molecules.
• For more complex mixtures or when more information is required, a GC or LC is often used in conjunction with a Mass Spectrometer (MS)m which particularly useful in identifying unknown compounds and determining the amount of each substance encountered.
• Inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP/MS) is used to specifically detect trace levels of metals in samples.

Q: Do you have any closing thoughts you'd like to share about Agilent's role in the global food safety industry?
McMullen: Technical experts at Agilent are continuously updating their expertise in food safety testing by capturing new knowledge and perspectives from around the world directly from food customers -- government agencies, routine food laboratories and food industry labs -- and transforming these inputs into creativity that brings innovative products and services to the global food customers. As a result, Agilent is well-positioned to address the changing requirements of the global food testing industry.