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Articles by Section - Feature: In the Lab
Listing articles 61 to 70 of 78
Departments: Signs of the Times
Levels of raw grain testing are increasing as measurement science technology increases. According to Charles Hurburgh, professor-in-charge of the Iowa Grain Quality Initiative, 1 a grain quality and research program at Iowa State University, there are a lot of new requirements on the food trait front, such as amino acid profiles and fatty acid profiles.
Departments: The Ionic Silver Lining
Bacterial contamination of plant surfaces is a constant concern for the food processing industry. One specific bacteria, Listeria monocytogenes, accounts for 2,500 cases of illness and 500 deaths annually in the U.S., making it the bacteria of greatest concern for ready-to-eat (RTE) processors today. In 1998, one of the largest outbreaks of Listeria occurred with a large U.S. hot dog manufacturer and resulted in 15 adult deaths, six stillbirths and more than one million pounds of product recalled from the...
Departments: GMO Traceability–Making it Work
Mad cow disease hit the news again in June, fueling consumer fears about the safety of the food supply chain. Also, a recent report revealed that over a four-year period Swiss biotech firm Syngenta AG sold U.S. farmers an unapproved strain of genetically modified corn seed, which may have entered the food supply and international channels. These two incidents reveal how porous the U.S. agricultural supply system is to contamination. They also highlight the need for robust traceability technologies that...
Departments: Air Sampling 101
Proactive companies from all sectors; pharmaceutical, food and beverage, biotechnology, hospitals and environmental protection, are realizing the importance of an active air sampling program. There are several options in sampling methods, some more efficient than others.
Departments: Choosing a Laboratory Water System
Food analysis laboratory needs for purified water tend to be modest in quantity but demanding in quality. Food analytical methods call for two general water quality grades, pure and ultrapure. To meet purified water needs, cost-conscious laboratories consuming up to 15 liters of water per day must choose from among several options…
Departments: Machine Vision Sees Contaminants We Can’t
Scientists at the ARS Instrumentation and Sensing Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., are developing "machine-vision" systems that can detect contamination the human eye often can't see called machine-vision systems. These are quicker and more accurate than the human eye and don't require anyone to handle the fruit or cut it up.
Departments: Rapid Analysis of Softdrinks
Soft drinks are widely consumed throughout the world. Maintaining and confirming the quality and consistency of a given product from many individual bottling plants is a considerable challenge for central quality control laboratories. The complexity and variety of these samples compound the challenge further. Numbers of samples analyzed each year can reach into the tens of thousands making analysis time important. For example, 10,000 samples analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) at a...
Departments: New Generation Testing Platforms
In the last few years, technological advancements of DNA detection systems, more commonly known as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology, have been remarkable. In fact, parallels can be drawn to the computer industry, where technology that was cutting edge as little as four years ago, barely meets our most basic expectations today.
Departments: Meeting the Need for Speed
Collecting data in a busy lab is always important, and when that lab is testing product for potentially lethal microbes, obtaining accurate data is imperative to public health and commercial success. It is equally important to accurately record, store and report that data.
Departments: Filtration Knocks Out Deadly Bacteria in Nursery
The presence of Enterobacter sakazakii in powdered infant formula has been of serious concern because of recent outbreaks of infectious diseases. The FDA has determined that powdered infant formula has been the source of one-half to two-thirds of the infections caused by this bacterium. One study that sampled 141 cans of various brands of powdered formula concluded that E. sakazakii was present in 14 percent of the samples. In 2002, the FDA recalled 1.5 million cans of powdered infant formula because of...