Spectroscopy at AOAC

The 2016 annual meeting of the Association of Analytical Communities (AOAC), taking place September 18–21 in Dallas, Texas, will include scientific sessions discussing the use of spectroscopy and mass spectrometry techniques in the analysis of food, dietary supplements, and pharmaceuticals.

The Wiley Award Symposium, New Analytical Tools to Solve Challenges in Contaminant and Adulterant Analysis, will honor the Prof. Jana Hajslová of the Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague. In this session, Rudolf Krska from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria, will give a talk titled “Novel Infrared Spectroscopic and Mass Spectrometric Tools to Identify and Quantify Novel Secondary Metabolites in Cereals and Other Foods.”

The session Hot Topics in Metal Analysis will also focus on spectroscopic methods. Courtney Tanabe from the University of California, Davis, will kick off this session with a talk on arsenic analysis and speciation in wines using HG–MP–AES and LC–ICP–QQQ, respectively. Barbro Kollander of the National Food Administration, Sweden, will then discuss why the European Union is investigating nickel in foods. William Mindack of the US Food and Drug Administration will discuss recent surveys for toxic elements, focusing on molasses, chocolate bars, cocoa, and tattoo inks. Russell Gereds of Brooks Rand Labs will close the session with a presentation on the latest research in metals speciation analysis.

A number of other sessions will have a strong focus on the use of mass spectrometry. Below, we highlight several sessions of interest.

The session Fighting Against Drug/Food Fraud and Adulteration: A Global Business will be co-chaired by Susie Dai from Texas A&M University and Michael McLaughlin of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). David Keire of the U.S. FDA will start off with a talk on FDA actions to safeguarding the Global Heparin Supply Chain. Also included in this session are talks by Steve Holroyd of Fonterra Research & Development Centre on the development of a guideline for using nontargeted methods for detection of food adulteration; by MingChih Fang of the U.S. FDA on analytical approaches to fight food adulteration; Hongwei Zhang of the China AQSIQ (General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine) on challenges, research opportunities, and perspectives related to food authenticity in China; and Lei Bao of Nestlé on novel analytical approaches for countering milk adulteration.

A session called Current Approaches in Authentication and Adulteration for Herbal and Dietary Supplements will be co-chaired by Jo Romano of Waters Corporation and James Harnly of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Harnly will give a presentation on nontargeted metabolite fingerprinting for quality control of herbal and dietary supplements and then Amitabh Chandra from Amway will discuss the significance of fit for purpose methods for evaluating botanical authentication and adulteration. The talk by John Travis of NSF International will cover advanced tools and techniques for uncovering adulteration in dietary supplements and Spencer Carter of Genysis Labs will close the session with a talk on the analysis of yohimbine and analogs by UPLC and by LC–MS/MS.

The session Development of LC–MS/MS Methods and Reference Materials for the Analysis of Food Allergens will be co-chaired by Carmen Diaz-Amigo, who is a Consultant, and Sabine Baumgartner of IFA-Tulln. Baumgartner will give a talk on food allergen detection and how it is still a challenge. Roland Poms of MoniQA Association will follow with a discussion on reference materials for food allergen analysis. Melanie Downs from the University of Nebraska will will then speak on MS analysis of food allergens and the challenges and potential solutions; and Bert Popping of Merieux NutriSciences Corporation will close the session with a talk on LC–MS/MS that looks at whether or not we need yet another technology for allergen testing.

Another session, Mycotoxin News–Ready for the Future, will be co-chaired by Joerg Stroka of JRC-Geel and Lilian Kuster of Romer Labs Division Holding GmbH. Included in this session are Jon Wong of the US Food & Drug Administration speaking about perspective on advancing FDA regulatory monitoring for mycotoxins in food using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry; and Alois Schiessl of Romer Labs Division Holding GmbH with a presentation on LC–MS/MS multi mycotoxin developments in routine labs. Michael Sulyok of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, will follow Schiessl with a discussion on the analytical performance of an LC–MS/MS-based dilute and shoot approach for multi-mycotoxin analysis. Joerg Stroka of JRC-Geel will then speak about method performance for mycotoxins, asking what we can conclude from the last decade; and Tetsuhisa Goto, who is retired from Shinshu University in Japan, will conclude the session with a look at mycotoxin regulation in pet food and feed in Japan.

The session TDRM Symposium: How to Compare a Certified Value with an Analytical Result and How to Estimate Measurement Uncertainty (MU) will be co-chaired by Håkan Emteborg of the European Commission – JRC-IRMM, and Donna Zink of AIM Research Enterprises. The first talk will be by Máire Walsh, who will discuss the role of MU in ensuring comparability and traceability of analytical data, focusing on a European laboratory perspective. Emteborg will follow Walsh with a presentation on approaches to estimate measurement uncertainty (MU) and how MU is related to certified reference materials. Jörg Stroka of the European Commission – JRC-IRMM will continue the session with a talk about the uses of uncertainty estimations in the European reference laboratory for mycotoxins, and James Harnly of the U.S. Department of Agriculture will close with a discussion on the uncertainty of identity in botanicals.

Method Validation and Method Performance Criteria of Chemical Analysis, a session to be co-chaired by Eric Verdon of the French Agency for Safety of Food, Environment and Occupational Health – Laboratory of Fougeres and Jian Wang of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will open with a talk by Jon Wong of the US Food and Drug Administration. Wong will discuss the validation of multiresidue pesticide and veterinary drug methods at the FDA. Amadeo R. Fernández-Alba of the University of Almeria will follow Wong with a presentation on the EU quality control guidelines for pesticide residue analysis; and Louis Bluhm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture will follow Fernández-Alba’s talk with a look at the progress on CCPR guidelines for method performance criteria for pesticides. Concluding this session will be Paul Zomer of RIKILT Wageningen UR who will speak about high resolution mass spec in view of CD 2002/657/EU and the future challenges.