Saturday, 25 July 2015

SCIEX announces new halal food testing method

SCIEX, a global player in life science analytical technologies, has announced a new meat species authentication method designed for halal food verification has been developed using its SCIEX QTRAP 6500 LC-MS/MS system. The sensitive and versatile new method incorporates a faster sample preparation procedure than previous mass spectrometry-based speciation methods, simplifying and accelerating meat testing.

Scientists at the University of Münster say the method is the first to detect multiple species simultaneously while achieving the lowest limits of detection, even in cooked and highly processed meats. The method marks a new dimension in meat speciation testing, delivering excellent sensitivity and reliability of results compared with traditional approaches to meat authentication. Novel methods such as this significantly advance the science of combatting food fraud.

Traditional halal meat speciation testing methods utilising polymerase chain reactions (PCR) and ELISA have concerning limitations, particularly in their lack of specificity, which can lead businesses getting away with false product labelling and ultimately food fraud. However, this new LC-MS/MS based method enables robust, specific, and simultaneous detection of protein peptides of multiple meat species including beef, chicken, pig, goat, lamb, deer and many more, at levels as low as 0.02%, and can be used to support halal certification testing programmes, SCIEX said.

“The QTRAP 6500 has the best available sensitivity and specificity, which are essential for this new method to meet the needs of religious communities, where the limit of detection must be as low as possible,” said Dr Jens Brockmeyer, Research Group Leader at the Institut für Lebenschmittelchemie, University of Münster. “Food testing laboratories with QTRAP Systems can easily adopt this method, including those without proteomics backgrounds."

Food testing laboratories are increasingly turning to mass spectrometry for its greater accuracy, reliability and robustness over traditional methods for identifying and quantifying food ingredients.

“This method brings a new level of reliability to food analysis and labeling that will allow millions of people to consume halal-certified meat with greater confidence,” said Jean-Paul Mangeolle, President of SCIEX. “It exploits the QTRAP 6500’s superb sensitivity and accuracy to offer powerful new capabilities for faster, multi-species testing in diverse sample types.”

The SCIEX QTRAP technology enables quantitative MRM3 workflows, which enhance the selectivity and data quality, and provides comprehensive peptide sequence confirmation and quantitation when analysing complex food samples.

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