Abstract Management of microbiological food safety is largely based on good design of processes, products and procedures. Finished product testing may be considered as a control measure at the end of the production process. However, testing gives only very limited information on the safety status of a food. If a hazardous organism is found it [Read More...]
Everyone likes to have a safety net, and scientists are no different. This month I will be discussing internal standards and how we can use them not only to improve the quality of our data, but also give us some ‘wiggle room’ when it comes to variation in sample preparation. Internal standards are widely used [Read More...]
For many food products, validating and verifying a process sounds like a simple task if the product has been made for years and is considered very safe. In many of these cases, one immediately thinks about the time and temperature of a cook step. In other cases, one might think there is no process because [Read More...]
A new mass spectrometry imaging protocol allows the analysis of metabolites like adenosine monophosphate from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue, shown here as background. (Credit: Helmholtz Zentrum München) The metabolic composition of tissues can be determined—in one day—in fixed-tissue samples, using a newly developed mass spectrometry imaging protocol. Using relatively small amounts of material, [Read More...]
Shimadzu Scientific Instruments (SSI) announces the opening of the Shimadzu Laboratory for Advanced Applied and Analytical Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). The new 2,000-square-foot laboratory and office suite is a hub for research across the entire UWM campus, as well as a classroom for teaching the theory and practice of mass spectrometry. The [Read More...]
The space is no bigger than a good-sized office break room. On beige counters along the walls and on an island in the center sit off-white rectangular boxes that could be copiers or printers. But the several hundred thousand dollars of highly sensitive scientific equipment in this room — and others like it — will be [Read More...]