Trilogy – - R

I/2011
Juni/2007
Food & Feed Analysis
The Topics:
p.2 New products
p.4 SureFood® PCR products
from our partner CONGEN
Biotechnologie GmbH,
Berlin
p.5 Information from R-Biopharm
Trilogy –
Rhône, Scotland
p.6 Fairs and conferences
a new member of the
R-Biopharm Group
In March 2010 final documents were
signed and Trilogy Analytical Laboratory
located in Washington, Missouri in the US
officially became a daughter company of
R-Biopharm AG. Trilogy began in 1999 with
5 employees to serve a niche market,
mycotoxin testing. The focus is still the
same but Trilogy has grown to 30 employees
and is now a leader in the mycotoxin
community.
Below is a recent photo of
the staff with Dr. Dreher, CEO
of the R-Biopharm Group, during
his visit in October 2010.
Since it began, the main focus of Trilogy
has been mycotoxins and they currently
test for 20+ mycotoxins with methods
ranging from HPLC, GC to LCMS/MS.
continued on page 2
continued from page 1
The lab started from humble beginnings but
is now testing in a facility specifically
designed to reflect the needs of the high
volume of samples that arrive daily for
mycotoxin analysis. Laboratory staff includes
11 chemists who process an average of
11,000 analyses per month. Trilogy’s focus is
not only on the testing itself but also the
rapid turnaround with many samples arriving
in the morning and results being reported
the same afternoon. The quality of work is
also an important aspect of their business
and as of 2010 Trilogy is the first laboratory
to obtain ISO 17025 certification for
mycotoxin testing.
Trilogy has not only grown its customer base
over the years, but has continuously worked
to develop improvements to mycotoxin
analysis in terms of methods and products.
As these developed, many products were
made for internal use to make the mycotoxin
methods more effective and provide
additional quality assurance. As clients
became aware of the products that were
being used internally at the facility, the
Trilogy management could tell there was a
potential market for these unique products
and these are now offered as part of the
R-Biopharm product line.
These products became cornerstones for
Trilogy mycotoxin methods. Solid phase
columns for multiple mycotoxin analyses
were developed as were columns geared for
single toxins such as one designed specifically for DON analyses. Mycotoxin Reference
Standards are available for purchase for a
variety of toxins with many different
concentrations and formats. Finally a wide
variety of mycotoxin reference material is also
available including everything from Aflatoxin
to Zearalenone in both simple grain matrices
as well as more complex samples such as
coffee and animal feeds. In addition,
reference materials with multiple toxin
combinations are also available.
Although mycotoxin analyses continues to be
a major part of Trilogy’s analytical services,
the business had expanded into other areas
including mycotoxin binder analyses, special
projects and contract research covering a
variety of applications.
New products
Premi®Test, an efficient antibiotic screening system,
now part of the R-Biopharm product line as of 2011
The use of veterinary antibiotic products,
whether administered as feed additives
or by injection, results in the
presence of antibiotic residues in the
muscle tissues, organs (e.g. liver
and kidney), and eggs of the
treated animals for a certain period
of time.
Knowledge of this has triggered growing concern about the potential health
hazards related to the consumption of
these antibiotic residues in meat products.
The risk of development of resistant bacterial
strains in livestock is another concern. Next
to nosocomial pathogens, these strains are
considered to be a main source of the spread
of multi-resistant bacteria. In response to
these issues, the current EU regulation
(No. 37/2010) defines maximum residue
limits for a range of pharmacologically active
substances in foodstuffs of animal origin
(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/de/index.htm).
Premi®Test is an antibiotic residue screening
test that was developed and is still manufac-
page 2
tured by DSM in order to meet the demand
for a simple, broad-spectrum antibiotic
screening test. This rapid test can qualitatively
detect a large number of the most common
antibiotic residues in animal products within
4 hours.
The test principle is based on the inhibition
of growth of Bacillus stearothermophilus
spores, which are incubated with test
samples at 64 °C in ampoules containing
agar and a color indicator. Bacterial growth is
indicated by a color change from purple to
yellow, whereas the presence of antibiotic
residues inhibits the color change, and the
sample remains purple. This color change
can be analyzed by the naked eye or with the
aid of special software and a flatbed scanner.
The test has been validated for detection of
residues of ß-lactam, cephalosporin,
macrolide, tetracycline, sulfonamide,
aminoglycoside, quinolone, amphenicol, and
polypeptide antibiotics in meat (beef, pork,
chicken), fish, shrimp, eggs, liver, kidney,
plasma/serum, urine and feed. Data for
selected ß-lactam antibiotics is presented in
the table below. Additional data can be
obtained from R-Biopharm.
Amoxicillin
Ampicillin
Chicken
LOD
5
5
MRL
50
50
50
300
300
Pork
LOD
5
5
2.5
>100
100
MRL
50
50
50
300
2.5
Beef
Pork kidney
Eggs
Penicillin-G Cloxacillin
Oxacillin
2.5
LOD
5
5
MRL
50
50
50
LOD
5
2.5 - 5
2.5
MRL
50
50
50
300
<50
LOD
5
5
2.5
100
MRL
0*
0*
0*
0*
Fish (eel, salmon,
trout)
LOD
5
5
5
MRL
50
50
50
Shrimp
LOD
15
5
MRL
50
50
Feed
LOD
10
MRL
Highlighted in blue: LOD (Limit of Detection) < MRL
0*: No antibiotic residues are permitted in eggs.
Product numbers for the Premi®Test products:
R3900 Premi®Test 4 x 25
4 x 25 ampoules of Premi®Test
R3925 Premi®Test 25
Test kit with 25 ampoules
R3920 Premi®Test Urine
Supplementary module with 20 ampoules for urine/blood
tests
ZPT-2000 Starter kit
Starter kit with two-step incubator and accessories without test kit
ZPT-2010 Premi®Scan
Software and accessories for digital analysis
ZPT-2012 Multipress
Multi-sampling device for high throughput sample processing
Allergens – RIDASCREEN®FAST Milk ELISA
R-Biopharm now offers a RIDASCREEN®FAST
Milk ELISA (Art. No. R4652) for the quantitative analysis of milk proteins in foods of
unknown composition.
The RIDASCREEN®FAST Milk ELISA detects
both casein and ß-lactoglobulin in identical
proportions and can be used as a screening
test for milk contamination in foods of
unknown composition. The result is expressed in mg/kg (ppm) milk protein
(detection limit: 0.7 mg/kg milk protein).
By using the factor 31.25 the milk protein can
be converted theoretically into milk.
page 3
Furthermore, a lateral flow milk rapid test for
surface hygiene monitoring and separate
milk protein ELISA test systems (see
R-Biopharm News III/2010) for the
detection of casein and ß-lactoglobulin
are also available.
SureFood® PCR products from our partner
CONGEN Biotechnologie GmbH, Berlin
SureFood® GMO 4plex – the new GMO multiplex screening kit
The use of genetically modified organisms
(GMO) in food and feedstuffs (in food and
feed products) or the cultivation of genetically modified plants is strictly regulated in
Europe and in many countries around the
world.
Nonetheless, the number of GMO events
continues to grow worldwide.
The first step of analytics is to determine
whether a sample contains genetically
modified organisms. Analysis of samples for
three genetic sequences is currently necessary
and sufficient for adequate and reliable GMO
screening: the 35S promoter, the NOS
terminator, and the FMV promoter.
An appropriate control is also needed to rule
out inhibition of the PCR in order to validate
negative screening results.
The new SureFood® GMO 4plex real-time PCR
kit (S2126) exploits the potentials of modern
real-time PCR systems for simultaneous
analysis of multiple color indicators.
Consequently, it is the first system be
able to detect the three genetic
sequences needed for GMO
screening in a single PCR reaction
and, thus, to yield reliable screening
test results with minimum time and
effort.
In some cases (e.g., highly processed
foods), a negative screening result must be
confirmed by the successful identification of
plant DNA in the sample extract. The
SureFood® GMO Plant kit (S2056) was
designed as an inexpensive supplement to
the SureFood® GMO 4plex kit for this
purpose. A DNA sequence occuring in all
plants can be identified with this kit.
Quantification of allergenic food components using SureFood®
real-time PCR
The allergenic potential of certain food
components, some of which can cause
life-threatening allergic reactions in susceptible
individuals, is an important factor to consider
in risk analysis in food production. Accurate
information on the amount of allergenic
components in food products is needed to
reliably estimate the hazards associated with
production-related cross-contamination.
To date, the European food legislation
addresses the issue of the risks associated
with food allergens only by listing potentially
allergenic food ingredients that must be
declared on product labels, but not by
specifying threshold levels for these substances. The introduction of such threshold levels
has moved within reach through European
initiatives such as EU-VITAL, and has already
been realized through implementation of the
VITAL concept in countries like Australia.
Likewise, the Codex Alimentarius already
defines thresholds concerning the composition and labeling of foodstuffs declared to be
„gluten-free“.
An analytical system that can reliably quantify
all of the corresponding potentially allergenic
ingredients in the relevant low concentration
ranges is the basis for implementation of such
concepts. In addition to the tried and tested
SureFood® ALLERGEN real-time PCR kits for
qualitative allergen analysis, the first
SureFood® ALLERGEN QUANT kits are now
page 4
available for quantitative detection of the
allergenic food ingredients gluten (S3206),
celery (S3205) and sesame (S3208). Kits for
other allergenic parameters are in the
pipeline.
In principle, real-time PCR – a well-established method of quantitative analysis –
always delivers additional quantitative
information in the form of Ct values, which
can be used to determine the number of
initial copies of the target sequence with the
aid of a standard curve. The use of a reference
material of a known analyte concentration is
required to convert the raw data to the
relevant dimension „mg allergenic food
ingredient / kg food product [ppm]“.
SureFood® QUANTARD Allergen is such a
reference material as it contains all relevant
allergenic food ingredients at a standard
concentration of 40 ppm in a corn flour
matrix. The reference material of known
concentration is extracted and run in parallel
to the samples of unknown concentration
and analyzed by real-time PCR. The measured
values are then used to transform the raw
data on the unknown samples into results in
[ppm].
These products together with SureFood® PREP
Allergen DNA Extraction provide a complete
future-oriented system for the detection and
quantification of food allergens.
Information from R-Biopharm Rhône, Scotland
Launch of PuriTox solid phase clean-up columns
R-Biopharm is pleased to introduce a new
range of solid phase clean-up columns for the
analysis of mycotoxins:
PuriTox Deoxynivalenol - Art. No.: TC-T200
PuriTox Fumonisin - Art. No.: TC-F120
PuriTox MultiToxin - Art. No.: TC-M160
PuriTox Trichothecene - Art. No.: TC-T220
PuriTox Trichothecene Plus - Art. No.: TC-C210
PuriTox columns offer an easy way to extract
and purify the mycotoxin from a wide range of
cereal products allowing optimum detection
by HPLC or GC, clean-up is approximately
30 minutes prior to injection. The solid phase
clean-up columns reduce background interference therefore producing better chromatography and improving accuracy of results. All
PuriTox columns have been proven to give excellent recoveries and have a limit of detection
below international legislative limits when
used in conjunction with HPLC or GC.
The PuriTox columns are inexpensive and can
compete against other established solid phase
clean-up columns available in the market.
New Product Coming Soon – EASI-EXTRACT® Biotin P82/P82B
Biotin is widely distributed in natural foodstuffs but at very low levels compared to other
water-soluble vitamins. Foods relatively rich
in biotin include egg yolk, liver, kidney,
meats and some vegetables. Biotin, usually
either in the form of crystalline D-biotin or
brewer’s yeast, is included in many dietary
supplements, infant milk formulas and baby
foods as well as various dietetic products.
Biotin is an essential cofactor for certain
enzymes which are important in the synthesis
of fatty acids and catabolism of amino acids.
Biotin may also have a role in the regulation
of gene expression.
The immunoaffinity columns can be used to
quantify the total biotin content in food and
feed products by using an enzymatic digestion to break down the sample matrix and
release the vitamin. Traditional methods used
to detect biotin in food and feed products are
difficult, time consuming and often lack sensitivity.
The use of EASI-EXTRACT® Biotin immunoaffinity columns with HPLC and UV detection
is able to overcome such issues.
Kit contents
10 or 50 wide format
immunoaffinity columns
(3 ml)
Specificity
Biotin
Storage
Conditions
2 - 8 °C
New Application Notes
Over the last few months, the technical
service department at R-Biopharm Rhône Ltd
has been working on a number of new
application notes which are now available:
• DONPREP® – Oats
• DZT MS-PREP® – Animal Feed, Baby Food
• AFLACARD® Total, AFLAPREP®,
EASI-EXTRACT® Aflatoxin – Vegetable oil
UK Product Recalls
The Food Standards Agency in the UK has
issued a number of product recalls since the
start of the year concerning food products
showing high levels of histamine. Such high
levels of histamine can cause scombrotoxic
fish poisoning if eaten which is why it is so
important that these products are withdrawn
from circulation.
The R-Biopharm Group has a number of kits
available for the detection of histamine in a
range of commodities:
RIDASCREEN® Histamin – R1601
(96 determinations), R1604 (48 determinations)
RIDA®QUICK Histamin – R1603
(48 determinations)
If you are interested in our products,
please contact your local distributor.
page 5
Forthcoming Events in UK
Seminar and Exhibition at Campden BRI – 7th
June 2011
07.04 - 08.04.2011 Allergens – how to effectively manage them in food production environments
Campden BRI in association with the Institute of Food Science and Technology
A mix of keynote addresses from world renowned experts and a set of three practical workshops that will enable you not only to question the theory but apply the latest thinking on allergen management practices in your workplace and supply chain. Allergen-related food safety incidents are all too common: come and exchange best practice on how to get it right first time every time and understand how your actions can reduce consumer risk.
07.06.2011
Rapid Micro & Chem Methods
Seminar and Exhibition at Campden BRI
Fairs and conferences Representative: R-Biopharm AG
04.04 - 06.04.2011
MYCORED Africa 2011 Conference
CTICC Cape Town, South Africa
07.04 - 09.04.2011
Analytica Vietnam
Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre,
Ho Chi Minh City
10.04 - 13.04.2011
2nd Latin American Cereal Conference – ICC 2011
Hotel W,
Santiago de Chile, Chile
17.05 - 19.05.2011 VIV Russia 2011
International Crocus Exhibition Center,
Moscow, Russia
30.05 - 01.06.2011
33rd Mycotoxin Workshop 2011
Kardinal Döpfner Haus,
Freising, Germany
20.06 - 22.06.2011
14th International Coeliac Disease Symposium
Radisson Blue Scandinavia Hotel,
Oslo, Norway
The next R-Biopharmnews will be published in the IInd quarter 2011.
R-Biopharmnews is edited by
R-Biopharm AG
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