Chemical Contaminants and Residues in Food

AOAC's Contaminants in Food Community was formed to identify, prioritize and support development of the most needed methodologies for trace level chemical analyses in foods. Chemical contaminant analytes may include but are not limited to trace levels of pesticides, veterinary drugs, banned food dyes, industrial chemicals (e.g., acrylamide, perchlorate, benzene), radionuclides (e.g., cesium-134, iodine-131, strontium-90), toxic elements (e.g., arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, methylmercury) and persistent organic pollutants (e.g., polybrominated diphenyl ethers, dioxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons).

The Community will seek members internationally including global representatives from governments, academia, producers, processors, distributors, importers and exporters, working together to develop analytical standards of excellence in their areas of expertise. The Community will serve as a primary resource for timely knowledge exchange, networking and high quality laboratory information for all stakeholders.

The Community will work with AOAC's committees and Official Methods Board to champion the best methods for inter-laboratory and collaborative study and adoption as AOAC official methods.

Please Join Us!

Professionals involved in the production, distribution or analysis of foods may join the Community by contacting one of the Chairs. Most communications within the Community do not require in-person meetings. Electronic (conference calls and internet) communications are more efficient and address most concerns in time commitment, travel funding restrictions, and international time zone limitations. Electronic mail is also used but the creation of new subgroups and growth of the Community (and email inbox overload) demands the online forum approach.

Face-to-face meetings will be held in conjunction with AOAC meetings (regional and international) as well as appropriate scientific and trade association meetings. For those who want to participate in person, our first face-to-face community meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 3:45, immediately following the Food Contaminant Symposium at the AOAC INTERNATIONAL Meeting in September 2007.

Once specific method needs have been prioritized and significant support has been identified, a Committee of experts will be identified or established to develop and validate the most appropriate method/s. Interlaboratory studies may involve the analysis of pesticides, metals, radioactivity, antibiotics, animal drugs, and other chemical contaminants.

While all Community members may contribute their expertise to the Committee, AOAC membership is required to have a voting voice in Committee decisions. The AOAC volunteer consensus process assures that quality, fit for purpose methods enjoy AOAC official method status. Those methods demonstrating sufficient accuracy, precision, and selectivity will be recommended for adoption by AOAC INTERNATIONAL as Official Methods^SM.

http://www.aoac.org/membership/IndividualMembership.html for membership information).

Contact

Community Chairs or AOAC at:

Jo Marie Cook at cookj@doacs.state.fl.us, phone (850) 410-3217

Stephen Capar at Stephen.capar@fda.hhs.gov, phone (301) 436-2003

AOAC Liaison Anita Mishra at Amishra@aoac.org or phone (301) 924-7077 Ext 131.

Mission

To establish an infrastructure within the AOAC to meet the needs of scientists involved with the analysis of food for chemical contaminants and/or residues.
To represent scientists from countries across the globe who are dedicated to the protection of the food supply from harmful chemicals whether they be from intentional, natural or accidental contamination.
To engage the community of all stakeholders involved with or affected by, the analysis of chemical contaminants and residues in food from international, federal, and state governments, academia, industry, business, and trade associations.
To establish a forum where stakeholders can introduce new needs and resolve method problems with international input.
To guide and supervise the prioritization, development and validation of analytical methods for the detection, identification, and/or quantification of chemical contaminants and residues in food matrices which are acceptable to governments and industry worldwide.
To provide confidence in analytical results as used by food regulators and food industry representatives alike for many purposes including public safety and security of the food supply, quality control and transparency of methods impacting trade.

Developing Methods for Analysis of Contaminants in Foods

As a community, the Chemical Contaminants and Residues in Food Community will guide and supervise the development and validation of analytical methods for trace level contaminants in foods that are of the highest priority to the food contaminant community. This process ensures confidence and acceptability of analytical results by governments and industry worldwide. In addition, developing more accurate, repeatable, and reliable methods for the analysis of contaminants in foods ensures product quality, uniform enforcement of government tolerances, and compliance with export/import requirements.

Issues and Needs

Given the complexity of the Chemical Contaminant in Foods Analytical Community ranging from pesticides and antibiotics to metals and radionuclides, the needs, method priorities, and scientific expertise may differ somewhat for each discipline. However, the community has identified issues and needs that cut across all areas.

Need for validating new methods. New methods are needed to address emerging safety concerns including antibiotics in imported seafood, residues of newly registered pesticides, industrial chemicals, and persistent organic pollutants. In addition, new methods are needed that screen for multiple analytes and multiple classes of chemicals in a single analysis. Single-laboratory validation and Peer-Verified Methods^SM are essential to meet the immediate needs of the community in a timely manner.
Need to employ innovation. New methods are needed that utilize state-of-the-art instrumentation and nanotechnology. Methods are needed that provide better answers at lower levels with superior selectivity in less time. Confidence in the applicability of these methods to the communities’ varying needs depends on carefully carried out and reviewed validations. Acceptance of these methods across regulatory communities depends on the verifiable laboratory-to-laboratory performance demonstrated by a collaborative study.
Need for more sensitive methods. Regulators evaluating data to determine risk and safe residue levels for regulatory purposes need accurate and precise measurements of a wide range of chemistries at parts-per-billion levels and lower. Statistical evaluations of these data depend heavily on the performance measures obtained through interlaboratory collaborations.
Need for more selective methods. Officials taking regulatory actions that must withstand legal scrutiny need methods that comply with the most stringent of analytical standards. Advances in mass spectrometry enable chemists to quantitate and ensure the identity of analytes in a single analysis, yet few of these methods have undergone multilaboratory validation.
Need for confidence in analytical results. In countries around the world, government entities at every level need reliable analytical methods to make science-based decisions and trust each other’s data. The food industry and its worldwide distribution network need analytical methods that ensure their products will meet standards of quality and the expectations of the intended market. Method priorities must be determined, acceptance criteria defined, and the methods that meet defined criteria must be collaboratively studied to provide a level of confidence acceptable to governments and industry.
Need for internationally recognized methods. Companies doing business internationally need analytical methods that are accepted worldwide to facilitate trade.
Need for reliable analytical methods as part of emergency preparedness. When analytical methods are needed to test for chemical analytes in an emergency situation, laboratories must often react by using in-house or unproven methods in response to those emergencies. Long-term planning and a systematic approach of setting method priority areas, finding best methods, and validating these methods will enable laboratories to respond more effectively in emergency situations.

Conclusion

Currently, the Chemical Contaminants and Residues in Food Community is in the process of searching for and identifying potential stakeholders. From government agency to private sector or industry, stakeholders help AOAC to understand their analytical needs. This, in turn, helps the Association to better focus its efforts on the areas of greatest interest (priority methods).

For more information, or if you would like to participate in the work of the Chemical Contaminants and Residues in Food Community, contact Anita Mishra at mailto: amishra@aoac.org.