H. W. WILEY AWARD ADDRESS

A Rearview Mirror Perspective on 40 Years of Chasing Zero for Standard Deviation and Detection Limits


Monday, September 14, 2009, 1:00 pm – 1:30 pm

Jonathan W. DeVries, Ph.D.
Winner of the 2009 Harvey Wiley Award
Senior Technical Manager/Senior Principal Scientist
Medallion Laboratories/General Mills

The past four decades have been exciting and challenging for chemists performing analyses in food nutrition, safety and quality. The era began with the primary tools being balances (literally), beakers, burners, pipettes, burettes, and test tubes. Better equipped laboratories had infrared, UV-visible and atomic absorption spectrophotometers typically used for identification and end point determinations. Chromatography was primarily thin layer, glass column, and gas-liquid, occasionally couples to a mass spectrometer via jet separator. Detection limits were in the percentage or tenths of a percent range for wet chemistry, and perhaps the low parts per million for gas chromatography. Space age technology in the subsequent 40 years has brought a spectacular array of capabilities to the food analyst, enabling routine detection and quantitation to analyte levels of parts per billion, parts per trillion, and in some cases parts per quadrillion. These capabilities allow better understanding of the factors impacting the nutrition, quality and safety of our food supply, allowing the detection and characterization of here to fore undiscovered low level components. Consequently analytical chemists have provided a rich array of data for consideration during public debate on policy for handling low level constituents such as allergens, mycotoxins, other naturally occurring and human made chemicals. Discovery of new analytes has resulted in some degree of chemophobia, not only in the general public, but often amongst the community of scientists who are expected to apply a knowledge based approach to judgment of data. The interpretation of results by scientists has been complicated by the fact that as technology has attained lower limits of detection, improved levels of precision have not been attained. In fact, in many cases the methods incorporating advanced analytical technologies exhibit poorer precision than their predecessor methods. Generally speaking, the variability observed still falls within the ranges elucidated by the late Dr. Bill Horwitz with regard to methods validated in multiple laboratories, but it is still somewhat perplexing that the improvements in detection technology have not been accompanied by commensurate improvements in precision. AOAC INTERNATIONAL continues to play a lead role assuring confidence in analytical results throughout the technological changes.

ABOUT DR. DEVRIES

Jonathan DeVries is currently a Senior Principal Scientist at General Mills serving as Senior Technical Manager for the Medallion Laboratories division which provides analytical services to the food industry. Jon has been active in quality related research and analytical work for over 40 years including activity in food safety, nutrition, and packaging for over 30 years. Jon’s methods work includes dietary fiber (and components inulin, polydextrose, beta glucans, and resistant starch/maltodextrins), fats, vitamins, minerals, sugars, allergens, pesticide residues, sulfites, heavy metal residues, natural toxins (aflatoxin, deoxynivalenol, fumonisins). For over 30 years, Dr. DeVries has been working for validation and international standardization of analytical methods through such organizations as AOAC INTERNATIONAL, AACC International, ASTM, and AOCS. Jon served as Associate Referee for Automated Methods for Vitamins, as Secretary for Foods II committee, and as Chair of the Food Nutrition Committee. Jon led the AOAC task force on assuring availability of Official Methods of Analysis^SM to meet the regulations of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act. Jon recently completed a term as president of AOAC, is a fellow of AOAC and currently serves as the organization’s treasurer. He has authored numerous papers on the analytical research he has undertaken and has been instrumental in validation of Official Methods of Analysis^SM for dietary fiber and its components. He has also been instrumental in validation of Official Methods of Analysis^SM for fats and fatty acids, vitamin A, vitamin E, and several water soluble vitamins using automated methodologies. Jon received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, minor in Mathematics, from Augsburg College, Minneapolis, MN and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, minors in Physical Chemistry and Biochemistry, from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.