34 FOOD & DRINK TECHNOLOGY


efforts. PerkinElmer technology was instrumental in speeding up the formerly labour-intensive radiation screening of large volumes of samples.


Instrument sensitivity Te sensitivity of the instruments also helped in developing protocols for removing topsoil to ensure effective decontamination of public areas such as schoolyards and playgrounds.”


Te radioisotope centre of University of Tokyo also participated in the urgent task of determining the scope of contamination in the affected areas, as well as devising new methods for detecting radiation in soil, water, and food, to determine their safety and to guide development of decontamination methods, using PerkinElmer equipment.


Toshiyuki Tadenuma, radiation detector group leader, PerkinElmer, commented: “PerkinElmer has also deployed these technologies in collaboration with the national institute of health sciences in Japan, to create screening methods for testing radiation levels in beef products in the affected areas, which will be expanded into other food ingredients.”


Robert F Friel, chairman and chief executive officer of PerkinElmer, said: “As soon as the crisis became known, we felt a unique responsibility to offer all possible assistance, as our company has


long been a leader in the specific field of radiometric detection, a technology that enables critical applications needed by the Japanese crisis monitoring and remediation teams.


“We quickly identified the technologies and applications that would be required, and rapidly mobilised the needed solutions and expertise to support response efforts, by offering our people and technologies to aid researchers leading contamination detection and clean-up activities.”


Directly and indirectly, the use of PerkinElmer equipment by Japanese researchers in response to the nuclear crisis led to such discoveries as: while radioactive iodine is completely gone from affected sites, the bulk of remaining contamination comprises long half-life cesium-134 and -137; and cleaning up radioactive soil depends on varied terrain - and requires different protocols depending on variables such as abundance of site vegetation, and other related factors.


Test water Specific PerkinElmer technology platforms used by the university teams included: liquid scintillation counter technology used for measurement of radioactive strontium and radioactive hydrogen (tritium), to locate contamination patterns as well as testing environmental water samples; automatic gamma counter technology (WIZARD2) used for


S


Particles are key to taste


himadzu has launched the SALD-2300 laser diffraction particle size analyser, which measures the size and distribution of particles. The particle


size distribution of raw powdered materials is known to have a significant effect on the performance and function of foods and many other products. As measurement needs are expanding in a variety of fields and domains, Shimadzu has extended the


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270 sample sequential measurement of gamma-ray nuclear species such as radioactive caesium and iodine, to determine the scope of contamination in the affected areas, as well as devise new methods for detecting radiation in soil, water, and food, to determine their safety as well as to guide development of decontamination methods; and inorganic technology (ELANDRC II ICP-MS) with the necessary broad range of detection limits required for metal contamination (as well as the presence of uranium and plutonium) in drinking water, soil, wastewater and food.


Porcine testing kits In a separate development, the company has also announced the launch of Porcine Testing Kits for the rapid detection of porcine meat traces by the Halal food certification industry.


Te new solution will make it easier, faster and more cost effective to provide confidence in the integrity and authenticity of food products for global markets where Halal certification is required.


Te worldwide market for Halal food products represents US$635b (€485b) of the US$4 trillion (€3.1b) spent annually on food supplies worldwide, with Asian countries accounting for over 60 per cent of that expenditure (Fig. 1).


Te Porcine Detection Kits provide Halal-certifying agencies, contract


measurement range from 30 nm to 1000 µm to 17 nm to 2500 µm, and developed an instrument that can easily perform highly efficient, sophisticated measurements. Furthermore, by increasing the sensitivity by a


factor of ten over its conventional models, this system accommodates a wide range of particle concentration conditions, from a low concentration 0.1ppm to high concentrations of 200,000ppm. In addition, it is equipped with a continuous measurement function that provides measurements in intervals as short as one second. As a result, the real-time state of particle size distributions that change with concentration or time can


laboratories and food manufacturers with a screening capability alongside existing laboratory-based technologies, providing on-the- spot rapid characterisation of food products.


Te fast and easy-to-use kit can provide a positive or negative screening result for the presence of porcine protein/meat/ immunoglobulin G (IgG) as soon as 15 minutes, through a simple interface and minimal sample preparation allowing for operation by non-technical users.


Target food pathogens Agilent Technologies has entered into a cooperative R&D agreement with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop new tools to detect and analyse pathogens in food.


Te joint R&D effort will also seek to improve DNA-based tools for confirming that seafood is correctly labelled.


Te goal of the first part of the project is to develop a novel assay panel to identify subtypes of salmonella in food.


When outbreaks occur, knowing the subtype can help officials quickly identify the source of the pathogen and hopefully limit the number of victims.


Te research will focus on using mass spectrometry-based genotyping to quickly identify salmonella subtypes.


now be measured accurately. Trace quantities of particulate ingredients in foods,


red wines, distilled spirits, teas and other beverages have an impact on peoples’ refined sensations, and broadly speaking, on ‘taste’ and ‘flavour’. As a result, the hue, texture, smoothness when swallowing, and crispness of beverages are subtly changed by the size and size distribution of trace particles. Yet because the quantity of particulate ingredients is so small, evaluation and quality control with respect to the flavour could often only rely on the sensations, experience, and perception of trained workers.


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