System Automates and Simplifies Food Testing

A new automated system detects food contaminants, such as pesticides, dyes, mole-related toxins, and chemical and antibiotic residues.

Cliquid software for food testing increases the precision of food-contaminant testing while simplifying the process. The system was produced by Applied Biosystems (Foster City, CA, USA), an Applera Corporation (Norwalk, CT, USA) business, and its joint venture partner MDS Sciex (Concord, Canada). The system enables testing labs, food producers, and manufacturers to more quickly and thoroughly identify a wide range of contaminants. Cliquid software has been designed to bring point-and-check functionality to Applied Biosystems/MDS Sciex's high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) systems.

Dr. Philippe Guy of the Quality and Safety Assurance Department at the Nestlé Research Centre (Lausanne, Switzerland) is one of the collaborators who helped to define the requirements for LC/MS/MS analysis in the food testing market. "The Cliquid software provides research facilities, like ours at Nestlé with the ability to deploy new validated methods, instrument tests, and reporting requirements to our regional laboratories,” said Dr. Guy. "Indeed, with such a simple interface and workflow, laboratory personnel can adopt LC/MS/MS techniques and rapidly produce high quality standardized results.”

Mass spectrometry offers high levels of sensitivity by detecting molecules in various substances. Applied Biosystems/MDS Sciex is applying this technology to food testing through an easy-to-use software interface, and food companies and public health testing labs can use this solution without the need for extra resources or special training in mass spectrometry. The pre-configured testing methods and flexibility of the software allow every testing facility to develop systematic testing protocols. Results are captured in automatically generated reports that can be customized to meet quality controls, regulatory, and laboratory requirements worldwide.

Cliquid software for food testing will be available as a stand-alone software package or as part of a complete testing system that includes the API 3200 or 3200 Q Trap mass spectrophotometers, coupled with an HPLC system and starter kit.



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Applied Biosystems