Chemical and Commodity Analysis

In spite being specialised in all of the species pertaining to the meat industry, market demand has lead to devel­oping analyt­ical methods for a wide variety of food samples besides meat, espe­cially with the coming into force of the new EEC and national regu­la­tions at the end of 2016 regarding nutri­tional labelling (EU REGU­LA­TION No. 1169/2011 OF THE EURO­PEAN PARLIA­MENT AND THE COUNCIL of 25 October 2011).

These include:

• Milk and its derivatives
• Fish and its derivatives
• Eggs and egg products
• Baked prod­ucts
• Fruit and vegetables
• Cereals and their derivatives
• Oil
• Water

In the zootech­nical sector, analysis is done on both raw mate­rials and animal feed destined for several animal species, including biolog­ical samples like blood and urine and drinking water samples. The Laem­megroup Chem­ical Labo­ra­tory uses a broad range of tech­nolo­gies and instru­ments for both screening and confir­ma­tory analysis, such as the UHPLC-MS/MS, several gener­a­tions of Orbi­trap® (Q‑Exactive and Focus), triple quadru­pole instru­ments like the TSQ Quan­tiva for meeting the most demanding require­ments in terms of sensi­bility, and the TSQ Vantage for low-reso­lu­tion analysis used in routine moni­toring. The Labo­ra­tory also uses program­mable wave­length UV-Vis detec­tors and fluo­res­cence UHPLC-UV-VIS/FL detec­tors. For analyses that require an ionic profile, ion chro­matog­raphy is used with the latest gener­a­tion ICS 5000 conduc­to­metric detec­tors, which makes it possible to carry out gradient analysis through the eluent gener­ator module; it is also possible to work simul­ta­ne­ously or concur­rently with another detector that uses Pulsed Amper­o­metric Detec­tion (IC-PAD) to analyse, for example, carbohydrates.

Mass spec­trom­etry paired with the plasma torch (ICP-MS) is the ideal combi­na­tion for analysing metals in a broad range of samples:

• food­stuffs
• animal feed
• water destined for human consumption
• surface water
• under­ground water
• waste water
• eluates

Alkali and alka­line-earth metals are analysed by means of Atomic Absorp­tion Spec­troscopy (AAS).

The gas chro­matog­raphy industry intro­duces dedi­cated instru­ments and analyses: gas chro­matog­raphy paired with Flame Ioniza­tion Detec­tors (GC-FID) and single and triple quadropole mass spec­trom­etry (GC-QqQ). The use of Enzyme-Linked Immunosor­bent Assay (ELISA) method­olo­gies enables deter­mining the qual­i­ta­tive and quan­ti­ta­tive pres­ence of the majority of food aller­gens, a very common problem today. Lastly, the use of immuno­chemi­lu­mi­nes­cence methods makes it possible to measure any fraud­u­lent admin­is­tra­tion of natural hormones.