Using triple quadrupole ICP-MS to improve the speed, sensitivity, and accuracy of the analysis of toxic and nutritional elements in baby foods 

Food and food supplements supply the human body not only with energy, but also essential macro- and micronutrients for a long and healthy life. While several elements are essential nutritional building blocks, exposure to heavy metals, like arsenic, mercury, and lead, potentially present in food as contaminants may lead to serious negative effects on health. An especially vulnerable group susceptible to different illnesses and potential lifelong neurological damage through exposure to toxic heavy metals are infants and young children.

Within the European Union, foods for babies and young children are governed specifically by EU regulations 609/20131 and EC No 1881/20065, setting low limits of arsenic, lead, and cadmium in food products. Such regulations are, however, subject to regular amendments and expected to become more stringent worldwide. In this presentation we are going present a simple and fast analytical method based on the combination of triple quadrupole ICP-MS with oxygen as the only collision / reaction cell gas used for highly accurate and sensitive analysis of both nutritional and toxic elements in different types of baby foods.

Presentation 2: 

Extending the scope of ICP-MS to the analysis of elemental species and nanoparticles in food

In some cases, the quantification of the pure concentration in which an element is present is not enough to draw meaningful conclusions about potential risks or even hazards related to the consumption of food. Arsenic, but also other elements, can be present in different chemical forms, with highly variable toxicity and bioavailability. For an accurate determination not only of the concentration in which an element is present, but also its chemical form (or chemical species) hyphenation of liquid chromatography to ICP-MS is a powerful tool.

In addition, potentially harmful species of a given element may not only be different chemical forms, but also nanoparticles formed naturally from the use of food additives. A key example here is titanium dioxide, which, although chemically inert, has proven to be a potential carcinogen when present as nanoparticles. ICP-MS is capable to distinguish between dissolved forms of an element or the presence of nanoparticles when operated in the so-called single particle ICP-MS mode.

This presentation will highlight how ICP-MS can determine potentially harmful species or forms of different elements by hyphenation or application of different modes of measurement.

Learning points:

• Learn why expert laboratories apply triple quadrupole ICP-MS systems for their work in order to get more accurate results
• Get to know the benefits of triple quadrupole ICP-MS and how it removes the most challenging interferences for key elements
• Find out how your laboratory could benefit from a triple quadrupole ICP-MS with no obstacles for your operators

Who should attend:

• Lab managers and analysts that have specific analytical challenges with food and beverages
• QA/QC and research laboratories that want to be ready for future challenges in trace elemental analysis
• Lab leaders who want to leverage the full analytical potential of their analytical instrumentation

Click here to register for the webinar.

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