Phenomenex, AB SCIEX announce new solution to ensure food safety in India

AB SCIEX, a global leader in life science analytical technologies, and Phenomenex, a global leader in separation science techniques, today announced a new workflow solution specifically tailored for laboratories in India to ensure the safety of spices, teas, fruits, vegetables and other food products for domestic and export markets. The new iMethod™ Application for Pesticide Screening comes in a complete package of everything that a laboratory needs to obtain the most accurate results for the analysis of pesticide contaminants while complying with requirements for safe, high quality food.    

AB SCIEX will be presenting information about this new solution this week at the first meeting of the new India section of AOAC International. It will serve as a forum for experts and regulators in the food industry in India to network, identify and discuss high priority food safety issues and examine analytical methods that address these priorities.

India has a growing horticultural industry and rural development strategy, with emphasis on increasing their agricultural exports to support economic growth. Combined with the new food safety law implemented in 2011 for the domestic market, this has created a greater demand for food testing, which influences the confidence that other countries have in the food imported from India. For example, grapes are a large export commodity in Indian agriculture, and the evaluation of the safety of this crop is essential to sustain the viability of large-scale exporting.

"We would like to promote the export of fruits and vegetables from India to other countries across the globe," said Dr. Kaushik Banerjee, Chief of the National Referral Laboratory on Agrochemical Residues in Horticultural Commodities, National Research Center for Grapes. "The pesticide testing workflow developed and supported by AB SCIEX ensures not only accuracy in the testing results, but also compliance with the regulatory demands of global markets."

To support increased food testing initiatives in India, AB SCIEX and Phenomenex developed a complete workflow solution that is ideally suited for the Indian market. The workflow is comprised of pesticide standards, sample preparation protocols, software and LC/MS/MS instrumentation along with a dedicated and ready method to test the food products for the presence of prescribed pesticides residues. The package is designed to enable laboratories and food producers to easily and rapidly implement more powerful and compliant food testing capabilities in their laboratories for routine screening.

"India's widespread commitment as a country to improve food safety sets an example for other countries," said Umesh Pawa, Managing Director of AB SCIEX India. "The fact that the world-renowned AOAC is in India this week for the first time shows that times have changed in India. Rather than being a follower, India is taking a leadership role to help protect the global food supply. As trusted partners with the scientific community, AB SCIEX and Phenomenex are supporting India in this extremely important endeavor."