Lancaster Laboratories Environmental

Environmental NEWS - Fall 2011

New protocol developed for dioxin/furan & dioxin-like PCB congeners

Using HRGC/HRMS, analyst Joe Anderson tests food
samples for dioxin-like PCB congeners.

Lancaster Laboratories’ Specialty Services Group has developed a new analytical protocol for performing dioxin/furan and dioxin-like PCB congener testing in foods and feeds.

On the heels of getting into the market with their PADEP accredited EPA Method 1613 for dioxin/furans in soil and water, the Specialty Services Group can now analyze dioxin/furans and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) dioxin-like PCB congeners in foods, feeds and tissue (fats, oils). Out of the 209 PCB congeners, WHO has identified 12 of the congeners that possess toxic characteristics similar to dioxins and furans. These 12 dl-PCB congeners have Toxic Equivalency Factors (TEFs) established for them like the toxic dioxin/ furan isomers do. Therefore, they are typically requested to be analyzed for in foods, feeds and tissues. Client interest in dioxin/furan testing by Method 1613 has been tremendous, and offering 1613 analysis for food and feeds will broaden the monitoring for these classes of compounds. The Group is dove-tailing the addition of the 12 dl-PCBs with plans to eventually be able to analyze all 209 PCB congeners by EPA Method 1668.

With this new protocol, the Specialty Services Group intends to deliver some benefit to clients through a single sample preparation step followed by, analysis on HRGC/HRMS.

First, with a single sample preparation step for analysis, the Group hopes to reduce turnaround times.

Secondly, the analysis on HRGC/HRMS uses a two column set-up, thereby reducing the likelihood of false positive detections, important when analyzing food and feed samples.

The Group believes that they may be one of only a few commercial laboratories offering this kind of service in the U.S.

The European Union has established dioxin/furan and dioxin-like PCB congener limits for food and feed sold in their countries, and this new protocol meets those standards for customers exporting to Europe. When Lancaster Labs is accredited for this testing, it will be among a limited number of laboratories capable of offering this service.

For more information, contact Environmental Business Development at 717-656-2300.