Latest food scandal

Dioxin-contaminated animal feed

Among the already known and wildly discussed food scandals - such as the melamine contamination, glycol mass poisoning, or mad cow disease - dioxin-contaminated animal feed in Germany sheds yet another poor highlight on the danger of industrialized food production. Once again the health of customers is threatened. Discover how Merck helps to lower the risk of contaminated food getting into the supply chain.

Dr. Patrik Appelblad, head of Merck's Global Application Team Analytical Chromatography, how does Merck react to such news?

Of course we cannot tackle the problem of tampered food production. Nevertheless we can help to ascertain that the analysis of ingredients in laboratories of all kinds is fast and cost-effective.

So you are saying that Merck gives its support in the form of special HPLC columns?

Yes, but we do much more, too. Merck does not just support laboratories with easy-to-use HPLC columns, but also gives further aid through own applications that we publish, many of them concerning the test of foodstuffs. For example, Merck’s SeQuant^® ZIC^®-HILIC column has been recommended by the U.S. FDA for the analysis of melamine contamination.

Apart from SeQuant^® ZIC^®-HILIC for the analysis of melamine contamination, what other products does Merck provide?

We have several products that can help laboratories to speed up their analysis and save costs at the same time. A full list of applications can be found at our Analytical Application Finder. However, the following list is an extraction of only a few applications for food safety that we have issued

• Sulfonamides in Honey
• Chlorogenic Acid in Apple Juice
• Melamine Analysis in Pharmaceutical Industry
• Rhodamine B in Chilli Extract

Other than that, Merck shows its commitment through published articles, such as the latest script about ZIC^®-HILIC Chromatography for Food Safety which was also published at Separation Science.

Although we do our best to publish as many applications as possible, we would appreciate our customers help to complete the list. Please let us know about available publications and applications that are not included in this list and, even more importantly, about your own novel results.