Food Analysis

Division’s work is focused on chromatographic methods for the development of analytical procedures and reference materials for the quantitative determination of organic contaminants and residues in food. The goal is to actively contribute to food safety by achieving and exploiting new analytical results. Major issues are the identification, characterization and quantification of bioactive compounds produced by microorganisms in food. Among these compounds, mycotoxins, secondary metabolites of fungi, have gained increasing importance for food safety and consequently for European Regulations on maximum levels.

Fields of activity

• Bioactive microbial metabolites produced by microorganisms and their related transformation products:
  • Development and validation of HPLC based single- and multi-analyte methods for the determination of mycotoxins, e.g., ochratoxin A, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, T-2/HT-2 toxin, ergot alkaloids and Alternaria-toxins as well as acrylamide and cyanotoxins
  • Investigations on the formation and identification of degradation, transformation and conjugation products / biosynthetic production of standards
  • Detecting influences on toxin fate by modeling processes of the food production chain
  • Investigations on in vitro-metabolism of bioactive compounds
  • Simulation of the bioavailability of contaminants using the in-vitro digestion model according to DIN 19738 (e.g., estimation of analyte/matrix-effects in the gastro-intestinal tract)
• Preparation, characterization and certification of matrix-based reference materials and calibration standards in the frame of the ERM®-initiative (ERM® – European Reference Materials)
• Organization and participation in national and international interlaboratory comparison studies, e.g., CCQM
• Cooperation with universities, non-university research institutes and authorities as well as with small and medium-sized enterprises (KMU) concerning basic and applied R&D issues
• Cooperation with standardization bodies, e.g., BVL § 64 AG „Mycotoxins“, DIN NA 119-01-02-02-06 WG “Method validation”
• Service measurements: costumer specific analyses, test reports
• Supervision of Bachelor-, Master- and Ph.D. Theses, research trainees and apprentices

Instruments

• HPLC-MS/MS (API 4000 QTrap®, AB Sciex)
• HPLC-DAD/FLD systems (Agilent, Thermo)
• GC-MSD / GC-FID systems (Agilent)
• Ion chromatographic system (Dionex)
• FTIR-Spectrometer (Biorad)
• Coulometric Karl-Fischer-Titration (Metrohm)
• CHN- Elemental Analyzer (Elementar)
• Sulfur/Nitrogen analyzer (Thermo)
• GPC-system with UV detector (LCTech)

Service

• Lectures, posters and publications of Division 1.7 can be found in the database PUBLICA
• Certified reference materials are available via BAM-Webshop

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