A showcase in scientific innovation

More than 900 companies took part in the annual Pittcon conference in Chicago last month, with over 17,000 attendees from around the globe.

While at the conference, industry experts and academics hosted over 2,000 presentations and oral sessions covering a wide variety of topics and analytical techniques.

A highlight of the technical programme included the “Food Science: Impurity analysis and content determination” seminars which paid particular attention to the use of two dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry to determine the characterisation of adulterated olive oils in cases of food fraud.

Elizabeth Humston-Fulmer of Leco discussed how her research on olive oil corruption led to the isolation of individual oil components within a sample.

Humston-Fulmer explained that the sample could then be used to generate the “chemical fingerprint” of an entire product to help understand food crime.

The theme of developing technologies and innovations to help combat food fraud served as the key reason many exhibitors attended Pittcon.

Analytical systems firm Waters hosted a press briefing presented by Professor Chris Elliott, director of the institute for global food safety at Queen’s University Belfast and author of the Elliott interim report commissioned by the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), which looked at food supply network corruption in relation to the UK horsemeat scandal of January 2013.

Similarly, in response to the growing concern of global food fraud, molecular and materials research firm Bruker announced the release of its nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) JuiceScreener 3.0 while at the show.

Experts from Bruker suggested that the introduction of the JuiceScreener series has led to a significant impact on raspberry juice and puree fraud, now showing the same market to be almost completely clean.

“As the awareness of NMR’s ability to detect even the most complex fraud approaches have spread, the rate of occurrence in diminishing,” said Manfred Spraul, Bruker’s director of applied NMR development.

Meanwhile, Pittcon also played host to many firms that were exhibiting advances in fields such as pharmaceutical discovery and drug development analysis.

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments (Shimadzu) showcased its latest Aggregation Analysis System (AAS) designed for real-time quantitative analysis of sub-visible particles.

Sub-visible particle aggregates in biopharmaceuticals are an unintended consequence of the manufacturing process.

These aggregates can induce allergic systemic reactions, such as anaphylaxis and other severe side effects if they make their way into the final product.

The AAS system is capable of screening and identifying aggregation-prone proteins in early-stage drug development to help shorten manufacturing time and reduce overall costs.

Running alongside Pittcon’s product innovations and technological advancement seminars, a short-course programme was made available that offered skill-building training for laboratory professionals.

Next year’s show is scheduled to take place in New Orleans, Louisiana from the 8th-14th March.