Analytical service will help food and beverage manufacturers identify contaminants in foods and related products and investigate their potential source
A major new service for the food industry is launched in the USA. Food Forensics is an analytical service that will help food and beverage manufacturers identify contaminants in foods and related products and investigate their potential source.
Foreign bodies are a constant cause of concern for food manufacturers and processors.
They may include fragments of packaging, metal shavings from production machinery, insects, spiders, and other animal body parts, spoiled ingredients, human hair and finger nails - in fact anything that turns up in food that shouldn't be there.
Usually they arise from some accidental event, but occasionally they come from deliberate tampering. That's something that Food Forensics aims to find out.
Food Forensics is being brought to the USA by Reading Scientific Services (RSSL), in collaboration with RQA.
RSSL is well known throughout Europe for its expertise in many areas of food analysis.
However it has particular expertise in identifying foreign bodies, and in finding the source of other problems such as taints and off-flavours.
On average, it solves more than 2000 such cases every year, many on an emergency basis.
The information provided by RSSL's investigations is frequently used by manufacturers to decide how best to respond to a product crisis.
RSSL also provides evidence in cases of deliberate tampering.
RQA is active in crisis management, product retrieval and product recall services.
"There is a perfect fit between our analytical investigations and the consumer complaint retrieval services provided by RQA," says Ray Gibson, international business development director for RSSL.
"RQA routinely retrieves problem products from consumers for return to manufacturers.
"Now they can be brought to an independent and expert laboratory for immediate identification of the problems.
"Our investigations not only identify the nature of the contaminant, but we are frequently able to determine how it got into the product, and how it can be prevented from happening again.
"Our investigations have helped to highlight faults with manufacturing procedures that could have cost a company many millions of dollars if left unchecked, and we've exposed fraudulent claims from consumers who have tampered with their own products".
Food Forensics will be based in Orland Park, a suburb of Chicago, and Christopher Landeg has been appointed from within RSSL to head the new laboratory.
