In-House Lead Testing Kit or Procedure
Hello!
We are working with a food ingredient that is known to have lead, and are looking to establish an in-house monitoring program to examine the content of lead in this ingredient.
Ideal limit of detection is < 10 ppb and no more than 15 ppb.
We were sending the samples to an external lab, but the test is expensive and results take several days to be received.
We are looking for a method that we can implement in house that is reliable and can give us a good idea on the lead content of the ingredient. We would still send some samples to the external lab for verification but we are hoping that we can also manage some of the testing internally to save on costs and time.
Does anyone have any recommendation for this program or is familiar with a lead testing equipment / test kit that can be used internally?
Thank you!!
Sincerely,
Esther
Hi Esther; We also have one product intended for further processing for infant food. So, the customer's requested to test that product for lead and cadmium by an external accredited lab. Are you sure that your internal results will be valid? Of course, it'd depend on your policy and customer standard, but still take that into account...
Hi! Thanks for your reply.
Yes, since the result would be validated by an external accredited lab.
If we can find a kit/ procedure that can be used internally to save time and costs, then we can verify and validate the results with an external and accredited lab on a regular basis.
Do you happen to know a procedure/ equipment/ kit that can be used internally for the detection o lead in food at <10-15 ppb?
No, sorry, I don't know. Did you try to search lab equipment companies in your area?
Hi! Thanks for your reply.
Yes, since the result would be validated by an external accredited lab.
If we can find a kit/ procedure that can be used internally to save time and costs, then we can verify and validate the results with an external and accredited lab on a regular basis.
Do you happen to know a procedure/ equipment/ kit that can be used internally for the detection o lead in food at <10-15 ppb?
Any analysis method/kit has a LoD (Limit of Detection) value. This LoD must be smaller than the amount you want to detect. But your desired ppb scale is classified as a trace analysis, so that the measuring would be very complicated.
Do you know what method your lab has been doing? Their report must indicate the apparatus they use and its LoD.
Hello!
We are working with a food ingredient that is known to have lead, and are looking to establish an in-house monitoring program to examine the content of lead in this ingredient.
Ideal limit of detection is < 10 ppb and no more than 15 ppb.
We were sending the samples to an external lab, but the test is expensive and results take several days to be received.
We are looking for a method that we can implement in house that is reliable and can give us a good idea on the lead content of the ingredient. We would still send some samples to the external lab for verification but we are hoping that we can also manage some of the testing internally to save on costs and time.
Does anyone have any recommendation for this program or is familiar with a lead testing equipment / test kit that can be used internally?
Thank you!!
Sincerely,
Esther
Hi Esther,
I deduce you currently have no internal lab. How much are you willing to invest in equipment/personnel ?
As implied per previous post you may well be wasting yr time unless you have many samples to analyse/deep pockets since the overall cost is likely to be significant.
< 10ppb is an extremely demanding criterion requiring highly sensitive equipment, eg "boosted" variations of AAS. A general review of options is given here -
https://www.degruyte...-2017-8002/html
The FDA apparently at the moment use (for baby foods) Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (et al ), eg -
Thank you all for your responses!
Our external lab uses a ICP-MS, AOAC method 2011.19 and 993.14 (Modified).
We can find a reasonably priced used ICP-MS but I was hoping to find a simpler/ easier method for internal use, and then send select group of samples for verification/ validation to the external lab.
I've found kits that test lead in water at <15 ppb, but have not been able to find anything for food yet.
Thank you again for all the resources and help.
If the only heavy metal you want to test for is Lead, Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy may be a better option for you than ICP-MS. The advantage of ICP-MS is that it can test for upwards of 70 heavy metals all at once, versus AAS which only tests one metal at a time and has to have a different lamp for each metal being tested.
Spidey - Thank you for the great feedback.
In regards to the AAS equipment, are you familiar with any particular brand or model that is reasonably priced? I did a search online and found several companies that offer this equipment, but it would be ideal if anyone has any personal experience with a certain model and brand given our needs.
Thank you all again!
This is a niche market. I think we have a limited choice of brands and prices; for instance: Thermo, Varian, Shimadzu, Agilent,
The only hands-on experience I have is from my undergrad analytical chemistry lab and I don't remember the brand of the AAS they had. I have worked with other types instrumentation from Thermo, Shimadzu, and Agilent and believe them all to be quality instrument manufacturers.
Sorry for the late reply, we had our SQF Audit this week.