Chromatography

Common Commodity Profiles

In addi­tion to general purpose screens which are applic­able to most types of food crops, Columbia Labo­ra­to­ries special­izes in pesti­cide screens and other groups of tests designed for specific commodi­ties. Our customers often are key part­ners in the design of these profiles.

• Apple/​Pear (P2900) Updated
• Honey (P4000)
• Mint (P2450 & P2451)
• Onion (P3200)
• Potato (P2400 & P2401)
• Straw­berry (P3500)
• Sweet potato/​Yam (P4400)
• Domestic Profiles

MultiResidue Screens

For general purpose screening the Columbia Pesti­cide Profile (P2220) is the most compre­hen­sive and econom­ical screen we offer.

However, some­times it is neces­sary to focus on pesti­cides used on specific commodi­ties. In that case, there may be compounds applied which cannot be easily deter­mined by the P2220 method­ology. And some compounds which are detectable by the P2200 are not applied or of interest. In situ­a­tions such as this, we are able to work with our customers to design special combi­na­tions of pesti­cides specif­i­cally for their commodity.

Since these types of profiles might include pesti­cides which must be deter­mined using indi­vidual (specific) methods, the cost may be higher than the P2200. However, where possible we will combine pesti­cides into groups which are analyzed using a similar method­ology in order to mini­mize the cost.

EU Profiles

Food prod­ucts which will be exported to Euro­pean Union coun­tries must meet their pesti­cide MRL stan­dards. We are able to help by designing pesti­cide profiles for those prod­ucts. Most coun­tries will perform their own testing on imported food prod­ucts. However, if a viola­tive residue can be detected before ship­ping much expense can be avoided as a result of having the ship­ment rejected.

Japanese Posi­tive List Profiles

In May 2006 Japan initi­ated the ​“Posi­tive List” system. Under this system MRL’s are estab­lished for over 750 agri­cul­tural chem­i­cals, varying by commodity.

In cases where no MRL is estab­lished a ​“uniform limit” of 0.01 ppm applies. Food which does not conform to these MRL’s cannot be sold or used in Japan. Compa­nies who wish to export to Japan must ensure that their prod­ucts comply or risk losses. The Japanese govern­ment does not require foreign exporters to test their prod­ucts, since they will be performing their own testing when the commodity reaches Japan. However, Japanese importers will likely require it before they will risk buying foreign prod­ucts. To analyze for all chem­i­cals on the posi­tive list would be prohib­i­tively expen­sive for most exporters.

A knowl­edge of which chem­i­cals are being used by the growers on a partic­ular crop can be very helpful in reducing the cost of testing. From the begin­ning of the posi­tive list imple­men­ta­tion, we have helped our customers develop pesti­cide screens for prod­ucts to be exported to Japan. And Columbia Food Labo­ra­to­ries is on the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s list of regis­tered foreign laboratories.

Please contact us for assistance.