The Standard - October 2021

The cannabinoid group includes numerous compounds derived from the cannabis plant with varying psychoactive and bioactive properties. Quantification and qualification of these compounds is key both for the development and safety testing of commercial and pharmaceutical cannabis products, as well as toxicology and drug monitoring. One cannabinoid, (-)-Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is a regulated substance in much of the world due to its psychoactive properties.

Foodomics is a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to study the impacts that food and nutrition have on a consumer’s health and disease. Factors that are evaluated include, but are not limited to, food composition, safety, quality, additives, adulterants, and contaminants. CIL offers an expansive range of stable isotope-labeled and native standards to assist with the analysis of metabolic biomolecules and food contaminants in foodomics research and testing. CIL’s new foodomics catalog can be accessed here, and a brief overview of each section follows.

Ethylene oxide (EO) is a gas that has been used as a preservative and fumigant to control insects in the food industry, especially in the storage and transport of grain, seeds, and nuts. EO and one of its main byproducts, 2-chloroethanol, are considered toxic, leading to regulations of allowable exposure limits in foodstuffs and raw materials for foodstuffs.

In July 2021, the United States EPA announced their posting of PCB Method 1628, Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Congeners in Water, Soil, Sediment, Biosolids, and Tissue by Low-resolution GC/MS using Selected Ion Monitoring, on the Clean Water Act methods web page. Method 1628 was developed to be a new alternative method for wastewater compliance monitoring. Currently the only 40 CFR Part 136 approved method for PCB analysis in wastewater is Method 608.3, which is limited to reporting against 7 Aroclor mixtures, and does not significantly relate to typical patterns of PCBs in weathered samples. Method 1628 can detect all 209 PCB congeners and uses 29 ¹³C-stable isotope labeled PCB congeners to allow for Isotope Dilution MS analysis.