Assessing Biological, Chemical, and Radionuclide Detection Methods

Introduction: Numerous methods to detect intentional adulteration of biological, chemical, or radionuclide agents in food have been developed.  Determining which method is appropriate for a specific application depends on knowing the capabilities/limitations of the method compared to a set of standardized acceptable levels of usage and performance.

Purpose:  Establish a detection method assessment model for intentional adulteration agents for use in method suitability selection and determination of needed method improvements.

Methods:  Experts from industry, government and academia through both large workshops and small subgroups, identified the important attributes for assessing the suitability of a method, along with specifications for levels of Outstanding, Excellent, Satisfactory, and Limited for each attribute for both biological and chemical methods.  The radionuclide group developed a subset of these attributes more applicable for radionuclides.

Results: The experts specified 23 attributes. As an example, the performance specification for Sensitivity [POD 9c)] is: Limited > ± 10%, Satisfactory ± 1-10%, Excellent < ±1% and Outstanding <±0.1%.  The levels are mostly contiguous, while Outstanding often sets a level of potential future attainability.  A database of over 560 citations on research and commercial detection methods was developed. A user can conduct searches by agent and type of method. The selected attributes of the resulting search can then be displayed to visually see differences in the methods level performance. An draft assessment tool was presented at the BioWorld Defense Summit in May 2016. This talk will discuss additional research completed on radionuclides and application of the assessment tool to determine research gaps and compare methods for all agent types.

Significance:  A user can use the assessment criteria to set criteria for a method supplier. A method supplier can determine where improvements are needed for detection of a specific agent. The process used for intentional adulteration methods can be transformed into an assessment method for food safety applications.

Back to: Poster Session 2 – Food Chemical Hazards and Food Allergens, Food Toxicology, Meat, Poultry and Eggs, Epidemiology, Retail and Food Service Safety, Communication Outreach and Education, Molecular Analytics, Genomics and Microbiome, Laboratory and Detection Methods, and Dairy

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