A vehicle-mounted ambient mass spectrometer able to test food products on the spot for illegal additives in a matter of seconds has been developed by Professor Shiea Jentaie of Kaohsiung City-based National Sun Yat-Sen University’s Department of Chemistry.
“Taiwan and U.S. patents are pending for the mobile device, which is funded by the National Science Council,” an NSC official said Sept. 4. “Shiea and his laboratory’s long term study in the field has led to the invention of three mobile AMS devices.”
The spectrometers, which work by ionizing the food sample to produce a gas and conducting a chemical analysis of the molecules present, can detect the presence of such substances as melamine, plasticizers, maleic acid, pesticide residues, triclosan and preservatives, substantially boosting food safety.
The official said that AMSs have been developed in the past decade. Unlike traditional spectrometry, they do not require prior preparation of the samples. Testing can be conducted at room temperature and pressure to give almost instant results for gases, liquids and solids. Traditional mass spectrometry requires several hours to prepare a sample and produce results.
Also, spectrometry was previously conducted within a laboratory setting. Samples had to be sent off for testing, whereas the mobile AMS allows technicians to conduct on-the-spot testing.
The potential applications of the mobile AMS are broad, the official said. Besides food safety, they include anti-terrorism, atmospheric pollution testing, chemical disaster prevention, customs inspection, detection of chemical warfare agents and narcotics detection. (SDH)
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