People and Facilities
IFSH's Food Chemistry Expertise
IFSH's Food Chemistry Team specializes in investigating the effects of food processing on the formation of hazardous contaminants in order to better understand how to prevent, reduce or eliminate them in the food processing environment, as well as how to mitigate the cross-transfer of preformed natural toxins and allergens in foods. IFSH’s Food Chemistry Team also delivers real knowledge to the food industry about the health-promoting and nutritional aspects of foods, helping the food industry to create a value-add in their portfolios of research.
Facilities and Laboratories
Protein and Allergen Laboratory. This fully equipped chemistry laboratory is used for protein digestion and allergenicity studies.
Applied Chemistry Laboratory. This newly renovated 1,000 sq. ft. applied chemistry lab supports research in nutrition and chemical contaminants, including investigations into the properties of food matrices related to the content and profile of antioxidant compounds and their effect on human health, as well as food safety related contaminant issues, such as acrylamide, melamine, pesticides and mycotoxins in food that may help improve food processing mitigation strategies. IFSH member Agilent Technologies is a collaborative partner in the renovation and has outfitted the lab with several pieces of high-tech analytical equipment, including TOF-MS, ICP-MS, and RRLC- QQQ-MS.
Analytical Chemistry Laboratory. This chemistry laboratory features state-of-the-art equipment, such as UV, fluorescence, GC, GC-MS, HPLC and HPLC-MS/MS, as well as ELISA, electrophoresis, and DSC. In addition, through the Illinois Institute of Technology, lab technicians have access to circular diachronic and X-ray crystallography for protein structure determination. This equipment is also used to support the Health Promoting Foods science platform at IFSH and the chemistry group has extensive capability and expertise in nutritional compounds such as vitamin C, vitamin A and the carotenoids, vitamin E and the B vitamins.
Nutrition and Biochemistry Laboratory. A 700 sq. ft. nutrition and biochemistry laboratory is well-equipped to conduct rapid clinical chemistry and nutrition tests. Equipment includes centrifuges (clinical, super-speed, micro-ultracentrifuge), spectrophotometers (UV and fluorescence) gel electrophoresis, a high performance fluorescence and chemiluminescence image capturing device, and a fully automated-clinical analyzer. The laboratory also contains a designated section for cell culture work, which includes an environment controlled CO2 incubator for cell growth maintenance and liquid nitrogen cryopreservation system. Other departmental equipment is available to this lab, including cold rooms, additional microscopes, histology equipment, cell culture room with incubators, PCR, a full complement of molecular biology equipment, and dark room with photography equipment.
GMP Processing Area. This registered (licensed) FDA processing plant is capable of producing foods for sensory and nutritional studies. The facility includes a raw material storage area with a walk-in chiller, a kitchen/preparation and quality assurance testing area, and a high hygiene area, as well as a separate processing bay suitable for proprietary work. The pilot plant is now equipped with a wide array of typical food processing equipment including, vessels, kettles, mixers, pumps, homogenizers and packaging equipment. An 1S HTST processor has arrived and is being commissioned in the GMP Area. Due to a new contract with one of our member companies a wide range of useful food processing equipment (22 pieces) is now available to the NCFST and its member companies within the GMP area.
BSL-3 Laboratory and Biocontainment Pilot Plant. The fully self-contained 7,000 sq. ft. BSL-3 laboratory and biocontainment pilot plant is used to conduct research and validation work involving large quantities of pathogens and virulent organisms. As a cross-platform research area, IFSH’s Food Defense and Operational Risk Management Program provides critical investigative capabilities to the Food Chemistry program in its investigations into the behavior of chemical threat agents in foods, the effect of food processing on such agents, and the appropriate decontamination methods for product and facilities. Although the government has access to many laboratories able to provide analytical detection methodology, few possess IFSH’s capabilities in the area of food defense analyses and facilities, including the newly completed BSL-3 laboratory and biocontainment pilot plant.
