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Author Topic: Simple explanation of what substances to test for/choosing laboratories.  (Read 1018 times)
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JustMe
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« on: August 23, 2007, 05:14:46 AM »

I hope somebody can pop on here and explain to me in simple language exactly what I should ask for when sending food for testing and choosing a laboratory. 

1.  I was planning on asking them to test for "unknown chemicals and toxins" thinking that would cover everything, including melamine, cyanuric acid, etc., acetaminophen, pesticides, flame retardants, etc.   Undecided 

2.  Do I need to ask about what levels they detect at, ppm, ppb and the values?

3.  Can they verify that the ingridients and levels listed on the label are actually in the food, too, or is that a different type of laboratory that I would need.

4.  Is 1 lab enough or do I need to send the same product to 2 different labs?

Thanks for any clarification you can provide me.

JustMe
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straybaby
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« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2007, 09:57:30 AM »

you forgot anti freeze!

i'm wondering if that could be one of the contaminants aka flavor enhancer? chicken strips marinated in anti freeze and then roasted perhaps?
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lesliek
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« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2007, 12:49:40 PM »

You also forgot the heavy metal test for lead,etc.The unknown toxins covers all the usual;melamine,c acid ,acetaminophen, aminopterin. The test for correct levels per label is a separate one. If you are using ExperTox you don't need to ask about levals,they test to the lowest possible. Anywhere else I would ask.Teri at Accutrace told me the heavy metal test is very expensive.
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carolo
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« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2007, 02:03:54 PM »

JustMe, I wrote ExperTox yesterday, received full information today as well as a form to fill in and the costs.  There is an additional cost " for Quantitation per chemical detected in the sample."  I think the last part about quantitation is the most important piece of information I would want from the testing. 

As for choosing laboratories, I have not used any of them yet.  Since different types of equipment and even different brands, not to mention different methods, can show different results, it can be hard to choose.  It depends on what you're looking for, and the problem so often is that we don't know what we're looking for except that we all want to know what we are feeding is safe.  I lean towards starting with ExperTox.  It would be really conclusive if we could then send an identical sample to another lab that ended up duplicating the results that came back from ExperTox.  (btw, their normal turn around time is 8 to 10 days)

The type of equipment ExperTox used (for GC-MS) is very expensive.  Not all labs will have it.  Not all labs will have testing ability to confirm acetaminophen.

My concern is that there may be something toxic in some of the foods, or even just some batches of the those foods that we have yet to detect. 

 
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JustMe
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« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2007, 02:21:31 PM »

carolo,

Thank you and everbody else who gave input.  I will need it when I'm ready to send samples in and may have more questions then.  Mine are all in unopened bags or cans.

JustMe
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