Pickering Laboratories has broadened its mycotoxin analysis product line through an agreement to distribute products in Canada, Mexico and the US.
The company will supply LCTech's GPC (gel permeation chromatography) Ultra automated sample clean-up and concentration instrument; Otaread and Aflaread Elisa test kits; and Otaclean and Aflaclean immunoaffinity sample preparation columns.
The GPC Ultra is designed for removing fats, proteins and other large bio-molecules from samples to prevent interference in the analysis of mycotoxins, chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), antibiotics, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other semi-volatile compounds.
The GPC Ultra features a rotary evaporation chamber that combines a silicon oil bath and precise heat transfer with a laser-directed volume control for precision evaporation of solvents.
It also includes an auto sampler, precision pumps and valve injection system, a sample loop and a matched GPC column.
Vario PC software controls and monitors the instrument's operation.
The GPC Ultra evaporation chamber has a wide upper chamber and a narrow tube-shaped lower chamber.
The wide upper chamber allows the solvent to spread around the walls to optimise heat transfer and maximise evaporation area while the narrow lower chamber enables laser level measurements to an accuracy of 0.01 per cent after evaporation.
The instrument's bottom sealing septum technology cannot absorb sample from the needle during transfer.
The seals and the flow path in the GPC Ultra are virtually closed, eliminating the need for a ventilation hood.
The enclosed system preserves more of each sample, uses less solvents and releases less pollution into the environment.
The Aflaread Elisa kit quantitatively detects aflatoxin B1 based on an immunoaffinity binding and enzymatic colour reaction at a 0.1 ppb detection limit.
The Otaread Elisa kit detects ochratoxin A at a sensitivity level of 5ppb.
Both Elisa kits consist of a shrink-wrapped, coated 96-well Elisa plate, standard solutions and all necessary substances, and are delivered ready to use.
The kits provide quick screening of mycotoxins in nuts, rice, corn, spices, cocoa, coffee, peanut butter, beer, wine, licorice, animal feed and other products.
They offer lower consumables costs, throughput of 88 samples in less than two hours, high reproducibility and a shelf life of at least 12 months.
Aflaclean and Otaclean immunoaffinity sample preparation columns remove challenging matrices such as coffee, spices, corn, chili, peanut butter, figs, cinnamon and rice to provide a clean-up of the aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 and ochratoxin A prior to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
The Aflaclean column provides a maximum loading capacity of 100ng aflatoxin B1 and is available in a 3mL polypropylene format.
The Otaclean column uses an antibody with very high ochratoxin A specificity, leading to high recovery rates without interfering matrix effects.
