New Method Developed on University Campus Quickly Detects Tainted Pet Food

Newswise — Finally, some good (or at least promising) news on the pet-food front.

Researchers at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, have developed a new method of fine-tuning a mass spectrometer to rapidly identify foreign substances in pet food. The breakthrough discovery enables scientists to determine whether pet food has been contaminated in a matter of minutes—a process which currently takes several hours or longer.

Professor O. David Sparkman and graduate student Teresa Vail used a mass spectrometer machine and D.A.R.T. (Direct Analysis in Real Time) device to determine that a can of dog food that was recently recalled contained melamine, a chemical used in plastic furniture, cookware and fertilizers abroad. The chemical is at the heart of the nationwide recall of contaminated pet food.

Sparkman said by using mass spectrometry, which is used to weigh and identify molecules in substances, they were able to determine that a sample of dog food contained melamine "because it gave off a computer signal that is specific to the chemical." The D.A.R.T. device, when connected to the spectrometer machine, allows the food's components to be read as signals on a computer screen, he said. "It took less time [to obtain] the results than to open up the can," according to Professor Sparkman, who says the new method could save federal regulators time and money when testing food imports.

The idea to use the method came after Vail learned that some of the cans of pet food she recently had purchased for her own dogs were recalled due to the possibility they contained melamine. Under Sparkman's direction, she tested the dog food and found that only one of a dozen cans tested positive for the chemical.

Vail and Sparkman will present their breakthrough method in June at an American Society of Mass Spectrometry conference in Indianapolis. Sparkman says he hopes the method will be applied widely as a "standardized tool" to help keep pets safe.