Residual and potentially dangerous chemicals in food and drinking water have been in the news lately (see this month’s Manufacturing News for an update on PFAS) as one such report found that 80% of urine samples drawn from children and adults in the U.S. contained glyphosate. FOOD ENGINEERING has also had its share of news on heavy metals in food and baby food. Why are we seeing so much contamination? Because it’s there and because today’s analytical instrumentation is so much better at finding these very minute trace levels of contamination.
Over the years, we’ve observed that the sensitivity of analytical instrumentation has improved by many decades—from parts per million to billions—and trillions—and even quadrillions. These improvements have not gone unnoticed by EPA and FDA and other worldwide regulating bodies. We are all aware—or should be—that we have measurable levels of many harmful chemicals in our bodies, many of which come from the food we eat, beverages we drink or the air we breathe—and many of these chemicals remain in our bodies. Modern analytical instrumentation not only reveals to us the levels of these contaminants in our bodies, but also with the increased sensitivity (and less noise) in this equipment, all stakeholders have quantifiable and actionable data on what’s in our food and its ingredients.