Advanced Food Safety Testing Solutions

Today’s labs are facing a new reality: chemical contaminants in food are more complex, more varied, and more difficult to detect than ever. From mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOSH/MOAH) to pesticide residues and non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) migrating from packaging, the risks are everywhere, and conventional methods aren’t keeping up.

Standard LC–GC–FID workflows provide data, but not clarity. They fall short when it comes to distinguishing between MOSH and POSH, or MOAH and natural terpenes. Worse, they overlook unknown compounds entirely, which is a serious limitation in light of EFSA guidelines, Codex MRLs, and FSMA preventive controls, which require confident identification—not just detection.

Our solutions offer deeper insights into the source of contamination and help identify potential interferences, giving you the confidence and context regulatory standards demand.

LECO’s GCxGC–TOFMS platform tackles distinct analytical challenges through specialized workflows. Two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry provides the foundation, but each application requires optimized methods.

For MOSH/MOAH analysis, the system delivers accurate quantitation, removal of chromatographic interferences, achieves cleaner separation of complex hydrocarbon mixtures, and the potential to identify chemical biomarkers that trace contamination sources.

Pesticide screening and NIAS detection demand different capabilities. Our platform handles difficult food matrices that overwhelm conventional systems while maintaining full spectrum sensitivity for effective non-targeted screening workflows, catching emerging contaminants before they become regulatory problems.

Non-targeted screening complements both approaches by detecting compounds that targeted methods miss, while confirmatory analysis ensures global compliance standards. Each application uses the same core technology through distinct, purpose-built methodologies, maximizing performance for specific contamination challenges.

Whether you’re testing chocolates for mineral oil contaminants, screening spice shipments for pesticide residues, or evaluating packaging for extractables, LECO’s GC and GCxGC–TOFMS solutions turn complex detective work into routine food safety compliance testing—with clarity, confidence, and speed.

Read on to discover how our webinars, application notes, instruments, and more can help you meet global compliance standards while uncovering insights that traditional workflows simply can’t reveal.