Category Archives: NACRW

NACRW, North American Chemical Residue Workshop

Attending NACRW and Enjoying Florida

By Sareeta Nerkar

The North American Chemical Residue Workshop (NACRW), formerly known as the Florida Pesticide Residue Workshop, was held in Naples, Florida. For the 56th consecutive year, laboratory professionals met to discuss the latest trends in the analysis of pesticides, veterinary drugs and other chemical residues. The big topics at this meeting were cannabis analysis, novel and emerging contaminants in drinking water and food matrices, and finally trends in veterinary drug residue control. Sareeta Nerkar and Maria Ofitserova both attended this year, representing Pickering Laboratories at our booth and in several key technical and vendor presentations.

Broader acceptance of cannabis for medical use has increased the need for analytical methods capable of determining the active compounds as well as methods to detect contaminants such as pesticide residues, mycotoxins and traces of organic solvents. Cannabinoids are a class of terpenophenolic compounds that are associated with the pharmacological activity of cannabis. Cannabinoids exist in the plant mainly as carboxylic acids that are not physiologically active. The compounds are converted to neutral analogs by light and heat while in storage or during the preparation of edible products. Acids are also converted to their neutral analogs during GC analysis, which often causes differences in testing results when compared with HPLC analytical methods.

Pickering Laboratories has developed a new post-column derivatization method to analyze cannabinoids in cannabis plants and cannabis-containing edible products. This post-column method is based on reaction with Fast Blue Salt reagent under basic conditions, a well-known color-forming reaction that is used in drug tests to detect cannabinoids via test-tube methods and thin-layer chromatography. After derivatization, detection at 475 nm is performed using a UV/Vis detector. The same post-column method was used for analyzing cannabinoids in hemp but with a modified sample preparation procedure that was easier and faster.

At the NACRW conference, there was considerable interest in the Pickering Laboratories methods for testing cannabinoids and mycotoxins in hemp because they are simple, robust and economical.

Sareeta Nerkar enjoyed giving her oral presentation on Improved Extraction and Cleanup Prior to HPLC Determination of Glyphosate in Food Samples!  Her talk presented a simple and robust post-column method for the analysis of Glyphosate at sub-ppm levels in many different types of foods. The method’s accelerated sample preparation improves throughput of the samples and reduces testing costs for busy laboratories.  Many laboratories are looking for accelerated sample preparation and analysis of glyphosate at low levels with no matrix interferences, and Pickering Laboratories has the answer!

Sareeta also shared her poster on Analysis of Mycotoxins in Cannabis Plant and Cannabis-containing Products, which was well received.  Please always feel free to contact us for more information or check out our webpage.

Pickering Laboratories sponsored a lunch vendor seminar during tne conference, where Maria Ofitserova introduced the Onyx PCX, the newest addition to our integrated family of post-column derivatization instruments, chemistry and support.  The seminar included all the Onyx PCX instrument features as presented by Maria, then Sareeta followed up by presenting our latest research and method development on hemp!

All of the Pickering Laboratories presentations are available on the NACRW website.  Overall, Maria and Sareeta had a great conference and really appreciated all of your interest in our latest Onyx PCX and new post-column methods and applications!

NACRW, North American Chemical Residue Workshop

Looking Ahead to NACRW 2019!

By Sareeta Nerkar

The North American Chemical Residue Workshop (NACRW) conducts an annual meeting catered to scientists who are particularly interested in trace level analysis of pesticides, veterinary drug residues and other chemicals in food, animal feed and environmental samples. Formerly named the Florida Pesticide Residue Workshop (FPRW), this year marks the 56th Annual Conference!

Two of our research chemists will be traveling to Naples, Florida from July 21-24, and they hope to get a chance to meet customers face-to-face and compare notes on the latest research and upcoming industry needs! Sareeta Nerkar will be joined by Maria Ofitserova in representing Pickering Laboratories at the meeting. In addition to sponsoring a luncheon, Sareeta and Maria will be hosting a vendor seminar on Wednesday, July 24 that will include the latest post-column applications, including Mycotoxins Analysis in Hemp and additional exciting news.

Sareeta is also looking forward to her oral presentation Tuesday, July 23 on Improved Extraction and Cleanup Prior to HPLC Determination of Glyphosate in Food Samples. She will be discussing a simple and robust method for the analysis of Glyphosate at sub-ppm levels in different kinds of food. The accelerated sample preparation improves sample throughput and reduces the cost of analysis for busy testing laboratories using the post-column Glyphosate method!

The Pickering Laboratories poster for the conference this year is on the Analysis of Mycotoxins in Cannabis Plants and Cannabis-containing Products, so please look for Sareeta during the poster session!

 

NACRW

NACRW 2018 Report

Pickering Laboratories exhibited at the North American Chemical Residue Workshop (NACRW) in Naples, Florida on July 22-25, 2018. Formerly the Florida Pesticide Residue Workshop, this annual event is focused on trace level analysis of pesticides, veterinary drug residues and other chemicals found in food, animal feed, cannabis and environmental samples. 

Unique to NACRW are the technical sessions, as they are informal and collaborative to encourage conversation and sharing among the conferees. It’s an exciting workshop where every year attendees come away with insightful new information and presenters can get great feedback on their own research.  Sareeta Nerkar had exactly this opportunity at her oral presentation of “Mycotoxins in Animal Matrices, Food and Feed” which was well received. There is considerable interest in Pickering’s method for mycotoxins analysis because it is robust, established and economical.  Additionally, Sareeta presented our poster “Analysis of Polyether Antibiotics in Animal Feeds by HPLC with Post-Column Derivatization” during the poster session.

As a member of the NACRW organizing committee, Sareeta chaired the social committee this year. She’s pictured here at the Mediterranean-themed dinner event featuring drinks, games and prizes!

The west coast of Florida was experiencing an unusually long red tide event while the workshop was in session. The hotel was about a mile inland, so the health effects were not experienced by the hotel guests although they present a challenge for local residents and beachside visitors. There were some, though, who appreciated the event on a different level! After a presentation on brevetoxins, an attending graduate student related that he took the hotel shuttle to beach in order to experience his first red tide event. It was so strong that it made his eyes tear and caused coughing – he was thrilled. Other attendees perhaps made less use of the beach shuttle this year than at previous workshops.

At our exhibit, Mike Gottschalk offered literature on several post-column environmental testing applications including Glyphosate, Gluphosinate, Carbamates, Mycotoxins and others. Mike and Sareeta hosted a raffle for an Amazon Kindle this year, and we want to congratulate Thomas Scott from Diversified Laboratories on his winning entry!

Our exhibit also included the Pickering Test Solutions product line for consumer product testing. We are excited by how much interest there is in artificial body fluids from laboratories needing standardized solutions for their industry testing requirements.

For us, the workshop was a great success. We hope you enjoyed attending as well! We are already looking ahead to next year’s workshop, when we will have more exciting research to share.

Please visit www.pickeringlabs.com in the meantime for our latest product offerings and updates.

NACRW, Scholarships

NACRW 2017 Student Scholarships

The deadline is April 21, 2017

We are pleased to announce that NACRW will again be offering five student stipends—where undergraduate and graduate students can apply, and, if chosen, will receive a $500 stipend for travel to the NACRW 2017 conference.

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If you have any questions, please contact Sareeta Nerkar (organizing committee member for NACRW) at sareetan@pickeringlabs.com.

Information to submit an abstract and register for the workshop are now available online at www.nacrw.org.

  • Advanced detection techniques
  • Advanced sample preparation
  • Novel and Emerging Food Contaminants
  • Veterinary Drugs and Anti-microbial Resistance
  • Residue Analyses in Aquaculture Products
  • Mass Spectrometry Forum: MS applications, challenges 
  • and solutions
  • General Topics
  • Natural Products, Supplements, and Cannabis
  • Updates from USA State/Federal government: agricultural, environmental and health laboratories

For more inforation, please click here.

 

 
Florida Pesticide Residue Workshop, NACRW, North American Chemical Workshop

North American Chemical Residue Workshop (NACRW)

NACRWThe North American Chemical Residue Workshop (NACRW), formerly the Florida Pesticide Residue Workshop, was held in St. Pete’s Beach, Florida.  For the 52nd year, professionals met to discuss the latest trends in analysis of pesticides, veterinary drug and other chemical residues.  Matrices of interest included food, animal feed and environmental samples, and everyone came to learn and share the latest in residue analysis.

This year, the big topic was the pending testing regulations for pesticides in cannabis.  The United States now has 33 states that have legalized either medical marijuana or recreational marijuana, and many of these states are moving towards the adoption of these new regulations.  Along with this increasing availability of cannabis products comes the need for regulation and assurance of safety from pesticides residues.  Some states are modeling the regulations closely to tobacco standards, while other states have chosen alternative paths towards formulating their regulations.

Glyphosate has been in the news lately because glyphosate residue is showing up in finished food products.  In addition, European testing has found glyphosate in drinking water and the urine of many citizens.  Consider that the World Health Organization (WHO) recently decided to classify glyphosate as a probable carcinogen and the increasing interest in glyphosate testing becomes even more understandable.  

At the NACRW conference, there was considerable interest in Pickering Labs’ method for glyphosate analysis because it is robust, established and economical.  Our poster actually generated so much interest that we needed to reprint more application handouts at the hotel copy room!  That’s a nice marketing emergency to have!

Glyphosate Analysis in Soy Beans, Corn and Sunflower Seeds