| | Analytical Services Available to External Clients
Research Project Support:
Analytical services are available to clients outside of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. The Chemistry Laboratory of the Agri-Food Laboratories has partnered with external researchers in support of projects which offer potential benefits for agriculture, food safety or animal health.
Do you have a project which requires access to chemical residue testing? If so, please contact us. We may be able to help. For a more detailed description of analytical testing capabilities please see Analytical Capabilities below.
Honey Testing:
The Chemistry Laboratory offers a variety of testing services on a fee-for-service basis to beekeepers and others involved in apiculture. For a more complete description of honey testing available through the Chemistry Laboratory please see Analytical Capabilities below.
Key Instrumentation
The Chemistry Laboratory is equipped with state of the art instrumentation capable of highly sensitive and specific determination of a range of organic compounds and inorganic elements. These analytical instruments include:
- multiple liquid chromatograph-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometers (LC-MS/MS)
- a liquid chromatograph-time-of-flight mass spectrometer (LC-ToF).
- a gas chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometer (GC-MS/MS)
- an inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS)
- two graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometers (GFAAS)
- high performance liquid chromatograph with refractive index detector (HPLC-RID)
Each is capable of detecting compounds/elements present at extremely low concentrations. The scientific data provided by this equipment enables effective chemical residue surveillance and monitoring.
Analytical Capabilities
The following testing services are available on a fee-for-service basis through the Chemistry Laboratory of the Agri-Food Laboratories.
General Honey Quality Analysis |
| Test Name | Matrix
(sample requirements) | Analytes |
| Honey Quality Package | Honey (minimum 200 g) |
- Colour (Pfund scale)
- Moisture
- Sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose, direct [natural] reducing sugar content [as invert])
- Tetracycline antibiotics (chlortetracycline, oxytetracycline, tetracycline)
- Tylosin A + desmycosin (tylosin B)
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| Honey – Colour | Honey (minimum 100 g) |
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| Honey – Moisture | Honey (minimum 100 g) |
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| Honey – Sugars | Honey (minimum 100 g) |
Sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose, direct [natural] reducing sugar content [as invert])
|
Antibiotic Residues in Honey |
| Test Name | Matrix
(sample requirements) | Analytes |
| Fumagillin in Honey by LC-MS/MS | Honey (minimum 20 g) |
- Fumagillin
- Dicyclohexylamine
|
| Lincomycin in Honey by LC-MS/MS | Honey (minimum 20 g) |
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| Tetracycline Antibiotics in Honey by LC-MS/MS | Honey (minimum 20 g) |
- Chlortetracycline
- Oxytetracycline
- Tetracycline
|
| Tylosin in Honey by LC-MS/MS | Honey (minimum 20 g) |
- Tylosin A
- Desmycosin (tylosin B)
|
Pesticide Residue Analysis in Honey |
| Test Name | Matrix
(sample requirements) | Analytes |
| Neonicotinoid Insecticides in Honey by LC-MS/MS | Honey (minimum 20 g) |
- Acetamiprid
- Clothianidin
- Imidacloprid
- Thiamethoxam
|
| Synthetic Acaricides (Miticides) in Honey by LC-MS/MS | Honey (minimum 20 g) |
- Amitraz degradation products (2,4-dimethylaniline;
2,4-dimethylphenylformamide; N-2,4-dimethylphenyl-N-methylformamidine)
- Coumaphos
- Flumethrin
- Fluvalinate
|
Metals Analysis |
| Test Name | Matrix* | Analytes |
| Metals in Animal Tissue by ICP-MS | Bovine Liver or Kidney
|
- Aluminum, Arsenic, Cadmium, Cobalt, Chromium, Copper, Iron, Mercury, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Lead, Selenium, Tin, Zinc
|
| Lead in whole blood by GFAAS or ICP-MS | Bovine blood |
|
| Metals in wild bird by ICP-MS | Wild bird liver or kidney
Bird whole blood |
- Bird tissue: Arsenic, Cadmium, Mercury, Lead.
- Bird blood: Lead only
|
| Metals in vegetable by ICP-MS | Various Vegetable |
|
| Metals in honey by ICP-MS | Honey |
- Aluminum, Arsenic, Cadmium, Cobalt, Chromium, Copper, Iron, Mercury, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Lead, Selenium, Tin, Zinc
|
| Lead in honey by GFAAS | Honey |
|
| Custom metal request | Not applicable |
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*Minimum sampling requirements and turn-around-time are available upon client request.
Pesticide Residue Analysis in Apicultural Samples |
| Test Name | Matrix
(sample requirements) | Analytes |
| Neonicotinoid Insecticides in Pollen by LC-MS/MS | Pollen (minimum 10 g) |
- Acetamiprid
- Clothianidin
- Imidacloprid
- Thiamethoxam
|
| Neonicotinoid Insecticides in Bees by LC-MS/MS | Bees (minimum 200 bees) |
- Acetamiprid
- Clothianidin
- Imidacloprid
- Thiamethoxam
|
| Insecticides in Bees by LC-MS/MS | Bees (minimum 200 bees) |
Contact Kevin Webster for more information regarding available analytes
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For more information regarding the source of selected chemical residues in honey please see Chemical Residues in Honey – General Information.
For more information on the Chemistry Laboratory and the fees for analytical services, please contact Unit Head, Kevin Webster |
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