Ensuring Supplement Quality
The quality of a supplement begins with the handling of the raw material. The finished material is only as Valid as the weakest link in the processing. When dealing with raw materials, especially foods, there are a series of events that must be controlled for the finished product to be the highest quality. MegaFood controls these events with Fresh Frozen Raw Foods, Cold Fusion™ and Durham Research's Processing Equipment. That is not enough.
Assays Validate Our Supplements
MegaFood now includes Whole Foods Validated with Assays or testing in all our product offerings. The response to Validation at the consumer level and our commitment for all supplements to be Validated led to the creation of a Validation Documentation™ Program for our raw materials. To ensure our Raw Material Validation Program, MegaFood created Delta Analytical and Research Laboratories, Inc.
Delta Analytical's Creation
It was crucial that Durham Research was able to test the raw materials created during the development of Cold Fusion™ FoodState® Nutrients. There were three important factors involved in the creation of Delta Analytical and Research Laboratories, Inc.
First was the expediency needed to prove the processes developed by Durham Research worked. Timing was crucial. We couldn't wait for an independent laboratory to put us in the queue for results.
Second was the fact that the expected new FDA Regulations will not allow us to accept supplier Certificates of Analysis. Due to the uniqueness of our material we have experienced difficulty in duplicating results using outside laboratories. To be sure the results we were looking for were actually achieved, required the development of advanced methods of analysis. This could only be accomplished in-house. We now have testing methods to Validate our Cold Fusion™ FoodState® Nutrients that didn't exist before the creation of Delta Analytical and Research Laboratories, Inc.
Third was the need to fulfill MegaFood's commitment to the Validation Documentation™ Program. The on-going testing needed to Validate our raw materials would be prohibitively expensive if they were all performed by outside laboratories.
Delta Analytical - The Lab
JY Ultratrace ICP
A sequential ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer) with autosampler and data analysis software is routinely used for determining nutritional minerals and heavy metal contaminants in raw material matrices.
ICP Argon Gas Flame
Samples are prepared by acid digestion and/or ignition. They are then introduced to a 10,000 °C (18,032 °F) argon gas flame. The ICP measures the plasma-excited electrons in a manner that is unique to each mineral. This process permits identification and quantification of each raw material.
Shimadzu HPLC
A low pressure gradient HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) with autosampler, degasser, PDA (photodiode array) detector and data analysis software is routinely used for the determination of non-mineral active ingredients such as vitamins, amino acids and phenolic (antioxidant) compounds. Samples that have been prepared by various wet chemistry methods are injected onto columns of various chemistries selected to separate components of interest by their retention times (order of elution from the column) and UV-Vis (ultraviolet visible light) absorption spectra. The PDA is capable of determining the entire UV-Vis spectrum of each component.
HPLCs are configured with powerful Photodiode Array software that can facilitate interpretation of data by expressing results in three dimensions, as illustrated in the pictures above.
Thermo Electron HPLC
This is another HPLC system with identical capabilities as the Shimadzu HPLC but equipped with a dual UV-Vis detector. The detector allows 2 wavelengths to be monitored simultaneously.
Gel Electrophoresis Equipment
This equipment routinely used to characterize small proteins and large poly-peptides in product matrices. Samples are typically prepared by denaturing proteins/peptides with SDS (Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate), which produce a negatively charged complex that differentially migrate through a polyacrylamide gel exposed to an electric current as a function of its molecular weight (size). Bands are apparent after "staining" the gel to visualize them and molecular weights are determined by comparison to a standard mixture of proteins of known molecular weight.
UV-Vis Spectrophotometer
Routinely used for the determination of non-mineral active ingredients such as phenolic (antioxidant) compounds in raw material matrices. Samples that have been prepared by various wet chemistry methods to generate a chromophoric substance in proportion to its concentration are introduced into a cell that measures the amount of light absorbed by a liquid sample at a wavelength selected from UV-Vis spectrum.
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Evaluating your Supplements
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Validation and Durham Research
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