News
03-November 2010
– LGC
develops reference materials for the characterisation of
selenium-enriched food
products
Characterisation of Se-enriched food
products supports public safety
LGC, the UK’s designated
National Measurement Institute for
chemical and bioanalytical measurement, is supporting the food
industry by producing a range of reference materials for the
characterisation of selenium in bio-fortified foods.
Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element that occurs as a
variety of chemical species. The amino acid selenomethionine
(SeMet) is one such species and is a common, naturally occurring
food source of selenium. Decline in the importation of Se-rich
wheat flour from North America, for instance, is considered to have
contributed to the substantial fall of selenium in the European
diet. The production of Se-enriched wheat flour therefore offers an
effective bio-fortified food for increased selenium intake.
However, such fortification needs to be managed carefully to
ensure that the level and type of selenium present still remains
safe to humans. It is therefore essential that Se-enriched food
products can be characterised reliably. Reference materials are
vital to support accurate measurement of selenium in such
products.
Production of these reference materials calls for the use of
validated reference methods, based on high accuracy quantification
using isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS). However, despite
advances in quantitative speciation methodology, there is a lack of
commercially available isotopically enriched SeMet species with
which to perform this quantification. LGC has therefore developed
an isotopically enriched selenomethionine reference material
(76Se-enriched SeMet), providing an assessed value for the
abundance of 76Se.
Commenting on the development of this new reference material,
LGC’s Dr Heidi Goenaga-Infante, Principal Scientist in Mass Spectrometry, said: “LGC’s 76Se-enriched
SeMet reference material is vital to ensure commercial selenium
enrichment programmes are undertaken responsibly, without
compromising public safety.”
The new reference material is a suitable spike material for IDMS
and is available from LGC Standards, a
supplier of over 100,000 products including reference materials,
pharmaceutical impurity reference standards, biological standards
and reagents. Certified reference materials for Se in wheat flour
and yeast dietary supplement tablets are also in development at
LGC.
For further details on this and other reference materials please
contact askus@lgcstandards.com, or
visit www.lgcstandards.com
- Ends -
Notes to
editors