New testing procedures implemented by the Environmental Health Division are helping to rapidly test food for pesticides. The FDA and USDA are jointly funding this project as part of their Food Emergency Response Network (FERN).

Keeping food safe – whether from microbial contaminants like E. coli, or chemical contaminants like pesticides or radioactive contaminants – is an important part of surveillance of the American food system. FERN labs, including the Hygienic Laboratory, work with state and local laboratories across the country to detect these contaminants.

The FERN award is a chemistry Cooperative Agreement Plan (CAP) grant that supports adding to procedures to rapidly screen for pesticides in food using highly specialized testing equipment known as Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LCMSMS).

The Hygienic Laboratory is one of 170 labs throughout the country that are members of the FERN lab network. There are 14 state labs in the chemistry CAP program, 38 in the microbiological CAP program, and five in the radiation chemistry CAP program. The Hygienic Laboratory participates in all three disciplines (chemistry, microbiology, radiation chemistry) and has been awarded CAP grants for chemistry and microbiology.

As a member of the FERN CAP lab program, the Hygienic Laboratory provides additional capacity and capabilities to the FDA and USDA labs.

“Food safety is emerging as a center of excellence at the Hygienic Laboratory with all disciplines [chemistry, radiation chemistry and microbiology] at the lab involved,” said John Vargo, environmental lab scientist and principle investigator for the FERN grant.

This award is a continuation of an earlier grant. It requires re-application every five years on a competitive basis with yearly renewals based on satisfactory performance by the laboratory, and the availability of federal funding.

The FERN grant provides funds for the hiring of staff dedicated to the food safety program, for the purchase of laboratory supplies, and provides major instrumentation on loan to participating labs.