Effect of Test Portion Mass on Vitamin A Testing in Animal Feed Materials.

BACKGROUND: Vitamin A test results have historically been notorious for poor repeatability and reproducibility. This problem has been discussed at length in Association of American Feed Control Officials Laboratory Methods and Services Committee meetings. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this work was to assess the effect of test portion mass on the repeatability of vitamin A test results. METHODS: The study was conducted in two parts. In Part I, fundamental sampling error (FSE) was determined experimentally through replicated (n = 16) vitamin A testing of three animal feed materials. The testing followed rigorous test portion selection for 10 g and 100 g test portions. In Part II, FSE calculations were made (1) using theoretical equations based on vitamin A as a liberated analyte and (2) on representing the particles in feed materials. Particle size characterization of vitamin A ingredients was estimated by microscopy and further evaluated by particle size analysis. RESULTS: RSDs, % for vitamin A determinations ranged from 10.5-24.7, and 2.26-10.7 for 10 g and 100 g test portions, respectively. FSE calculated for Ingredient A ranged from 18.3-101% and 5.79-32.0% for 10 g and 100 g test portions, respectively, and for Ingredient B, ranged from 10.2-56.2% and 3.21-17.8% for 10 g and 100 g test portions, respectively. CONCLUSION: Test portion mass has a substantial impact on FSE and is an important factor in controlling the random error in vitamin A testing. FSE equations are useful to approximate minimum test portion mass. HIGHLIGHTS: Vitamin A method development should use theoretical predictions and experimental verification to guide test portion mass. Strategies to deal with the larger test portion masses will be key to validating new methods.

Validation of a PCR-based method for the detection of various rendered materials in feedstuffs using a forensic DNA extraction kit.

A method trial was initiated to validate the use of a commercial DNA forensic kit to extract DNA from animal feed as part of a PCR-based method. Four different PCR primer pairs (one bovine pair, one porcine pair, one ovine primer pair, and one multispecies pair) were also evaluated. Each laboratory was required to analyze a total of 120 dairy feed samples either not fortified (control, true negative) or fortified with bovine meat and bone meal, porcine meat and bone meal (PMBM), or lamb meal. Feeds were fortified with the animal meals at a concentration of 0.1% (wt/wt). Ten laboratories participated in this trial, and each laboratory was required to evaluate two different primer pairs, i.e., each PCR primer pair was evaluated by five different laboratories. The method was considered to be validated for a given animal source when three or more laboratories achieved at least 97% accuracy (29 correct of 30 samples for 96.7% accuracy, rounded up to 97%) in detecting the fortified samples for that source. Using this criterion, the method was validated for the bovine primer because three laboratories met the criterion, with an average accuracy of 98.9%. The average false-positive rate was 3.0% in these laboratories. A fourth laboratory was 80% accurate in identifying the samples fortified with bovine meat and bone meal. A fifth laboratory was not able to consistently extract the DNA from the feed samples and did not achieve the criterion for accuracy for either the bovine or multispecies PCR primers. For the porcine primers, the method was validated, with four laboratories meeting the criterion for accuracy with an average accuracy of 99.2%. The fifth laboratory had a 93.3% accuracy outcome for the porcine primer. Collectively, these five laboratories had a 1.3% false-positive rate for the porcine primer. No laboratory was able to meet the criterion for accuracy with the ovine primers, most likely because of problems with the synthesis of the primer pair; none of the positive control DNA samples could be detected with the ovine primers. The multispecies primer pair was validated in three laboratories for use with bovine meat and bone meal and lamb meal but not with PMBM. The three laboratories had an average accuracy of 98.9% for bovine meat and bone meal, 97.8% for lamb meal, and 63.3% for PMBM. When examined on an individual laboratory basis, one of these four laboratories could not identify a single feed sample containing PMBM by using the multispecies primer, whereas the other laboratory identified only one PMBM-fortified sample, suggesting that the limit of detection for PMBM with this primer pair is around 0.1% (wt/wt). The results of this study demonstrated that the DNA forensic kit can be used to extract DNA from animal feed, which can then be used for PCR analysis to detect animal-derived protein present in the feed sample.

Determination of sulfathiazole in type C medicated swine feed by reversed-phase liquid chromatography with post-column derivatization.

A convenient method was developed for determination of sulfathiazole (STZ) in Type C medicated swine feed by reversed-phase liquid chromatography (LC) with post-column derivatization. Addition of extractant solution (0.2N HCl and 1.5% diethylamine in 25% methanol) and an internal standard (IS), sulfamethylthiazole (SMZ), to 5 g sample was followed by mechanical shaking for 1 h. The extract was clarified by chilling, centrifugation, and filtering before injection onto a C18 reversed-phase column. The mobile phase components were 2% acetic acid and 1:1 acetonitrile-methanol (83 + 17%, v/v). Run time was about 20 min. Determination and, largely, the method's selectivity were based on detection at 450 nm of the derivative formed by the post-column reaction of dimethylaminobenzaldehyde with the primary amine of the analyte and IS. The IS, SMZ, differs from STZ by a single substituent methyl group, is stable, and is readily resolved from STZ. Although SMZ is not commercially available, it can be synthesized with relative ease from purchased reagents and will be supplied by the authors to interested laboratories. In single-laboratory validation, linearity was demonstrated over the range of 0.055-550 microg/mL, well beyond the target concentration of 5.5 microg/mL. The estimated limit of detection was 0.04 microg/mL; the calculated limit of quantitation was 0.13 microg/mL (feed concentration of 2.4 g/T or 2.7 mg/kg). Wet-spiking trials with a variety of swine feed matrixes showed recovery to be 100-102% for the intended concentration range, 50-200 g/T, with coefficient of variation (CV) < 2%. The method ruggedness was verified with an overall CV of 2.9%.

Reversed-phase liquid chromatographic determination of riboflavin in feeds.

A method for determination of riboflavin in animal feeds using liquid chromatography (LC) was developed for feed samples fortified with riboflavin at 1 mg/lb or greater (up to 10,000 mg/lb). Feed samples were extracted in 0.1 N HCl with heating on a steam bath for 30 min, followed immediately by mechanical shaking for 30 min. Sample extracts were diluted to target volume with 2% acetic acid and filtered; riboflavin was determined by LC on a reversed-phase C18 column with 2% acetic acid-acetonitrile (85 + 15) mobile phase for separation and fluorescence detection with excitation at 460 nm and emission at 530 nm. The extraction was compared with that of the AOAC Official Method for riboflavin in food and feed premixes. The 2 method extractions were not significantly different from each other at the 95% confidence level. The developed method also had good linearity over 4 orders of magnitude, recovery of 95-99% from spiked feed samples, a limit of detection of riboflavin at 0.00034 microg/mL in solution, a limit of quantitation of 0.023 mg/lb in feed, and good ruggedness.

Determination of tiamulin in type C medicated swine feeds using high throughput extraction with liquid chromatography.

An improved method for extraction and analysis of tiamulin is presented to address issues that arose during routine analysis of Type C medicated swine feeds under the current U.S. Food and Drug Administration-Center for Veterinary Medicine (FDA-CVM) approved method. The issues included the need for higher sample throughput and the ability to accommodate a wider variety of feed matrixes. Changes to the FDA-CVM approved method include reduced sample size and solvent volumes, phosphate buffering of tartaric acid, centrifugation, and use of a new liquid chromatography column and adjusted mobile phase composition. A paired sample study was performed to compare performance of the new and existing methods. The paired sample study showed no statistical difference between sample means of paired sets of 17 samples analyzed by both methods (t = 1.95 at 0.05 significance level, p = 0.068). A recovery study showed the method precision to be 2.06% (coefficient of variation) with an average standard recoveryof 95.8%. Ruggedness test results indicated good overall ruggedness of the method.