Tekmar Talk Blog

I came across this intriguing article that was just too relevant to Teledyne Tekmar and Halloween, NOT to pass up.

Tags: Food Safety, Food Testing Laboratory, food testing

Overview

Wine is often regarded as one of man’s greatest accomplishments. A pinnacle of craft that requires knowledge of soil, weather, geography, geology, grapes, fermentation, and time.  You can use the word “terroir” in reference to it, and impress (and perplex) everyone around you.  It makes you wait a painstakingly long time before the end results, and then it is subjected to intense scrutiny (using intimidating terms like chewy, earthy, fleshy and jammy).  And hopefully, after all of this, it provides “unparalleled” rewards to the human palette.

Tags: Food Testing Laboratory, pesticide analysis, pesticide, QuEChERS, Wine, SVOC, Automate-Q-40

Our recent Application Note:  "Achieving Low-Level Detection of Benzene in Beverages with an Automated Headspace Vial Sampler" and accompanying webinar “Benzene in Beverages - How Low Can We Go” brought many thoughts to mind (to view Benzene Analysis resources and the webinar, please click the button at the bottom of this blog). Foremost was that I knew next to nothing about Benzene, how it could  end up in my soft drink, and what potential health effects it might have.  I remembered vaguely hearing about it in my childhood.  My general conception was that there was nothing good about it.  Being myself a wary food consumer (you’ll find me reading the back panels of food boxes in the grocery store), this was a subject for my inner food skeptic.  What I discovered was not nearly as straight forward as I had presumed.

Tags: Purge and Trap Concentrator, Atomx, VOC, Headspace, HT3, Versa, Benzene, Beverage Analysis

We are happy to announce some dynamic changes in our blog content.  Simply put, it was time for a change of philosophy. While our blog has always been a valuable resource for technical information, we recognized an opportunity to expand its subject matter, increase frequency, and ultimately create a more diverse, more useful forum.  After all, we want users like you to benefit from its content, encounter something truly thought provoking, and come away with something valuable. We want you to return for the next post, and above all, we hope we move you to comment and participate in the discussion! 

Tags: Blog Introduction

Tags: Purge and Trap Concentrator, hydrogen, nitrogen, GC/MS, USEPA method 8260, USEPA Method 542.3, Purge Gas, Atomx, helium

Tags: TOC, Total Organic Carbon, Teledyne Tekmar

Over the past few months, Ab Sciex hosted a technical talk with invited guest from Teledyne Tekmar, Phenomenex, and Gerstel on driving innovation, “Better Ideas for the Modern Food and Environmental Testing Laboratory”. The goal of this workshop was to show that collectively these companies could create a total solution for food and environmental laboratory testing.  It, also, served as a forum to talk about pertinent issues and challenges in regards to food testing.  Teledyne Tekmar was privileged to introduce the new AutoMate-Q40 a revolutionary system specifically designed and optimized to automate the QuEChERS sample preparation workflow. The AutoMate-Q40 system automates the following sampler preparation functions:

Tags: Teledyne Tekmar, Food Testing Laboratory, food testing, pesticide analysis, pesticide, QuEChERS, Environmental Testing Laboratory, AutoMate, food extracts, extractions, pesticides, residue

Tags: VOC, Teledyne Tekmar, Sample Preparation, Volatile Organic Compounds, drinking water, chromatography, Hydraulic Fracturing, Fracking, Analytical Instrumentation, Concentrator, Autosampler, Analyzer

Automated sample preparation is built upon making instruments easier to use, faster, and more efficient. More recent features to purge and trap systems like mass flow controllers and variable volume standard addition, give more method flexibility than legacy products. The 27 mL syringe on our Atomx VOC sample prep system allows for dilution of high level samples as well as automated methanol extractions.

Tags: VOC, Teledyne Tekmar, GRO, Gasoline Range Organics, Sample Preparation, Volatile Organic Compounds

You have successfully installed your TOC analyzer and, as suggested, you run a “Leak Check” prior to starting your analysis. The leak check fails, so you tighten everything, perform another leak check, and still, the instrument does not pass. Without a plan of attack, this can be frustrating and time consuming. Fortunately, there are some troubleshooting techniques that can help.

Tags: TOC, Total Organic Carbon, Teledyne Tekmar, Analyzer, Combustion