Portland, ME, August 7, 2018 – Portland, Maine. EnviroLogix Inc. is pleased to announce that its newest QuickScan II Reader System (ACC-331) has been certified through the AOAC® Performance Tested Methods℠ Program for use with the DON Flex mycotoxin kit (Cat. No. AQ-304-BG; AOAC® PTM #121701).

The QuickScan II System is validated for testing commodities destined for human consumption and animal feed.

According to Alex Miller, Vice President of Marketing & Business Development at EnviroLogix, “We continue to take our mycotoxin kits and reader systems through the AOAC PTM process to provide our customers with the added confidence that comes with certification from this globally recognized association. EnviroLogix products, including our newest QuickScan II Reader System, offer best in class performance and reproducibility; approval through AOAC helps to bring awareness to this.”

AOAC International (Association of Official Analytical Chemists) is an international association and voluntary consensus standards developing organization. AOAC standards are used globally to promote trade and to facilitate public health and safety.

For more information…

• Learn more about the QuickScan II Reader System (ACC-331).
• Learn more about the DON Flex mycotoxin kit (Cat. No. AQ-304-BG).
• Learn more about AOAC International and AOAC certification.

EnviroLogix Inc.’s history as a technology innovator for the global agricultural diagnostic markets continues with the introduction of the next generation QuickScan II instrument for quantitative GMO and mycotoxin testing.

Portland, ME, July 9, 2018 – EnviroLogix Inc. launched QuickScan II, the next generation scanner for quantifying GMOs and mycotoxins (such as aflatoxin) for the grain, processing, and feed industries. The QuickScan platform was built for rapid detection of GMOs and mycotoxins in crops critical to the grain, distilling, ethanol processing, livestock feed, and pet food industries.

“With the introduction of the QuickScan II, EnviroLogix is delivering enhanced features and capability to our already best-in-class quantitative GMO and mycotoxin testing platform.” said Bill Welch, President of EnviroLogix Inc.. “Our partnership with the world’s leading seed, grain, animal feed, and pet food providers enables us to uniquely understand their increasing demand for improving operational efficiencies. The QuickScan II provides enhancements to meet these needs on a platform they already know and trust.”

QuickScan II extends the platform’s robust offering to improve operational efficiency. The instrument boasts expanded testing capabilities within a streamlined footprint; bringing exciting new functionality and an expanded test carrier that allows up to 22 tests to be scanned simultaneously, while requiring less space in the testing environment.

As data management needs evolve, QuickScan II enhances the platform’s capabilities for inventory tracking, quality measurement, and offering refined graphics and analytics for better decision making.

Across the markets EnviroLogix serves, the demand for stricter compliance is always rising. To aid in driving compliance, the QuickScan II expands the platform’s functionality, including user authentication, enhanced intelligence for flagging duplicate reads, and maintenance reminders and enforcement.

According to Jason Lee, Senior Business Unit Manager, “QuickScan II offers our customers benefits throughout their organization, making their jobs easier while facilitating improvements in efficiency and traceability; giving added confidence that they’re delivering on their quality standards.”

EnviroLogix Inc. is a leading producer of mycotoxin and GMO tests serving the food and feed safety market. The company continues to provide innovative solutions to its markets and was the first to offer LFD technology for mycotoxin screening in grain. EnviroLogix’s commitment to scientific innovation and providing exceptional solutions for today’s identity-preservation and food-safety environments remains at the forefront with the introduction of QuickScan II.

More and more US farmers are electing to plant soybean varieties with multiple modes of herbicide tolerance. Stacking these herbicide traits in soy gives farmers the flexibility to use the most effective chemical tools available to control a broad spectrum of weeds.

In addition to flexibility, the use of multiple herbicides with different sites of action also allows farmers to help control the propagation of herbicide resistant weeds, a major challenge facing the industry. Two new herbicide resistant soybean varieties have been developed and are being released to the US market: Balance GT soybeans and Enlist E3 soybeans. The Enlist E3 soybean is tolerant to the following herbicides: 2,4-D Choline (2,4-D), Glyphosate (e.g. Roundup), and Glufosinate (Liberty). While Enlist soybeans have not received import approval from China, Enlist E3 soybeans have been planted this year in a closed-loop program administered by DOW and ADM for the domestic soy market. Enlist E3 soybeans can be detected with the EnviroLogix LibertyLink (PAT/pat) lateral flow strip included in the bulk soybean QuickComb.

MS Technologies, Bayer, and Mertec LLC have collaborated to develop the Balance GT soybean system. The foreign import permits have been received for this variety but the US EPA has not approved the new herbicide utilized, Isoxaflutole. The Balance GT variety will be a stack of 2mepsps to allow for glyphosate resistance and HPPD w336 which allows for resistance to Isoxaflutole. In 2019 a Balance variety will be released that includes an additional trait allowing for resistance to a 3rd herbicide, Liberty.

What do these new soy varieties mean for organizations involved with the origination of Non-GMO soybeans? The EnviroLogix QuickComb kit for bulk soybeans provides complete trait detection coverage for the 2018 harvest to insure the success of your Non-GMO program.

Questions? Need sampling plan development guidance? Rely on EnviroLogix and its decades of industry support and innovation to insure your success.

 

For more GMO news, check out:

• Global GMO Cultivation
• Report from the CRISPR-Ag Bio Conference
• USDA Releases Proposed GMO Labeling

 

 

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Sampling

Getting ready for the busy season means planning for how to receive grain. Let’s examine the statistics of grain sampling. When you’re testing a truck or a barge, you unfortunately can’t test every kernel or bean. When you’re testing inbound corn or beans, the best outcome you can have is a fair reading for each particular truck. The goal is for the sample you take to test to be as close as possible to a representation of the truck’s true score. When we accomplish this, the farmer gets their well-deserved premium for the hard work of growing a quality crop, and you can be confident the material you’re moving downstream is of the highest quality and satisfies your customers’ needs. If there are low levels of GMOs or mycotoxins present on that truck, you want to sample enough grain, and from enough places on the truck, to find them.

So, how do we find low levels of GMOs or mycotoxins? In sampling, size matters! If you only sample a small amount from only one corner of the shipment, there’s a very good chance you won’t find them. You’re better off looking at grain from each corner, and even the middle of the shipment. When you’re sampling a truck, take as large a sample as you can reasonably handle. We suggest a 3 to 4-pound sample. If you always look for GMOs or mycotoxins in the same spot in every shipment, you’re far less likely to find them. Make sure you are probing 3 to 7 different spots with your hydraulic probe. See the diagram at right for examples.

Push the probe to the bottom, open it, and draw up. To the same point you want to mix that 3 to 4-pound sample as much as possible. Put the sample over a divider and grind as much as is practical in your probe stand (the GIPSA Sampling handbook can be found here).

Weigh out the sample you will test, and with this fair sampling, you can be more confident you’re providing the best answer possible for both your company, and for the farmer. If the sample is close to cutoff (for example, a 1.1% where your cutoff is 1%), and you have the time, take a second sample from your collected corn or beans, regrind, and retest. Go with the average score of the two tests (not the better of the two scores). The best way to keep our growers happy, and to continue providing product for Identity Preservation programs, is to sample fairly and to properly detect GMOs or mycotoxins when they can be found.

Download a primer for sampling grain from a flat-bottom truck.

 

Proper Pipette Position

The best way to be fair in your testing is to perform the protocol as accurately as possible. When using your mini-pipette, make sure you hold it plumb vertically.

Tipping to the side can cause the liquid to roll back into the pipette, further reducing your accuracy and quality of testing.

If you ever have any questions, or just want to talk to someone about your testing, Tech Service is here for you.

Give us a call at (866)408-4597 X 2, or email techsupport@envirologix.com.

 

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Congress enacted The National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard Law on July 29, 2016; and more recently the USDA released a proposed rule regarding the labeling of bioengineered foods and how this should be communicated to the public. The standard is currently open for public comment. Per Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue “We are looking for public input on a number of these key decisions before a final rule is issued later this year.” The 60-day open comment period will be closing on July 3rd. The proposed rule can be viewed and comments can be submitted here. Some of the important points that the USDA is looking for public comment on are:

• Definition of bioengineered: will new genetic techniques like genetic editing (CRISPR, TALEN, etc.), RNAi, and others require labeling?
• Will highly refined ingredients that originate from bioengineered foods, but do not have nucleic products that can be detected via common test methods, require labeling?
• At what threshold are products considered bioengineered? 0.9%, 5%, and 10% have been proposed.
• Will bioengineered levels be determined by ingredient or by product weight?
• How will the bioengineered label be communicated to consumers: text claims, digital codes (QR), symbols, or text message based inquiries?

More information from the USDA on the National Bioengineering Food Disclosure Law is available via a pre-recorded webinar found here.

As you contemplate the impact that the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Law may have on your organizations, use EnviroLogix as an informed industry resource. We’re here to supply the diagnostic solutions and implementation guidance to insure your organization is well positioned to comply with this new law.

 

For more GMO news, check out:

• Global GMO Cultivation
• New GMO Soy Traits
• Report from the CRISPR-Ag Bio Conference

 

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On March 28, USDA Secretary Perdue issued a statement clarifying the department’s oversight of plants produced by new gene editing techniques, including CRISPR. With the USDA’s focus on protecting plant health, gene edited plants that do not contain genetic material from ‘plant pests’, such as viral DNA, will not require their standard regulatory process.

At the recent CRISPR-Ag Bio conference in San Diego, California, several representatives from the USDA spoke about the Secretary’s statement and regulatory status of gene edited plants. The speakers emphasized the USDA’s stance to regulate products, not processes. This is not unfamiliar territory – plants that have been exposed to mutation-inducing chemicals or radiation are not subject to the USDA regulatory process because the mutations induced are not derived from plant pests and are comparable to genetic changes that occur naturally in plants.

Gene edited crops that fall into one of the following categories are likewise considered comparable to natural genetic change:

1. Sequence deletions
2. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)
3. Sequence introduction from a compatible organism
4. Complete null segregants

The USDA also emphasized their commitment to providing regulatory certainty to the agricultural community. The department is looking to develop a framework for regulation that adapts to future innovation, includes “off-ramps” for plants that do not require plant health regulation, and ensures that neither the department, nor plant breeders and innovators waste time in repetitive reviews. The USDA is, of course, a government agency that welcomes comments and input from the agricultural community on policy and procedures – during their talks, the speakers emphasized that they seek unique comments and input. Although an adjacent process to plant health regulation, the USDA is in the open comment period through July 3rd for the Bioengineered Food Disclosure Act.

For more GMO news, check out:

• Global GMO Cultivation
• New GMO Soy Traits
• USDA Releases Proposed GMO Labeling

 

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