Grain safety assurance

The Grain Research Laboratory is the leading Canadian authority on food safety issues affecting grains and chemical testing of grains for toxic substances. The GRL Grain Safety Assurance program provides the Canadian Grain Commission with a means for furthering the safety of Canadian grain and for providing scientific support to Canadian producers, marketers and processors in meeting domestic and foreign customers' grain safety assurance requirements. Researchers in the GRL Grain Safety Assurance Trace Organic Unit work closely with those in the GRL's Trace Element program and Microbiology program to support safety assurance of Canadian grain.

The GRL program for safety assurance of Canadian grain has been evolving for over 40 years. The underlying strategies of the program include:

• Preventing and avoiding contamination - Ongoing scrutiny and study of potential routes of entry of poisonous substances into grain, alerting and providing guidance to the trade on contamination issues and liaising with officials in other federal departments and the trade on grain safety matters.
• Identification and control of suspect parcels – Working with CGC and trade grain inspectors, the GRL tests samples of suspect parcels so contaminated shipments may be identified and disposed of in an appropriate manner.
• Grain safety monitoring – Testing is carried out on randomly selected vessel loadings and other types of samples. The data provides a means for assessing the status of Canadian grains with respect to these issues and provides the scientific basis for official CGC statements of assurance on food safety issues.
• Research and development
  • method development
  • support of the grading system
  • baseline studies
  • processing studies
• Providing marketing and technical assistance to the trade
  • chemical testing for certification of export shipments
  • advice and assistance (e.g. tender and contract specifications)
  • official statements of assurance
  • grain safety monitoring data and information

Technology (trace organic analysis)

• Gas chromatography (GC) with electron capture and flame photometric detectors and headspace analysis capability
• GC with mass spectrometry (GC-MS)
• Liquid chromatography (LC) with fluorescence,ultraviolet and photodiode array detectors
• LC with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)
• Gel permeation chromatography sample cleanup
• Accelerated solvent extraction
• Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
• Immunoaffinity column cleanup with fluorometry

Methods (trace organic analysis)

• Analytical capability for approximately 200 pesticides (insecticides, herbicides or fungicides)
• Analytical capability for the major food mycotoxins