AOAC India
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AOAC International – India section in collaboration with the National Referral Laboratory (NRL), ICAR-National Research Centre for Grapes successfully organised a training programme entitled “Training on the residue analysis of pesticides and plant growth regulators in fruits and vegetables using GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS” during the period February 2-4, 2015. A total number of 18 participants from different chemical testing laboratories such as SGS, Intertech India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore Analytical research Centre, Detox Corporation Pvt. Ltd., Coca-Cola India Pvt. Ltd., NCMSL, Punjab Biotechnologies Incubator and PRTL, participated in this 3-day training programme. Two representative of Sri Lanka Tea Board also participated.
This training program covered multiresidue analysis of pesticides and plant growth regulators (PGRs) in fruits and vegetable through lectures on the regulations in relation to pesticide residue analysis, sample preparation techniques, cleanup procedures, analytical method validation as per the DG-Sanco guidelines, optimisation of GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS parameters for selective and sensitive analysis of pesticides and PGRs, data interpretation and troubleshooting, etc. On each day, the lectures were accompanied by hands-on practical sessions, which guided the trainees through the standard operating procedures established by the NRL for fresh fruits and vegetables for the analysis of the compounds under the scope of the Residue Monitoring Plan of APEDA. Practical sessions also included the demonstrations of different instruments such as GC-MS/MS, LC-MS/MS, high resolution LC-MS, accelerated solvent extractor, etc.
The training sessions were coordinated by Dr. Kaushik Banerjee, President, AOAC international – India section in association with his colleagues from the NRL viz. Dr. Ahammed Shabeer T.P., Dr. Dasharath Oulkar, Dr. Sagar Utture, Dr. Manjusha Jadhav, Dr. Arnab Goon, Sandip Hingmire and others. The program was partially sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific and the trainees were highly benefitted by the presentations of an eminent Scientist from Thermo, Dr. Hans-Joachim Huebschmann, and few of his colleagues. The training programme was concluded through an evaluation session. The valedictory session was honoured by the presence of Dr. S.D. Sawant, Director of ICAR-NRCG. Certificate of participation was presented to all the trainees.