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AOCS Agricultural Microscopy Division
Newsletter November 2007

Division Profile
Catherine Watkins

An old and a new microscope.
credits: old--David Duncan; new--Neil Vary

Division mission

Agricultural microscopy is the science and skill of using microscopy for identifying and quantitatively evaluating ingredients and products from agriculture and agri-food. These commodities include: feeds, fertilizers, seeds, and foods. Agricultural microscopy provides a quick and inexpensive means of detecting contamination, adulteration, and variation in quality. Microscopic examination is an important adjunct to chemical analysis as it can disclose materials that may otherwise pass undetected.

Division objectives

The Agricultural Microscopy Division is committed to the continual advancement of visual imaging as a key element in discerning the quality and content of ingredients and finished products of the feed, fertilizer, seed, and agri-food sectors. Division members share a common interest in advancing the science, techniques, and skills of visual imaging. Member interaction builds and strengthens professional skills and competencies.

Resources

AOCS Lab Proficiency Program: Feed Microscopy Series

Manual of Microscopic Analysis of Feedstuff, 3rd Edition; 1992. Available through AOCS Press.

Technical sessions at the AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo and an annual short course

2007-2008 board members

Chairperson: Margeorie (Marge) McCutcheon, West Virginia Department of Agriculture, mmccutcheon@ag.state.wv.us

Vice-chairperson: Neil Vary, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, varyn@inspection.gc.ca

Secretary/Treasurer: Christine Rogers-Kelly, Mississippi State chemical Lab, crogersk@ra.msstate.edu

Member-at-large: Jim Makowski, Windsor Laboratories, jvmakowski@ad.com

Member-at-large: Annie Fournier, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, afournier@inspection.gc.ca

Member-at-large: Gary Ideus, ADM Alliance Nutrition Inc., gary_ideus@admworld.com

Member-at-large: Beth Anne Woody, Office of the Indiana State Chemist, sturgeoe@purdue.edu

Past chairperson: Patricia Ramsey

Always a new puzzle

A drum roll, please: The AOCS Feed Microscopy Division is now the AOCS Agricultural Microscopy Division.

"The reason we changed the name is to expand the scope--no pun intended--of the technical topics we cover at the AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo and in our short courses, and of our membership base itself," explains Division Vice Chairperson Neil Vary.

Technically, a feed microscopist is an analyst in a feed laboratory that is usually affiliated with a regulatory body, an industrial quality assurance department, or academia. These skilled analysts examine feeds for various reasons, but mostly to verify the ingredients of the feed compared to the formulation, to identify any contaminants or adulterants that should not be there and may be hazardous to animals or humans, and to verify the adequacy of ingredient processing or quality of the ingredients. And yet many microscopists deal with much more than just animal feed.

"For example, I not only examine feeds," Vary says, "but have also examined human foods and fertilizers. Similarly, Margeorie (Marge) McCutcheon, our Division chairperson, is also trained in multiple microscopy fields as not only a feed microscopist, but also as a seed analyst for the West Virginia Department of Agriculture.

"This multi-commodity training with various agricultural products is quite common within our membership and helps illustrate the strength of microscopy and the value of experienced microscopists. The Division name change and scope expansion is an acknowledgment of these skills and will allow us to respond better to our members' needs," explains Vary.

Vary is a specialty area biologist (microscopy) with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and is an unequivocal advocate of microscopy, which he sees as a very powerful tool that sometimes is overlooked because of an incorrect perception that it is an "old and outdated" methodology. Microscopy isn't better than chemical analysis, Vary says; each method has its place, as well as its strengths and limitations.

Vary uses the recent melamine adulteration scare as an illustration, wherein a pet food recall was initiated in North America by several pet food manufacturers after a number of cats and dogs sickened and died after eating contaminated pet food. In March 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported finding melamine in the pet food and in samples of wheat gluten imported from a single source in China, as well as in crystalline form in the kidneys and in urine of affected animals. The melamine presumably had been added to give an artificial boost to the nitrogen content of the pet food, Vary notes.

"Due to the higher nitrogen content, a chemical analysis would inaccurately show a higher level of protein than the pet food actually contained, and it would not specify a source," he says. "On the other hand, microscopy could help determine the added protein was not coming from an approved source."

Microscopists are an endangered species, of sorts, with attrition occurring through retirement and industry consolidation, making membership in the Division of even greater importance to participants. Because one can only identify something by sight if one has seen it before, each member now benefits from the experience of the entire group.

"When I am confronted by something new," Vary notes, "I am able to take a photomicrograph and e-mail the digital image to someone else in the Division for consultation. We are a close group and we know each other's skills and responsibilities well.

"Agricultural microscopy is a wonderful field," he concludes. "There is always a new challenge, which keeps the job exciting, new, and fresh because there is always a new puzzle to be solved."

Also in this newsletter:

Let Us Share the Light, by Patricia Ramsey

In Focus, by Marge McCutcheon, Chair

Division Representative Meeting, by Neil Vary

Preview of Agricultural Microscopy Division Technical Sessions Planned for the 99th AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo, by Neil Vary

AOCS Agricultural Microscopy Laboratory Proficiency Program Series, by Gary Ideus, Program provider

Microscopy Websites

Agricultural Microscopy Division web page
AOCS, 2710 S. Boulder, Urbana, IL 61802-6996 USA