ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
DIVISION |
| The Environmental Health Division monitors Iowa’s air, water and soil through analytical testing mandated by the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. Environmental scientists test for contaminants of public health concern and respond to environmental and natural disasters, such as compromised water supplies due to chemical spills and flooding. |
FERN Chemistry CAP |
| The State Hygienic Lab provides testing support for the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Emergency Response Network (FERN). FERN provides national surveillance to help detect threats to the American food supply. The Hygienic Lab is a FERN member laboratory for all three disciplines (chemistry, microbiology and radiochemistry) and receives funding from FERN’s Chemistry Cooperative Agreement Program (cCAP) for chemical response. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides funding for microbiological response.
Major achievements:
- Participated in several proficiency exercises in which food samples were tested for various toxins and pesticides. All proficiency testing exercises were passed successfully.
- Added new equipment provided by the FDA in support of the FERN program. These instruments include an ICP/MS system for testing food products for the presence of metals and an ion trap LC/MS system for testing food products for semi-volatile organic chemicals.
- Worked with other FERN cCAP labs to implement an analytical procedure to test food products for a variety of naturally occurring toxins.
- Continued development of a procedure to test food products for toxic ionic chemicals using ion chromatography coupled to an ion trap mass spectrometer.
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