Better stilbene detection with these reference materials

THE OESTROGENIC hormones diethylstilbestrol (DES), hexestrol (HEX), and dienestrol (DE), are banned worldwide from livestock raised for food production. They are prohibited from use as growth promotion agents in veal and calf farming, and they form part of the UK’s national food safety sampling and monitoring programme.

These ‘stilbene’ compounds can be tested for in bovine urine, and now LGC has introduced two new certified reference materials (CRMs) to meet the demands of the more sensitive tests now available.

Two new reference materials – ERM-BB389 (DES, DE, HEX in bovine urine) and ERM-BB386 (stilbene blank material) – have lower concentrations of stilbenes than the previous CRMs they replace.

Concentrations are now just 1-6ug/kg per substance, having been 13-13ug/kg in the old standards. LGC says this will give better confidence in the high sensitivity detection of the substances, and that the new unit size will allow for more replicates to be taken per unit.

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