ICUMSA News n°69 – January 2012

Message from the President

 

I would like to send all ICUMSA members best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2012.

ICUMSA 28th Session – Cambridge 2012

 

All of the arrangements for the 28th Session are now complete. The Session will take place at Downing College, Cambridge, England on 16th and 17th July 2012.

A Reception Evening will take place at Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences on 15th July and will begin at 19.30.

A visit to British Sugar’s Wissington Sugar Factory is planned for the 18th July for those that are interested in seeing this site. There is also a meeting of the Scientific Committee of ESST scheduled for 18th July at Downing College, i.e. following the plenary meeting of the ICUMSA Session.

Details of the Session, Registration and Accommodation forms are available on the ICUMSA website. A number of rooms have been reserved at Downing College and these will be allocated on a “first come – first served” basis. The website will be updated with remaining room availability once rooms start to become allocated. There are also a number of local hotels within easy walking distance of Downing College and their details are also available on the website.

Please remember that the 2012 Olympics will start at the end of July in London and therefore it is advisable to book flights as early as possible. The nearest international airport to Cambridge is London Stansted but it is also well connected to the other London airports via the rail network.

Referee’s Reports

I would like to remind all Referees that reports should be prepared by April 2012 so that they can be made available on the ICUMSA website for members to read. This gives time for any translations necessary to be prepared before the Session takes place.

Please send reports to Dr Puke when available.

Updates on current work below:

GS2 (White Sugar) – Karen Pardoe

Work is continuing on the statistical interpretation of the collaborative study for the Determination of Heavy Metals in White Sugar.  The final analysis of the data and draft report thereon will be made available to Associate Referees by the end of February.

The Referee would still encourage anyone interested in taking part in a collaborative study of Acid Beverage Floc (ABF) determination methods to get in contact.  It is essential that there are true positive ABF test materials available so the Referee kindly requests that anyone able to provide such material to please get in contact.  There is no need to state geographically where the sugar is from but it is essential to know if the source is beet or cane.

 

GS9 (Plantation White Sugar) – Dr Vasudha Keskar

Collaborative studies are planned for the following two methods:

The Determination of Copper in Plantation White Sugar by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (Tentative)

The Determination of (Soluble) Iron in Plantation White Sugar by a Colorimetric Method (Tentative).

Anyone interested in participating is asked to contact the Referee directly. 

 

S2 (Oligosaccharides and Polysaccharides) – Dr Maciej Wojtczak

Within the activity of S2 and GS1 a collaborative test of the Determination of Starch Content in Raw Sugar using Tentative Method GS1-17 has been organised. The aim of the study is to validate Method GS1-17 and compare it with Method GS1-16 (Official). At this moment there are 16 participants to whom the raw sugar samples have been sent.

Within the activity of S2 and GS8 a collaborative test of the Determination of Mannitol Content in Raw Juice using Tentative Method GS8-26 has been organised. The aim of the study is to validate Method GS8-26 and compare it with Method GS8-12 (Official). At this moment there are 10 participants to whom the lyophilized raw juice samples have been sent.

 

Meeting of European Microbiology Group

Dr Jacobs intends to hold the next meeting of the European Microbiology Group on Monday 16th July at Downing College, i.e. in a similar manner to that meeting held at the last ICUMSA Session in Berlin. Currently the topics to be discussed include: 

·         method for the detection of Alicyclobacillus and experiences so far

·         experiences with the statement concerning pathogenic bacteria in crystalline sugar from sugar beets

·         Legionella in the water of cooling towers

·         experiences with SUPS Micro Rounds

·         “Official” Microbiological Methods without validation

 

Geoff Parkin

ICUMSA President