ADDIA ABABA – March 07, 2025 (EPHI) – The Nutrition, Environmental Health and Non-Communicable Disease Research Directorate of the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) received laboratory equipment worth 30 million birr - including a GC-FID with three gas generators, a water purification system, and spare parts for amino acid analyzer - as part of the Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI) Center of Excellence (CoE) project funded by the Gates Foundation. According to sources from the Directorate, the American Heart Association, one of the PTFI secretariats, procured the equipment on behalf of EPHI.
Dr. Endale Amara, Head with the Food Science and Nutrition Research Division and PTFI CoE coordinator said that these pieces of equipment are highly important and expected to address challenges faced by the laboratory experts at EPHI in conducting food and nutrition researches, including food components such as fatty acid profiles. He stated that the equipment, Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID), is a critical analytical instrument utilized for the separation and analysis of mixtures containing volatile components. “It is particularly effective in detecting and quantifying organic compounds, such as fatty acids found in various food items. Besides, this equipment will be helpful to onboard other PTFI targeted metabolomics techniques such as sterols and tocopherol analysis,” Dr. Endale stated.
According to Dr. Endale, GC-FID is one of the most effective and precise methods for solving the problem of identifying fatty acid components and “this analysis is crucial to categorize food items based on their essential fatty acid profile”. He further stated that the equipment is also relevant to determine the level of trans fatty acids, components that could clogs arteries-increasing the risk of heart attacks and deaths, which makes the lab to support the regulatory practices.
Dr. Endale said that the gas generators (nitrogen, hydrogen, and air) produce gases from the environment and supply them to various laboratory equipment, including the GC-FID. These gas generators reduce costs associated with purchasing expensive compressed gas cylinders and help facilitate laboratory experiments at a lower cost, according to him.
Giving emphasis on maintaining the purity level of water in laboratory, Dr. Endale said that accuracy and precision of laboratory experiments suffer due to impure water. “Water is the most used reagent. Each type of experiment requires a specific water purity or grade. Therefore, the challenge the laboratory at the Directorate faces in this regard will be addressed through the newly provided equipment,” Dr. Endale said.
He further noted that familiarization training was provided to five experts, from the Directorate, who will be responsible for onboarding (implementing) various metabolomics techniques.
Available source indicates that Gas Chromatography (GC) is a common type of chromatography used in analytical chemistry for separating and analyzing compounds that can vaporize without decomposition. Testing the purity of a particular substance, or separating the different components of a mixture can reportedly be taken as typical uses of GC. (EPHI)
