Location: Methods and Application of Food Composition Laboratory
Project Number: 8040-52000-068-006-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 29, 2015
End Date: Sep 28, 2020
Objective:
The purpose of this cooperative agreement is to provide analytical quality control, analytical services and technical expertise and coordination for USDA-initiated contracts and other laboratory projects to improve the quality of data in the National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.
Approach:
The proposed effort will incorporate multiple tasks to include: 1) procuring reference materials from external sources and the development of in-house reference materials in order to evaluate offerors and monitor analytical contractors; 2) preparation and shipment of food samples to contract laboratories to obtain analytical data; 3) development and validation of analytical methods as coordinated with NDL; and 4) consultation regarding quality control of nutrient data obtained from the contract laboratories. In addition, this agreement includes consultations with NDL and contract laboratories on issues of methodology, sample analysis, handling and storage, and it may include analysis of specific nutrients in selected food matrices and research to improve methodology or address quality control issues related to optimizing food composition data, and preparation and publication of reports of results of this work.
