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Demand for cheap meat has increased the potential for fraudulent food labeling, which exploded in public debate in 2009 and 2013. Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) is a technology originally developed to identify bone fragments from archaeological sites by determining the sequence of the bone protein, collagen. By applying this research to the food industry we have provided evidence of fraud. In 2009 ZooMS identified pig and cow gelatin being pumped into chicken meat to increase weight. Action taken by the food producers when confronted with our research respected the beliefs of up to 3.8milliona people in the UK who choose to avoid pig and cow products.
The leather industry is globally significant: the supply chain, from leather production to leather goods manufacture is currently worth in the order of $1 trillion per annum. Although written records show that leather production is at least 5,000 years old, an understanding of the chemical principles underpinning the reactions involved only began at the turn of the 19th century, roughly corresponding to the development of modern chemistry and, coincidentally, with the revolutionary introduction of chrome tanning. At that time, the basis of the stabilising reaction was assumed to be crosslinking, whereby the component strands of protein are linked like stitches by the tanning chemical and this was the accepted view thereafter. Furthermore, it was also accepted that the ability of tanning reactions to confer high hydrothermal stability is a property of a few unrelated chemistries, of which chromium(III) tanning is the best known example.
Link-lock theory is revolutionary, insofar as it is the first new thinking in the chemical stabilisation of collagen in over half a century. This view of tanning was the outcome of examining the reaction with modern analytical instrumentation and applying a weight of evidence from the literature. The consequence has been the rejection of the accepted view of tanning mechanism, in favour of a simpler but more powerful theory. The principles of the theory can explain the effects of all known tanning processes. In an applied technology, its use is most powerful as it can predict the outcome of all, even as yet unknown reactions. Moreover, it is a major part of the way in which practitioners can predict details of the processes required to make leather and other biomaterials with desired properties and performance.
The fundamental importance of the theory is that it allows the subject to move on as it is more powerful than the alternative view and there is much evidence to support it. By combining this thinking with other new thinking into wider aspects of the heterogeneous chemistry, modifying collagen is now placed on a firm basis of leather science, which means that the outcomes of reactions can be predictable. The primary impact of this new view of protein stabilisation lies in the ways in which the thinking has and is informing developments of collagenic biomaterials and applications in the global leather and associated industries.
Seminal materials research at QMUL and its technological transfer via the QMUL spin-out ApaTech™, has led to the development of a range of cost-effective synthetic bone graft (SBG) products (ApaPore™, Actifuse™ and Inductigraft™), which safely and effectively stimulate rapid bone healing and are more reliable than previous autograft procedures. The successful use of the ApaTech™ range of products has delivered impact on health and welfare by reducing post-operative infection risks and improving recovery rates. To date, ApaTech™ products have been used to treat over 370,000 patients in over 30 countries. In 2010, ApaTech™ had 4% of the US SBG market, a $20 million annual turnover, employed 160 people in nine countries, and was sold to Baxter International for £220 million. By 2012, ApaTech™ products had attained a 10% share of the global SBG market (treating 125,000 patients per annum), estimated to be around $510 million. Other impacts include altering surgical clinical practice away from the use of autograft.