26research

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009

OMAN DAILY Observer

The determination of melamine concentrations in meat samples was carried out using the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) at the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University

Meat contamination with various chemi-cal and biological

residues is one of the major concerns all around the world. although there is a significant increase in foodborne out-breaks of diseases worldwide, the chemical contamination of meat and meat products is still the most important issue for consumers.

Meat and meat products might be contaminated with environmental materials such as pesticides, chemical, bio-logical and natural toxins as a result of processing and packaging. Contamination can also occur through the use of veterinary drugs such as anti-biotics, hormones, growth pro-motents as results of mass pro-duction, commercialised feed formulation such as melamine. Melamine is commonly used to produce various products, including plates, plastic resins, and components of paper and paperboard that may come into contact with food.

an investigation was car-ried out by Dr Isam Kadim (pictured), Dr Osman Mah-goub and Rabea al Maqbaly to find out the level of melamine in meat and meat products available in the Omani market. the study revealed that some meat and meat products avail-able in the Omani market are contaminated with melamine. Dr Isam Kadim (Head: Depart-ment of animal and Veterinary

Sciences) was interviewed to highlight more details regard-ing the potential human health hazards associated with con-suming meat contaminated with melamine.

Dr Kadim addressed the objectives of this investiga-tion and emphasised the seri-ousness of meat contamina-tion with melamine in Omani markets. these challenges and recommendations can be used to eliminate food contaminants by implementing guidelines and rules. Increased levels of melamine in food beyond the maximum residue limit can af-fect human health. He stated that the average concentration of melamine in food from ap-proved industrial uses is esti-mated at less than 0.015 mg/kg. this level of melamine in food is minute and does not pose a public health concern. Intentional addition of mela-mine to food, however, does pose a significant risk.

the discovery of mela-mine in pet food, animal feed and protein sources includ-ing wheat gluten, rice protein concentrate, and corn gluten created an urgent need for a rapid method for detecting melamine in food. Subsequent to the pet food incident, it was discovered that waste mate-rial from manufactures of pet food was contaminated with either melamine alone or in combination with cyanuric acid which had been added to chicken feed. During this time, investigators also learnt that contaminated wheat gluten had been used in manufactur-ing aquaculture feeds.

In China, melamine was added to diluted milk for the manufacture of powdered infant formula. the adulter-ated infant formula resulted in 50,000 cases of kidney stones, mostly among children under three years of age.

the Omani market is open for various types of meat and meat products from all around the world. Currently there is a growing awareness and con-cern about contaminates and residuals of various harmful materials on human health. Omani people are quite aware of hazards of meat contami-nants including those of mela-mine. therefore, screening of melamine residues in meat and meat products is very impor-tant. this should be carried out through the most sophisticated and highly sensitive methods to determine melamine con-centrations in meat and meat products in the Omani market. Fifty-one meat and meat prod-

uct samples representing cat-tle, sheep and poultry, burger, sausages, mortadella, salami and mince meat were ran-domly collected. the 51 meat samples represented 35 lo-cal, regional and international companies. the determination of melamine concentrations in meat samples was carried out using the enzyme Linked Im-munosorbent assay (eLISa) at the Department of animal and Veterinary Sciences, Col-lege of agricultural and Ma-rine Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University.

the results revealed that chicken from 8 out of 16 poul-try companies sampled are

selling products contaminated with melamine in the range of 25.6 to 73.0 mg/kg. those val-ues were much higher than the maximum residue limit, which may cause kidney stones. Fifty per cent of poultry meat tested was found to be contaminated with more than the maximum residue limit of melamine. the high levels of melamine in meat and meat products must be taken seriously as poultry meat consumption has increased by 75-80 per cent among Omanis in recent years. this increase has occurred as a result of better education, an increase in income and low price of chicken compared to

other meats. the study also showed that

concentrations of melamine in poultry processing such as sausages, burger and mince meat ranged between 0.00 and 35.2 mg/kg. However, mela-mine concentrates in cattle and sheep meat samples were be-low the maximum residue lim-it. these results indicated that some of the poultry companies may have used feeds contami-nated with melamine.

this incident prompted many countries and regions worldwide, including China, Hong Kong, australia, New Zealand, the USa, Canada and the european Union, to establish action limits for the presence of melamine and/or melamine and its analogues in foods. the findings of this study confirmed that the pub-lic perception and govern-mental response must be of paramount importance in set-ting a regulatory framework and determining the rate and direction of the diffusion of the contaminated meat and meat products with melamine or any other contaminates in the Sultanate of Oman. this entails identifying “Minimum Residue Level”, which should be the official procedure for evaluating the safety of the residues of melamine in food products. this can be achieved by establishing laboratories equipped with sophisticated instruments to detect for con-taminants in food before it is delivered to the markets to ensure there are no adverse ef-fects on human health. Moreo-ver, the authorised government agencies should establish tech-nical committees to eliminate the spread of contamination in meat and meat products in the Omani market and protect public health. Suppliers of contaminated free meat and meat products in the Omani market need to strengthen routine sampling and develop techniques to monitor poten-tial hazards of contaminated food on human health through liaison between local and in-ternational organisations.

Detection of melamine in meat and meat products in Omani markets

By Dr Mansour bin Saif al Manthari,Dean, College of Medicine and Health Sciences

PeOPLeS and nations take pride in their research achievements represented in their scientific discov-eries and in innovations which make their life easier.

this status is not attained by chance or through luck, but come as a logical result of continuous and incessant effort in developing a research culture. Since 1970, the Sultanate of Oman has made considerable progress in developing re-search infrastructures as well as in the Omanisation of re-search activities through SQU and the Research Council.

Recent years have witnessed a continuous increase in budgets allocated to research and in the availability of laboratories. Yet an important issue is whether financial support itself is sufficient to create a research environment in the Sultanate.

Clearly, the basic requirement for creating a research environment is a researcher who can use his/her scientific skills as a platform for discovery and for raising hypoth-eses which are tested for the sake of arriving at solutions and proofs. He should not accept without scrutiny what is merely available and familiar.

It is difficult to acquire these research skills at an ad-vanced educational stage by writing Ma theses or PhD dissertations; rather it is best acquired at a much earlier stage, which is why schools and parents should play a ma-jor role in shaping a research mentality. thus, emphasising infrastructures alone in creating a research culture may not yield the desired results if it is not accompanied by a seri-ous process of fostering this same culture in the minds of pupils in the early school years.

Consequently, I believe that Omanis should become aware of the significance of research values and voluntar-ily participate in research whenever possible.

Schools are the cornerstone of innovation, so teaching should depend more on comprehension and innovation and less on memorisation and mechanical feedback. this is not attained by teaching research as a subject in the cur-riculum, but by making research a style of teaching, learn-ing, and practice. Simultaneously, evaluation which is only based on memorisation and feedback information should gradually diminish and be replaced by an evaluation based on understanding and innovation. this requires a major effort but it is achievable if we succeed in changing the evaluation paradigm.

Research, it must be emphasised, is a lifestyle which is not created in the final years of university studies, but must, like a seed, be planted at a much earlier stage. I call upon those in charge of research in councils and universi-ties, in co-operation with the Ministry of education, to di-rect their attention to young people in their formative years and to inculcate in them the mentality of the discoverer and researcher. Infrastructures and budgets can be allocated to form and encourage conducive research environments in schools.

Research development is a difficult task, but it can be achieved through the combined efforts of all sectors of society as they work to make it a lifestyle and a national obligation for the sake of preserving the achievements of our blessed Renaissance.

The need for developing a

research culture

SINCe theoretical and practical training is a vi-tal requirement for pro-

ducing quality research in any academic field, and because of the difficulties faced by postgraduate students in im-proving their research skills, and academic advisers in their supervising of Ma theses and PhD dissertations, the Dean-ship of Postgraduate Studies has introduced workshops to address these problems. these workshops aim to ac-quaint postgraduate students with the literature of their re-search topics and to develop analytical and experimental abilities since such skills are not covered in undergraduate programmes. the workshops depend primarily on the ex-pertise of SQU specialists and academics, and are offered free of charge to employees and senior postgraduate stu-dents. Participants with com-plete attendance records will be given certificates at the end of the workshops. Currently, the Deanship of Postgraduate Studies supervises the follow-ing workshops:

1. supervision of post-graduate research

this workshop aims to help faculty improve the quality of their postgraduate supervision by enhancing their skills and thus helping them to train their students to work independent-ly. the target audience is the academic supervisors, and it

will be conducted in english.2. Writing and publishing

research paper this workshop introduces

researchers to the range of skills needed to take a piece of research from the proposal stage to a paper published in an international journal. Spe-cial emphasis is placed on designing the paper, dealing with editors and reviewers, and handling ethical issues. the target audience is senior postgraduate students and re-searchers, and sessions will be conducted in arabic and english.

3. Developing postgradu-ate skills

this workshop provides basic training in a variety of skills needed to pursue re-search and publish results. It includes undertaking litera-

ture research, using endnotes, writing proposals and theses, using of statistical packages, critical thinking, as well as communication and presenta-tion skills. the target audience is postgraduate students and faculty, and sessions will be conducted in arabic and eng-lish.

4. First aid procedures in laboratories and work loca-tions

this workshop aims at raising awareness among those who are working in labs and in the work field of safe-ty procedures for protection against fire and the dangers of chemical dangers. It also in-structs participants on how to use first aid. the target audi-ence is postgraduate students and technicians and it will be presented in english.

New workshops to improve the skills of postgraduate students and faculty

An interview with Saif al Sinani, Director, Department of Research and Innovation Affairs

FUNDeD by His Majesty’s Royal Grant, strategic research at SQU is seen as a fundamental cor-

nerstone for activating research of all types, technical and human, as it has offered researchers wider horizons for carrying out their projects with finan-cial support, using modern equipment and above all with the trust of His Majesty. the wisdom and foresight of His Majesty have laid down the Uni-versity’s scholarly and research foun-dations.

In an interview with Saif bin Said al Sinani, Director of Research and In-novation affairs at SQU, it was stated that the year 2000 could be considered as a turning point in SQU’s life as it witnessed a visit by His Majesty which inaugurated a new phase in the Univer-sity’s development, one that will adopt global changes in higher education, and put SQU on the same footing as ad-vanced universities in the world. Dur-ing his visit, His Majesty emphasised the importance of in-depth research in achieving these goals and launched his annual Royal Grant in support of

selected strategic research produced by SQU faculty. Since 2001, 43 re-search projects have been financed in the fields of environmental sciences, technology, petroleum, health, engi-neering and human sciences. these projects dealt with important topics and reflected international standards of procedure.

selection mechanismSelecting strategic research projects

follows the same mechanism used in se-lecting research funded by the Univer-sity. Researchers from various colleges (Medicine, engineering, agriculture and environment, education, Sciences and arts) submit proposals which will support the Sultanate’s development process. these proposals are sent to in-house as well as international referees at prestigious universities and they are further evaluated by relevant institu-tions, ministries and corporations. all reports are collected and presented to a committee of specialists which selects the best proposals and recommends funding.

al Sinani explained that submitting

proposals is open to the general public on condition that the main researcher is a faculty member at SQU. associate researchers can be drawn from the lo-cal community, represented by the pri-vate and government sectors or from prestigious international universities and research centres, depending on the project type. For example a proposal that deals with medical field can in-clude specialists from the Ministry of Health and so on.

al Sinani pointed out that funded projects have achieved tangible and positive results in accordance with their goals and objectives, and that their re-sults will be distributed to all parties concerned. the ceiling for the funding of research is limited neither by the number of projects nor by the funds available. each project is evaluated on its own merits and allotted an ap-propriate budget in order to enable the researchers to achieve their goals. the number of research projects submitted annually is not limited as it depends on their quality, their strategic importance to the development of the Sultanate,

and their cost within the annual budget allotted for a particular year. thus, as many as ten, or less projects can be ac-cepted in one year.

al Sinani added that the following five strategic research projects sub-mitted by SQU faculty have been ap-proved this year as they are develop-mentally relevant:

1. the History of Omani-east afri-can Relations between 1624-1963: a critical and analytical Study (Faculty of arts and Social Sciences)

2. establishment of a National Facility in Stem Cell translational Research for Novel Cellular-based therapies and tissue Repair (College of Medicine)

3. Nosocomial transmission of Multi-drug Resistant acinetobacter Strains — the Usefulness of Patient Screening, assessment of environ-mental, aerial Bacterial Contamination and Various Genotypic and Phenotypic typing Methodologies (College of Medicine)

4. the Feasibility of Managed aq-uifer Recharge Using excess treated Wastewater in Oman (College of agri-culture and Marine Sciences)

5. Developing Microfluidic Sys-tems for Routine analysis of Pharma-ceutical Samples (College of Science)

Ongoing effortsal Sinani concluded by saying that

SQU’s efforts at developing research will continue throughout the coming years in order to improve the quality of research and encourage academics to produce their best work by provid-ing them with all kinds of facilities conducive for research excellence and innovation.

Strategic research is an important part of SQU’s research drive