Other Tests

Dairy, Food and Meat Program

Dairy, Food and Meat products are an essential part of American diets throughout most of our lives. Each are also an excellent medium to support the growth of disease producing organisms if the products are not processed, stored and handled properly. For these reasons there are many requirements imposed by both government regulators and the industry itself, which deal with production through the sale of these products.

Regulatory samples can be collected by department inspectors in the Consumer Health Services section.

Fertilizer Program

Fertilizers are analyzed to ensure the accuracy of label guarantee of both commercial and custom mixed materials. Typically analyses in this program include nitrogen, available phosphoric acid, potash, sulfur, and trace nutrients. The analyses performed depend on the label guarantee or the analyses requested.

Pesticide Program

Pesticide formulations sold in the state are required to meet certain standards of quality. This program provides the analytical testing of these products, thus assuring that they meet these standards or their labeled guarantee. Formulated products tend not to be of as much concern as tank mixes used by professional pesticide applicators.

Pesticide residues can adversely effect human health, animal health, the marketability of agriculture commodities and the environment. To minimize the impact of this class of industrial chemicals Analytical Services regularly screens water, soil or plants for several classes of pesticide residues. Pesticide classes routinely checked are organochlorine, organonitrogen, organophosphorus, organosulfur, carbamates and herbicides requiring methylation. Many of these products are extremely toxic, and therefore it is important that they are excluded from the environment and the food chain.

Petroleum Program

Wyoming Statutes require petroleum distillates (gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, kerosene, etc.) meet ASTM standards. The Federal Trade Commission requires the octane number be posted on all gasoline dispensing devices. These same statutes require the State Chemist to register all automotive antifreeze materials offered for sale in Wyoming.

Automotive antifreeze is periodically checked for compliance with its registration by analyzing for pH, water, reserve alkalinity, and specific gravity. In this laboratory petroleum fuels can be tested for flash point, distillation range, water and sediment, lead content, sulfur content, and oxygenates (MtBE, ethanol, methanol, etc.). Tests for octane number and vapor pressure are sent to other laboratories for analysis.

The quality of natural gas sold in Wyoming is regulated by law. In conjunction with the Wyoming Public Service Commission, samples are taken and analyzed for their heating value (BTU content per cubic foot). Samples are analyzed for their nitrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, ethane, propane, butane, pentane and hexane content by gas chromatography. From this analysis the composition in mole percentage and the heating value in BTU/cu. ft. are calculated.