Research Publications (Food Safety)

Development of efficient and sensitive adsorbent for capturing phenoxy carboxylic acids (PCAs) from environmental and food samples is necessary because PCAs could threaten human health. Designing nanoparticle with multiple functional groups is beneficial to achieve the strong adsorption interaction and the specific recognition for target compound.

Microbial bioremediation is a very potent and eco-friendly approach to alleviate pesticide pollution in agricultural ecosystems, and hydrolase is an effective element for contaminant degradation. In the present study, a novel Mn2+-dependent esterase, PchA, that efficiently hydrolyzes carbamate pesticides with aromatic structures was identified from Pseudomonas sp. PS21. The hydrolytic activity was confirmed to be related closely to the core catalytic domain, which consists of six residues.

This study developed a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) procedure for determining seven pyrethroid pesticide residues in tea, cucumber, and tomato via high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS). The overall average recoveries of the seven pyrethroids were 72%–104% (relative standard deviation (RSD); 2.0%–16.1%, 89%–109% (RSD; 0.7%–17.3%), 82%–110% (RSD; 1.6%–17.1%) for tea, cucumber and tomato, respectively.

Vegetables and fruits may contain pesticides, leading to several health complications after long-term exposure. The food byproducts of soybean and camellia seed cake contain abundant saponins but are poorly utilized. This study aimed to investigate the capacity of soybean byproduct-extracted saponins (SBE) and camellia seed cake-extracted saponins (CSE) to remove pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables.

More and more attention has been paid to the improved QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe) method in dealing complex sample matrices, especially for the study of QuEChERS adsorbents.

Background Cereal grains are an important for the nutrition of both humans and animals, and contribute to the nutrition cycle in different ways. Chemical contaminants are important to be monitored in food due to their direct effects on human health.

Background Exposure of Apis mellifera to neonicotinoid insecticides is one of the factors attributed to the recent decline in A. mellifera populations resulting in economic and ecological losses due to loss of pollination services. Honeybees can get exposed to neonicotinoids like imidacloprid directly in the field at the time of application as well as during consumption of pollen and nectar from treated plants.

Background At present, plant growth regulators (PGRs) are widely used in agricultural and forestry production. PGRs, like traditional pesticides, have certain toxicities. Naively excessively applying them will cause the acute and chronic poisoning of humans and animals and potentially harm human health.

Electrospinning has the advantages of simple manufacturing equipment, a low spinning cost, wide range of spinnable materials, and a controllable mild process, which can continuously fabricate submicron or nanoscale ultrafine polymer fibers without high temperature or high pressure. The obtained nanofibrous films may have a large specific surface area, unique pore structure, and easy-to-modify surface characteristics.

A solid-phase micro extraction (SPME) coupled high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) strategy was explored for trace concentrations of dicamba, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), and picloram residues simultaneous determination from complex matrix of food samples.

Imazethapyr (IM) is a chiral herbicide with two enantiomers, with a much stronger herbicidal effect of R-IM than S-IM. Pesticide residues are a common problem, and multi-generation cultivation method can reveal the consequences of long-term pesticide residues. Methods This study verified the effects of R-IM on the growth of Arabidopsis thaliana and rhizosphere microorganisms by treating A.

The present study sought to investigate the levels of multi-pesticide residues in highly consumed edible fungi in China's western regions. A total of 354 edible fungi samples were collected from the local markets, and the concentrations of 53 pesticides in these samples were determined through high performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometer (HPLC/MS/MS). Carbendazim, acephate, procymidone, prochloraz, aldicarb sulfone,etc.

Infant milk formulas are designed to substitute human milk when breastfeeding is unavailable. In addition to human milk and milk-derived products, these formulas can be a vehicle of contaminants.

Pollen is a source of nutrients for honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) and suitable for human consumption as well. In our research, a multiresidue method for pesticide determination was developed and validated for the bee pollen matrix. 247 components met the validation criteria for limit of detection, limit of quantification, linearity, and interday repeatability. Average recoveries varied between 70 and 120% except for 14 analytes, which were corrected during on-going validation.

Metribuzin is a broad-spectrum herbicide that allows effective weed management in fields but the contamination of metribuzin on the environment and humans is a threat to its application. To better monitor the residue of metribuzin in practical application, an HPLC–MS/MS method for the determination of herbicide metribuzin and its metabolites DA, DK, and DADK residues in potato tuber was developed. The matrix effects were also investigated in this work.

In recent decades safety of food has played a pivotal role from raw material till it reaches the consumer. The food consumed may contain unwanted contaminants, which may impose severe health implications on the consumers. Instrumental techniques like HPLC, GCMS, LCMS, AAS, FTIR, and NIRS detect the contaminants, but the need for low cost, continuous, specific, real-time, and rapid contaminant detection method is required. To meet these essentials, a biosensor stands as a powerful tool.

EFSA Journal, Volume 20, Issue 1, January 2022. Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 establishes the rules governing the setting and the review of pesticide maximum residue levels (MRLs) at European level. According to Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, EFSA shall provide within 12 months from the date of the inclusion or non-inclusion of an active substance in Annex I to Directive 91/414/EEC a reasoned opinion on the review of the existing MRLs for that active substance.

Pesticide residues will be a huge threat to food security and ecological environment; therefore, there is an urgent need to achieve rapid and on-site detection of pesticide residues. Herein, a plasmonic substrate with multiple “hot spots” was fabricated by transferring three-dimensional (3D) Au nanoparticles (NPs) onto the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane for highly sensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection of pesticide residues.

Pesticides are contaminants that pose serious risks to human health and the environment worldwide; however, little information is available on the occurrence of pesticide residues in vegetables in either Chile or Mexico. This study evaluated the presence of 22 pesticide residues in vegetables sold at supermarkets and farmers markets in Chile and Mexico and estimated the dietary risk.

Triazine herbicides (TRZHs) are widely used in agricultural production, but their improper use can threaten the environment and organisms. Herein, rapid extraction of four chlorotriazine herbicides (Cl-TRZHs) in irrigation water was achieved using an ionic liquid modified porous m-aminophenol formaldehyde resin (IL-MAPFR) as a dispersive filter extraction (DFE) adsorbent.

A simple, rapid, and sensitive method was developed for simultaneous determination of 103 multiclass pesticides in edible oils. A new strategy of sample preparation involving a spontaneous emulsification followed by membrane-based demulsification was proposed. The developed strategy was compared with other reputed clean-up procedures and found to improve the removal efficiency of matrix interferences without a significant loss of pesticides.

In this work, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and DNA tetrahedral nanostructure (DTN) as a signal probe carrier platform to control the density of aptamers were used to construct an ultrasensitive electrochemical aptasensor (AuNPs-DTN sensor).

Sugar beet is major crop for sugar industry. With growing awareness on unsystematic use of pesticides, health problem and environmental issues, pesticide residues in soil and crops had became necessary for their assessment. Studies under subtropical conditions on dissipation/residue analysis of clopyralid are not reported. Therefore, dissipation kinetics and terminal residues of clopyralid for two cropping seasons in soil and sugar beet crop were studied under field conditions.

Bee pollen contains a diversity of bioactive components. Nevertheless, since pollen is retrieved from a variety of plants, including the cultivated ones which are subjected to agrochemical treatments, its contamination is unavoidable. In this context, 45 samples of pollen were analysed with optimized analytical methods for trace and macro elements (ICP-MS), pesticides and metabolites residues (LC & GC-MS/MS) content.

Agricultural products, such as foodstuffs and herbal medicines, may be contaminated by pesticides. Therefore, developing sensitive methods for pesticide detection are urgently needed for the assurance of food safety. In this study, a ratiometric fluorescent sensing system based on blue-emitted nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs) and red-emitted copper nanoclusters (CuNCs) complex was fabricated for pesticide detection.