Research Publications (Food Safety)

As a primary goal, cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal pollutant that is readily adsorbed and retained in rice, and it becomes a serious threat to food safety and human health. Fungi have attracted interest for their ability to remove heavy metals from the environment, although the underlying mechanisms of how fungi defend against Cd toxicity are still unclear. In this study, a Cd-resistant fungus Trametes pubescens (T. pubescens) was investigated.

The flue gas desulphurisation gypsum (FGDG) produced in nonferrous metal metallurgy industry is defined as hazardous waste because of its arsenic content. In this study, a new process for arsenic removal by ultrasound-enhanced sulfuric acid leaching was developed. The leaching characteristics of arsenic under ultrasound-enhanced leaching and conventional leaching conditions were compared.

A new method for screening and identification 420 pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) were developed. The samples were extracted with acetonitrile/acetic acid (99:1, V/V), and clean-up by SinChERS-Nano (single-step, cheap, effective, rugged, safe, nano) column, determined by UPLC-Q-TOF/MS.

National and international food and feed safety authorities are shifting from routine-to risk-based monitoring. Risk-based monitoring requires flexibility in the scope of analytes, matrices, and sampling. Also, risk-based monitoring implies a desire for retrospective analysis using different scope(s) to follow trends, identify new food safety threats, and monitor the effectiveness of policy interventions.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), also called senile dementia is a neurodegenerative disease seen commonly in the elderly and is characterised by the formation of β-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT). Though a complete understanding of the disease is lacking, recent studies showed the role of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in pathogenesis. Finding new lead compounds from natural sources has always been a quest for researchers.

Bioaccessibility of lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) was conducted in soil samples collected from a dirt road that connects a former Pb and zinc (Zn) beneficiation and smelting plant in the city of Adrianópolis (Paraná state, southern Brazil). Samples were taken in three sites (beneficiation plant, slag deposit, and near Adrianópolis downtown).

As a carbon-negative emission technology, biochar has attracted extensive attention for application in fields for soil improvement and pollution control. The interactions between biochar and soil cadmium via the coupling of physical and chemical processes with extensive application and the correlation between the speciation of soil heavy metals and bioavailability are current research hotspots.

The aggregation of proteins into fibrillar, amyloid-like aggregates generally results in an improved, positive effect on various techno-functional properties within food products, such as gelation, emulsification, and foam stabilization. These highly stable structures, characterized by their repetitive, β-sheet rich motifs, may develop as the result of the thermal treatment of protein-rich food products. Heavy metal ions can influence amyloid-like aggregation of food proteins.

Recent investigations have revealed that puerarin (PU) alleviates cadmium (Cd)-caused hepatic damage via inhibiting oxidative stress. Mitochondria are dynamic organelles and play a critical part in regulating the occurrence of oxidative stress, but the role of mitochondria in the protection of PU against hepatocellular damage caused by Cd exposure remains unknown. Thus, this study was aimed to clarify this issue using mouse hepatocyte AML-12 cell line.

The impact of water and bottom sediment pollution of a river subjected to a strong industrial anthropogenic pressure of metal(loid) (including arsenic and its species) accumulation in riverbank plants such as Solidago virgaurea L., Phragmites L. and Urtica dioica L. was investigated.

Soil contamination by heavy metals has become a prevalent topic due to their widespread release from industry, agriculture, and other human activities. Great progress has been made in elucidating the uptake and translocation of cadmium (Cd) accumulation in rice. However, there is still little known about corresponding progress in maize.

by M. Chaithra, T. Prameeladevi, L. Prasad, Aditi Kundu, S. N. Bhagyasree, S. Subramanian, Deeba Kamil A desirable substitute for chemical pesticides is mycopesticides. In the current investigation, rDNA-ITS (Internal transcribed spacer) and TEF (Transcriptional Elongation Factor) sequencing were used for molecular identification of six Beauveria bassiana strains.

Fusarium oxysporum is the main pathogen of Panax notoginseng root rot, and chemical fungicides remain the primary measures to control the disease. Plant essential oil (EO) is a volatile plant secondary metabolic product that does not produce any residue to replace chemical pesticide. To comprehensively understand the antifungal mechanism of Alpinia officinarum Hance EO, the physiological indicators, proteome and metabolome were analyzed using F.

The success of demolition waste reverse logistics supply chains (DWRLSCs) depend on the market uptake of reprocessed construction materials (RCMs) since resource recovery will not be viable without a well-developed consumption process. However, usage of RCMs is sparse while there is also limited focus in existing research on their market uptake.

Journal of Separation Science, Accepted Article. A novel solid phase microextraction device coated with an efficient and cheap thin film of polyurethane was developed for trace determination of 13 widely used pesticides in fruit and tea beverages. A round-shaped polyurethane film covering the bottom of a glass vial was fabricated as the sorbent to exhibit a superior capacity of preconcentrating target compounds and reducing matrix interferences.

Phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB)-assisted phytoextraction can enhance the removal of toxic metals by plants from contaminated soil. Here, we investigated the promotion effects of a Pb-tolerant PSB strain, Leclercia adecarboxylata L1-5, on assisting Pb phytoextraction by Celosia cristata L.. The results showed that PSB inoculation could increase the plant shoot and root biomass by 34.90% and 55.56% when the Pb concentration was 800 mg kg−1.

International Journal of Dairy Technology, EarlyView. Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) are a group of persistent organic pollutants with well-known toxic effects and potential carcinogenicity. Human exposure to PCDD/Fs is mainly through food, including dairy products. The scientific information on the concentrations of PCDD/Fs in milk and dairy products is here reviewed. It also includes the intake of PCDD/Fs through the consumption of these products.

Given the increasingly serious problem of arsenic-contaminated soil, biochar-loaded nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI@BC) was prepared in this study for remediation of arsenic-contaminated soil.

The Golden 2-Like (G2-like or GLK) transcription factors are essential for plant growth, development, and many stress responses as well as heavy metal stress. However, G2-like regulatory genes have not been studied in soybean. This study identified the genes for 130 G2-Like candidates’ in the genome of Glycine max (soybean). These GLK genes were located on all 20 chromosomes, and several of them were segmentally duplicated.

by Thankhoe A. Rants’o, Divan G. van Greunen, C. Johan van der Westhuizen, Darren L. Riley, Jenny-Lee Panayides, Lizette L. Koekemoer, Robyn L. van Zyl Current studies on Anopheles anticholinesterase insecticides are focusing on identifying agents with high selectivity towards Anopheles over mammalian targets. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) from electric eel is often used as the bioequivalent enzyme to study ligands designed for activity and inhibition in human.

Pesticide residues in fruit and vegetable constitute a great threat to mankind's health, and a technique of rapid, cost-effective, ultra-sensitive and non-destructive analysis is especially critical for on-site detection in practical application. A strategy was utilized to fabricate highly viscous and flexible WPU@AgNPs sticky tape for the rapid extraction and Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) assay of thiabendazole residues on the surface of fruits.

Heavy metal pollution is one of the ever-increasing environmental issues that has aroused wide public concern.

Rice is the world’s most important food crop and is of great importance to ensure world food security. In the rice cultivation process, weeds are a key factor that affects rice production. Weeds in the field compete with rice for sunlight, water, nutrients, and other resources, thus affecting the quality and yield of rice. The chemical treatment of weeds in rice fields using herbicides suffers from the problem of sloppy herbicide application methods.

Listeria monocytogenes is a ubiquitous foodborne pathogen causing both invasive and non-invasive listeriosis. Sequence type (ST) 9 strains is common in food and food processing environments. In this study, the whole-genome sequences (WGS) of 207 ST9 isolates from different sources, geographical locations (14 countries), and isolated years were analyzed.

Microbiology Resource Announcements, Ahead of Print. Pandoraea sp. strain NE5, an arsenite-oxidizing bacterium, was isolated from the rhizosphere of an arsenic hyperaccumulator fern (Pteris vittate). Here, the genome sequence of Pandoraea sp. strain NE5 is announced.