Research Publications (Food Safety)

Although gas chromatography–triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) has been applied to the determination of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs) in various food samples, there is insufficient evidence to evaluate its equivalence with gas chromatography–high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS).

Semi-permeable membrane devices (SPMDs) were used to quantify dissolved concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) along a 40-km reach of the Boardman River in Traverse City, Michigan that has recently undergone dam and impoundment pond sediment removal.

EFSA Journal, Volume 20, Issue 9, September 2022. Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) assessed a decontamination process of fish oils and vegetable oils and fats to reduce the concentrations of dioxins (polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans, abbreviated together as PCDD/Fs) and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (DL-PCBs) by adsorption to activated carbon.

Intestinal peristalsis is essential for gastrointestinal function, which could maintain the appropriate progression and digestion of food and reduce bacterial aggregation through mixing function. Even though certain ingredients of foodstuff are known to increase or decrease intestinal peristalsis, the role of environmental pollutants on intestinal peristalsis is relatively unknown.

A novel chromosome-encoded aminoglycoside O-nucleotidyltransferase AadA33 was identified in Providencia vermicola strain P13. The AadA33 shares the highest amino acid identity of 51.28% with the function characterized AadA31. Antibiotic susceptibility testing and enzyme kinetics analysis revealed that the function of AadA33 is to mediate spectinomycin and streptomycin resistance.

Resistance to spectinomycin emerged after widely used for treatment of gonorrhea. Previous studies revealed that Lysobacter enzymogenes strain C3 (LeC3) exhibited elevated level of intrinsic resistance to spectinomycin. In this study, we screened a Tn5 transposon mutant library of LeC3 to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms of spectinomycin resistance.

Rhizorhabdus (previously Sphingomonas) wittichii RW1 uses a diverse array of aromatic organic compounds as energy and carbon sources, including some extremely recalcitrant compounds such as dibenzo-p-dioxin and dibenzofuran. Extradiol dioxygenases play a key role in the metabolism of dibenzofuran (DBF), dibenzo-p-dioxin (DBD), PCBs, and various other aromatic compounds.

A QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, Safe) method, for reliable semi-quantitative screening of 27 organic contaminants including phthalates (PAEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in edible oil, was developed.

We studied the succession of bacterial communities during the biodegradation of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD). The communities originated from a mesocosm with soil from Bien Hoa airbase in Vietnam heavily contaminated with herbicides and dioxins. They were grown in defined media with different carbon and Gibbs energy sources and 2,3,7,8-TCDD.

This paper proposes a stochastic model to simulate the occurrence and levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in juvenile tuna. This model can calculate the transport of PCBs in the ocean (macroscopic phenomena) and biomagnification in fish (microscopic phenomena).

Biodegradative characteristics were investigated for the commercially available mixtures of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) Trikhlorbifenil and Sovol degraded by the Rhodococcus wratislaviensis КT112-7, Rhodococcus wratislaviensis CH628 and Rhodococcus ruber P25 strains isolated from the natural habitats.

by Natakorn Nokchan, Thidathip Wongsurawat, Piroon Jenjaroenpun, Perapon Nitayanon, Chanwit Tribuddharat Background The increasing rate of antimicrobial-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae poses a considerable public health threat due to the difficulty in treating gonococcal infections.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent in the environment, bioaccumulate and biomagnify throughout the food chain, and may have adverse effects on human health and wildlife. PCB indicator (PCB 28, PCB 52, PCB 101, PCB 118, PCB 138, PCB 153, and PCB 180) were monitored in human milk using 68 samples from healthy and primiparous mothers from seven cities in Colombia, and the estimated daily intake (EDI) of infants was calculated.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were broadly applied worldwide as electrical insulators in transformers and power capacitors, due to their high dielectric constant and non-flammability. They were often added to mineral oils (MOs) and used as dielectric fluids, which are nowadays classified as hazardous waste. Indeed, the Stockholm Convention aims to eliminate the use of equipment with PCB content greater than 0.005 wt-% (=50 ppm) by 2025.

In this work, biphenyl was used as carbon source to enrich microorganisms from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)-contaminated paddy soil samples, and the taxonomic structures in both of the soil samples and the fourth-generation enrichments were examined with high-throughput sequencing.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants which are widely present in environment and harmful to human health. In this study, an efficient and convenient magnetic solid phase extraction method with C60 modified magnetic polyamido-amine (PAMAM) dendrimers as sorbents was established for enriching trace amounts of PCBs in beverage samples. Gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) was utilized for analysis of PCBs.

International Journal of Dairy Technology, EarlyView. This study focused on the measurement of non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (NDL-PCBs) in cheese samples (traditional and commercial cheese) by a modified QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe) method by gas chromatography (GC) coupled with triple-quadrupole (QqQ) tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS).

Exposure to environmental toxicants during preconception has been shown to affect offspring health and epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation are hypothesized to be involved in adverse outcomes. However, studies addressing the effects of exposure to environmental toxicants during preconception on epigenetic changes in gametes are limited.

Microbiology Resource Announcements, Ahead of Print. Serratia marcescens SSA1 was isolated from a dump site with a history of incineration. Its DNA of 5.05 Mbp has a GC content of 59.65%, with 77 tRNA genes and 3 rRNA genes. Its 4,909 putative PATRIC protein-coding genes include genes responsible for the degradation of dioxins and other xenobiotics and total consumption of benzoate.

Since its emergence in the beginning of the 90’s, multidrug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Kentucky has become a significant public health problem, especially in East Africa. This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial resistance profile and the genotypic relatedness of Salmonella Kentucky isolated from animal sources in Ethiopia and Kenya (n=19).

The toxicity of high-chlorinated polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) can be efficiently reduced through anaerobic dechlorination. However, this approach suffers a lot in face of in situ microbial remediations, like a shortage of biomass. In this study, we showed that the amendment of organic matters could help microbiota in paddy soil with anaerobic dechlorination and greatly shortened the lag period.

Sturgeon populations worldwide are threatened with extirpation but little is known about their tendency to bioaccumulate contaminants and their sensitivities to environmental burdens of these contaminants.

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is required for vertebrate development and is also activated by exogenous chemicals, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). AHR activation is well-understood, but roles of downstream molecular signaling events are largely unknown.

Introduction

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a major concern of public health due to its extraordinary capacity to develop and acquire resistance to different antimicrobials used to treat gonorrhoea. Limited treatment options and uncontrolled transmission have raised the need to assess the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of the isolates and to establish affordable alternatives for laboratory diagnosis.

Objectives

Efficient plastid transformation in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) requires genetic lines that are hypersensitive to spectinomycin due to the absence of a chloroplast acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (ACCase) encoded in the acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase 2 (ACC2) nuclear gene. To obtain plastid transformation-competent oilseed rape (Brassica napus), we inactivated all nuclear encoded, chloroplast targeted ACCase copies using CRISPR–Cas9.