Research Publications (Food Safety)

Increasing interest in characterizing risk assessment uncertainty is highlighted by recent recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences. In this paper we demonstrate the utility of applying qualitative and quantitative methods for assessing uncertainty to enhance risk‐based decision‐making for 2,3,7,8‐tetrachlorodibenzo‐p‐dioxin.

2,3,7,8‐tetrachlorodibenzo‐p‐dioxin (TCDD) is a well‐known environmental contaminant that produces a wide variety of adverse effects in humans. Catalpol, a major bioactive compound enriched in the dried root of Rehmannia glutinosa, is a major iridoid glycoside that alleviates bone loss. However, the detailed mechanisms underlying the effects of catalpol remain unclear. The present study evaluated the effects of catalpol on TCDD‐induced cytotoxicity in osteoblastic MC3T3‐E1 cells.

One of the direct causes of biodiversity loss is environmental pollution resulting from the use of chemicals. Different kinds of chemicals, such as persistent organic pollutants and some heavy metals, can be endocrine disruptors, which act at low doses over a long period of time and have a negative effect on the reproductive and thyroid system in vertebrates worldwide.

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) activation is associated with carcinogenicity of non-genotoxic AhR-activating carcinogens such as 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD), and is often observed with drug candidate molecules in development and raises safety concerns. As downstream effectors of AhR signaling, the expression and activity of Cyp1a1 and Cyp1a2 genes are commonly monitored as evidence of AhR activation to inform carcinogenic risk of compounds in question.

Publication date: Available online 6 August 2019

Environmental Research

Author(s): Alix F. Leblanc, Eléonore A. Attignon, Emilie Distel, Spyros P. Karakitsios, Dimosthenis A. Sarigiannis, Sylvie Bortoli, Robert Barouki, Xavier Coumoul, Martine Aggerbeck, Etienne B. Blanc

Publication date: Available online 14 August 2019

Environmental Research

Author(s): Cheng Xu, Xiaoqi Su, Yang Xu, Siyu Ma, Weiwei Duan, Xuming Mo

During the period 1996–1998, a hazardous waste incinerator (HWI) was built in Constantí (Tarragona County, Catalonia, Spain). Because of the potential adverse effects of toxic emissions, mainly metals and dioxins and furans, waste incinerators in general have been an important cause of concern for the public opinion.

Cow and human milk have been reported to contain dioxins ranging from 0.023 to 26.46 and 0.88 to 19 pg/g of fat, respectively. However, the toxic effects of the dioxins in the milk in this range of concentrations were not explored. Therefore, considering the outbred livestock tissues as better models than inbred laboratory animals, the present study targeted to study the effect of dioxins present in the milk on three-dimensionally (3D) cultured buffalo primary hepatocyte spheroids.

Publication date: Available online 8 June 2019

Food and Chemical Toxicology

Author(s): A.M. Api, D. Belsito, D. Botelho, M. Bruze, G.A. Burton, J. Buschmann, M.L. Dagli, M. Date, W. Dekant, C. Deodhar, M. Francis, A.D. Fryer, L. Jones, K. Joshi, S. La Cava, A. Lapczynski, D.C. Liebler, D. O'Brien, A. Patel, T.M. Penning

Publication date: Available online 19 April 2019

Environmental Research

Author(s): Andreas Tornevi, Johan Sommar, Panu Rantakokko, Agneta Åkesson, Carolina Donat-Vargas, Hannu Kiviranta, Olov Rolandsson, Lars Rylander, Maria Wennberg, Ingvar A. Bergdahl

Abstract

Background

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D), but causality is uncertain.

Author(s): Martí Nadal, Montse Mari, Marta Schuhmacher, José L. Domingo The concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) were analyzed in 40 plasma samples of individuals living in zones under potential influence of the emissions of a hazardous waste incinerator (HWI) (Tarragona County, Catalonia, Spain). Samples corresponded to subjects of different gender, age and specific areas of residence.

Author(s): Walkiria Levy, Karl-Werner Schramm, Florian Mertes, Bernhard Henkelmann, Martina Maywald, Peter Uciechowski, Alexander Loa, Johannes Haedrich, Ines Thiem, Henner Hollert, Roland Goerlich, Thorsten Bernsmann, Lothar Rink Recent European regulations have indicated the need for new bioanalytical screening methods capable of monitoring dioxin and dioxin-like compounds in foodstuffs and environmental samples, cost-effectively and with a quicker turnaround.

Abstract

Author(s): Regina Klapper, Noelia Carballeda-Sangiao, Thomas Kuhn, Hannah Malene Jensen, Kurt Buchmann, Miguel Gonzalez-Muñoz, Horst Karl Canned liver is a highly valuable and healthy product from the important commercial fish species cod Gadus morhua.

Journal of Food Protection, Volume 81, Issue 5, Page 842-847, May 2018.

AbstractDifferences in risk perceptions of public health and food safety hazards in various poultry husbandry systems by various stakeholder groups, may affect the acceptability of those husbandry systems. Therefore, the objective was to gain insight into risk perceptions of citizens, poultry farmers, and poultry veterinarians regarding food safety and public health hazards in poultry husbandry systems, and into factors explaining these risk perceptions.

Author(s): Vincent Vaccher, Philippe Marchand, Mélanie Picherot, Gaud Dervilly-Pinel, Elodie Lesquin, Aline Brosseaud, Anaïs Venisseau, Bruno Le Bizec During a national monitoring plan, a pork fat sample was declared non-compliant for the sum of dioxins and PCB-DL (EU regulation). The National Reference Laboratory together with competent authorities conducted extended investigations to determine rapidly the contamination source at the farm level.

Publication date: December 2017
Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 110

Author(s): Jessica Tressou, Nadia Ben Abdallah, Christelle Planche, Gaud Dervilly-Pinel, Pierre Sans, Erwan Engel, Isabelle Albert

Rance Nault, Kelly A. Fader, Jack R. Harkema, Tim Zacharewski

Eiki Kimura, Ken-ichiro Kubo, Toshihiro Endo, Wenting Ling, Kazunori Nakajima, Masaki Kakeyama, Chiharu Tohyama

Journal of Food Protection, Volume 80, Issue 8, Page 1228-1238, August 2017.

Christiane Hammerschmidt-Kamper, Daniel Biljes, Katja Merches, Irina Steiner, Thomas Daldrup, Marianne Bol-Schoenmakers, Raymond H. H. Pieters, Charlotte Esser

Abstract

Abstract

Several bacteria use the plant hormone indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) as a sole carbon and energy source. A cluster of genes (named iac) encoding IAA degradation has been reported in Pseudomonas putida 1290, but the functions of these genes are not completely understood. The plant-growth-promoting rhizobacterium Paraburkholderia phytofirmans PsJN harbors iac gene homologues in its genome, but with a different gene organization and context than those of P. putida 1290.