Research Publications (Food Safety)

Blechnum orientale L. is a traditional, medicinal fern found in China. To assess the characteristics of heavy metals and As accumulation, the fronds, roots, and the rooting soils of this fern were sampled from urban, suburban, and rural woodlands across Guangdong Province in southern China. The concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn in both the fern and its rooting soils were separately detected by ICP-MS.

Surfactants are substances applicable in the removal of heavy metals from contaminated soil. This study aims to investigate the effects of surfactant mixtures, composed of nonionic, anionic, and cationic surfactants, on the removal efficiency of Cd and Zn by mixture design (MD). Central composite rotatable design (CCRD) was integrated to optimize the conditions of contaminated soil washing.

Efficient removal of heavy metals from water and wastewater is a necessity for human and environmental well-being. Agricultural, domestic, and industrial waste discharges increase with the increase in the global population. Discharges are loaded with toxic metallic substances that inevitably reach water sources. Conventional treatment methods are in many cases inadequate in their removal efficiencies.

This work focuses on the preparation of eco-friendly adsorbents from waste pork bone to remove heavy metal ions. Two adsorbents, bone char (BC) and cellulose-modified BC (MCC-BC), are prepared successfully and characterized by FTIR, XRD, BET, and Zeta potential.

The effects of atmospheric precipitation on heavy metal accumulation and deactivation amendment in wheat surrounding a lead smelter were studied. The total precipitation amounts of Cd, Pb, and As in an in situ test were noticeably more than their amounts in an off-site test over the entire growing period of wheat. In the same soil-wheat system, the heavy metal concentrations of wheat leaves in the off-site test were significantly lower than those in the in situ test near the lead smelter.

Agricultural soil is easily polluted by heavy metal and recently by metal-based nanoparticles, which has been synthesized in lab and discarded to environment. The uptake and accumulation of them by crops in polluted soil may pose high risks for human health. Here, we investigated the fate and the fixation effect of Fe3O4-GO nanocomposites (NCs) to lead ions in the soil-leek system during four harvest lifecycle.

The mining sector has great importance to the economic activity in Brazil. However, it is also responsible for several environmental impacts such as the rupture of the Fundão dam (Mariana, Brazil) that resulted in the spillage of 50 million m3 of mining tailings in the Doce River Basin. This study evaluated the acute and chronic effects of Fundão tailings on growth, development, respiration rates, swimming performance, and avoidance behavior of Lithobates catesbeianus tadpoles.

The plasmid-borne mobilized colistin resistance genes (mcr-like) are related to resistance to polymyxins, which were reintroduced for the treatment of infections caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens. To analyze the presence of clinically relevant antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs), including mcr-like genes and plasmids in a beach, sand samples from a public beach were collected.

There is limited information on the effect of characteristics of soil in the arid regions on the transport of pollutants. Al-Qurain landfill site is located about 1.5 km from the Arabian Gulf shoreline in Kuwait. The site was operated as an open dump and was designed without a liner or leachate collection system. This study was performed after 35 years of the site closure to investigate the quality of soil, leachate, and groundwater in its vicinity.

A combined process comprised of electro-Fenton and bioslurry (EF–bioslurry) was developed at lab scale for remediating a real coking plant soil with an initial polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) content of 3605 mg/kg. Sodium citrate was used as a complexant to keep the iron in solution at near-neutral pH conditions for increasing the reaction rate.

The ability of locally laboratory-synthesized polyaluminium chloride (PAC) with high Al13 content (PAC-Al13) to remove organic, inorganic matter and colour from potable water, agricultural and electroplating wastewaters was evaluated relative to commercial PAC (PACI). PAC-Al13 used in this study was prepared using batch titration of NaOH into AlCl3·6H2O solution under vigorous stirring as opposed to the conventional slow-base titration method.

Soil contamination by pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) has attracted the attention of many researchers. Continued release of these products into the environment can compromise the health of non-target organisms as well as interfere in ecological interactions between species.

In this study, groundwater of 10 union councils of Larkana city was assessed by using atomic absorption spectrometry following microwave-assisted digestion. A total of 110 groundwater samples were collected by using a Global Positioning System. The results revealed that iron, zinc, nickel, copper, and lead present in the groundwater of Larkana city were within the level of 0.002–0.6 mg/L, 0.02–0.42 mg/L, 1–14.0 mg/L, 0.01–0.87 mg/L, and 0.01–12.0 mg/L, respectively.

Endogenous pollution is one of the most notable issues in drinking water reservoirs, since the sediment is a main sink of contaminants in the aquatic environment. In this work, we investigated the spatial distribution characteristics of heavy metals and different species of N and P and assessed the pollution risks of the sediments from the Chenhang Reservoir, which is the first drinking water reservoir supplied by Yangtze River in Shanghai, China.

Soil is the support medium for the development of several activities; however, improperly used soils can become a serious environmental issue. The aim of the current study is to determine the concentration of chemical elements in soil used as landfill in Southern Brazil. Samples were collected in different soil profiles and depths and analyzed based on the X-ray fluorescence technique. Results have indicated changes in cadmium and chromium concentrations, regardless of the collection depth.

Fourteen pesticides were screened and determined through quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) extraction process combined with GC-MS/MS in arid agriculture soil.

Enteric viruses in the aquatic environment are a concern due to the potential for waterborne disease transmission to humans. In Nepal, the Bagmati River serves as a source of drinking and irrigation water; therefore, the detection of waterborne enteric pathogens is integral to maintaining human health. The objective of this study was to quantify the crAssphage marker in surface water samples from the Bagmati River between November 2015 and September 2016.

Composting has various benefits to achieve sustainability, such as substituting the use of fertilizers and preventing organic residues from being dumped in landfills. Thus, the objective was to evaluate nutrient and heavy metal release dynamics during composting with different mixtures of organic residues containing food wastes.

Propylene glycol (PG), commonly used in the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries and considered non-PBT, is still an emerging contaminant of concern due to its widespread use. In this study, an isolate of a bacterial consortium obtained from an effluent treatment plant, MC1S, was used to degrade PG. The growth kinetics of the isolate was studied under aerated and non-aerated conditions.

Alkylphenols (APs)—nonylphenol (NP) and octylphenol (OP)—are well-known environmental contaminants due to their widespread application and have been identified as endocrine-disrupting chemicals. A novel APs-tolerant fungus designated F6 was isolated from the bottom sediments of the coastal part of the Eastern Gulf of Finland (Neva Bay) and was identified as Aspergillus tubingensis F6 based on ITS sequencing and morphological analysis.

This study aimed to define the optimum weight ratio between Berea Red sand (BRS)/zero-valent iron (ZVI) combinations to be used in the treatment of nitrate contaminated water. The effect of competing ions (phosphate and sulfate) on the nitrate removal efficiency of the best performing BRS-ZVI w/w ratio was also assessed.

Petroleum hydrocarbons are applied in various energy activities. If accidents happen, they may result in environmental contamination, especially in soil. Petroleum hydrocarbons have low evaporation rates and are adsorbed on the soil surface, making it necessary to treat contaminated soil before the pollutants spread to other areas. Soil washing with surfactant solution is a method used to treat petroleum hydrocarbon contamination.

Lignin-based black liquor from oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) as a side product of the pretreatment process in second-generation bioethanol is the next problem in developing renewable energy. Therefore, developing technology to overcome this problem is needed. In this study, titanium dioxide (TiO2) as photocatalyst and their synergy with heterogeneous Fenton-like process for degrading lignin was investigated.

Nickel (Ni) is an essential element in plants and animals, but elevated levels can exert toxicity in living beings, as recently highlighted by the European Food Safety Authority opinion. However, literature regarding the presence of nickel in the environment is scarce.

Rapid growth of vehicles in Medan, Indonesia, is one of the causes in the increasing of air pollution, in which approximately 85% is contributed merely by vehicles. On the other hand, the use of lead-based fuel in motor vehicle increases the air contamination in Medan.