Research Publications (Food Safety)

Although filtration is one of the most common steps in sample preparation for chemical analysis, filter membrane materials can leach contaminants and/or retain some analytes in the filtered solutions. In multiclass, multiresidue analysis of veterinary drugs, it is challenging to find one type of filter membrane that does not retain at least some of the analytes before injection in ultrahigh‐performance liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC‐MS/MS).

Background

Pesticides are hazardous chemical contaminants for the ecosystem that have been widely used in households and agriculture to eliminate pests for several decades, and have a variety of adverse effects on our health.

Objectives

Abstract In the frame of the European Food Risk Assessment (EU‐FORA) fellowship programme, two studies on chemical contaminants in food matrices were carried out in Warsaw, Poland, at the Department of Food Safety and Chemical Analysis, Institute of Agricultural and Food Biotechnology. The first study addressed health concerns about the dietary exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) contamination due to consumption of soft drink by Polish population.

Background Seaweed, or macroalgae has traditionally been part of the Asian cuisine for decades and is also becoming increasingly popular as food source in Europe and other Western countries. However, seaweed can accumulate elements from the environment and consequently may be a source of exposure to toxic elements, or potentially harmful levels of micronutrients.

Abstract The marine finfish and crustaceans contribute immensely to human nutrition. Harvesting marine food‐fish to meet the global demand has become a challenge due to reduction of the fishery areas and food safety hazards associated with increased pre‐harvest and post‐harvest contaminations. The causes of low fish availability and contaminations were reviewed following the published literature from 2000 to 2023.

Significance and Functions of Biosensors. Abstract The food industry has inappropriate techniques for process and quality control and requires techniques that can provide information on the physical and chemical properties of food quickly and affordably. Food applications mostly focus on the identification of contaminants, with a few significant analytes, such as sugars, alcohols, amino acids, flavors, and sweeteners, as exceptions.

Aflatoxins and fumonisins, commonly found in maize and maize-derived products, frequently co-occur and can cause dangerous illness in humans and animals if ingested in large amounts. Efforts are being made to develop suitable analytical methods for screening that can rapidly detect mycotoxins in order to prevent illness through early detection.

Consumers are worried about potential contaminants, especially during any pandemic event, and are demanding more biodegradable food packaging with little to no chemical preservatives. This study aims to prepare carrageenan film containing essential oil with antibacterial properties. Oregano essential oil is successfully added into the carrageenan-based film using the Pickering emulsion method with cationic nanocellulose as stabilizer.

Water is an essential part of food animal processing, and current processing practices use large volumes of water. Due to climate change, the food industry’s access to clean and inexpensive water is increasingly a challenge. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) seeks evaluation by the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Food (NACMCF) to facilitate the safe reuse of sources of water in order to reduce water consumption.

The seasonal effect on chemical composition and contaminants in European plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) captured in Norwegian waters was investigated in three seasons (September, December, April). Fillets were compared by analysing proximate composition, lipid and protein profile, including fatty acids, lipid class distribution, free and total amino acids. Trace elements and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) were determined to assess the potential health risk of consumption.

Zearalenone (ZEN) is one of the major agricultural feed contaminants causing serious health hazards worldwide and its degradation by beneficial microbial agents is now being widely examined. In this study we investigated the degradation ability of Klebsiella pneumoniae strain GS7-1 isolated from corn field in Shandong province in China on ZEN. The effects of temperature, incubation time and pH were studied.

In order to improve the hygienic characteristics of the wheat kernels and flours, gentle debranning technology was employed in this study. The physical, chemical and microbial modifications associated with the debranning of common wheat at a peeling rate of 0–5% were examined. Results showed that 80.1% of microorganisms and 15.82% of deoxynivalenol were removed when 1.08% of the total weight of the grain was peeled.

Journal of Food Processing and Preservation, Accepted Article. Milk quality and safety maintenance is an important issue, as many reports showed several biological and chemical contaminants in the milk. Among all contaminants, AFM1 is detected frequently in milk samples. Therefore, our main aim was to understand the digestive fate of AFM1 in an in-vitro digestion (IVD) model system by using AFM1 spiked milk samples (2ug/L).

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of the most common mycotoxins in cereals and their by-products. Its adverse effects on animal and human health have been extensively studied in the intestine, but little attention has been paid to another target organ for mycotoxins, the liver that is potentially exposed after intestinal absorption and enterohepatic circulation.

Caenorhabditis elegans is a well-established model organism for toxicity testing of chemical substances. We recently demonstrated its potential for bioanalysis of the toxic potency of chemical contaminants in water.

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.

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.

Organism tolerance thresholds for emerging contaminants are vital to the development of water quality criteria. Acute (96-h) and chronic (10-day) effects thresholds for neonicotinoid pesticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam, and the carbamate pesticide methomyl were developed for the midge Chironomus dilutus to support criteria development using the UC Davis Method.

Natural hypersaline environments are inhabited by an abundance of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms capable of thriving under extreme saline conditions. Yeasts represent a substantial fraction of halotolerant eukaryotic microbiomes and are frequently isolated as food contaminants and from solar salterns.

Author(s): Natalia Casado, Sonia Morante-Zarcero, Isabel Sierra

Background
In the last years, several food alerts have identified high levels of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) in a wide variety of food products, highlighting their occurrence as a concerning food safety issue.

Soil contamination with heavy metals (HMs) is a serious concern for the developing world due to its non-biodegradability and significant potential to damage the ecosystem and associated services. Rapid industrialization and activities such as mining, manufacturing, and construction are generating a huge quantity of toxic waste which causes environmental hazards.

Author(s): Shuo Zhang, Shuang Zhou, Bing Lyu, Nannan Qiu, Jingguang Li, Yunfeng Zhao, Yongning Wu

Author(s): Amin Mousavi Khaneghah

Author(s): Zhihong Zhang, Yafei Lou, Chuanpan Guo, Qiaojuan Jia, Yingpan Song, Jia-Yue Tian, Shuai Zhang, Minghua Wang, Linghao He, Miao Du

Nontarget data acquisition for target analysis (nDATA) workflows using liquid chromatography-high-resolution accurate mass (LC-HRAM) spectrometry, spectral screening software, and a compound database have generated interest because of their potential for screening of pesticides in foods. However, these procedures and particularly the instrument processing software need to be thoroughly evaluated before implementation in routine analysis.