Toxic Substances In Food Research Articles

Trace analysis of food by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy combined with molecular imprinting technology: Principle, application, challenges, and prospects.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a rapid detection method with high sensitivity and simple pretreatment, but can be affected by interference from matrix components. By incorporating molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) that recognize specific targets, MIP-SERS sensors effectively overcome the interference of complex matrices and offer improved stability and sensitivity. This review provides a comprehensive understanding of the applications of MIP-SERS sensors for the detection of trace toxic substances in food. The underlying mechanism and development of SERS technology and the principle and classification of MIPs technology are discussed. Furthermore, the types of MIP-SERS sensors are introduced, with their advantages and disadvantages systematically illustrated. Recent advances in MIP-SERS technology for the detection of mycotoxins, additives, prohibited dyes, pesticides, veterinary drug residues, and other hazardous substances in food are highlighted. Finally, this review discusses the challenges associated with MIP-SERS technology and proposes future development prospects.

Galvanic engineering of interior hotspots in 3D Au/Ag bimetallic SERS nanocavities for ultrasensitive and rapid recognition of phthalate esters

The ecological and health risks of plasticizer accumulation have reached the global public agenda. For early screening of phthalate esters (PAEs), in the present study, we developed ultrasensitive and reliable bimetallic surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) platforms with Ag nanocavities galvanically replaced by Au (Au/AgNCs) at room temperature. A galvanic reaction (GR) coupled with the Kirkendall effect led to a large population of nanoscale hollow regions within 60 s. The interstitials at the bimetallic shells were activated as both interior hotspots for field confinement and diffusion pathways for small target molecules. The GR based on the intrinsic material properties resulted in an Au/AgNC platform with reliable sensing operation, including a relative standard deviation of <10 % at the individual analytic Raman peaks. The qualified and densified interior hotspots of the Au/AgNC platform led to sub-ppm sensitivity (i.e., the average limit of detection of ∼2.1 × 10−2 ppm) for four different PAEs. As a demonstration of the Au/AgNC platform's performance in actual sample environments, the detection and identification of various PAE combinations were also investigated. Subtle differences in the PAEs' spectral characteristics (i.e., peak positions and intensity ratios) were successfully classified using a machine learning algorithm based on a principal component analysis–linear discriminant analysis model. Furthermore, the amount of PAE released from the real sample and evaluated by SERS was consistent with that evaluated by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. These results indicate that the SERS platforms with Au/AgNC substrates and portable Raman instruments are suitable for on-site safety monitoring of toxic substances in food and the environment.

The Patrol Yeast: A new biosensor armed with antibody-receptor chimera detecting a range of toxic substances associated with food poisoning

Baker's yeast is an attractive host with established safety and stability characteristics. Many yeast-based biosensors have been developed, but transmembrane signal transduction has not been used to detect membrane-impermeable substances using antigen-antibody interactions. Therefore, we created Patrol Yeast, a novel yeast-based immunosensor of various targets, particularly toxic substances in food. A membrane-based yeast two-hybrid system using split-ubiquitin was successfully used to detect practically important concentration ranges of caffeine and aflatoxins using separated variable regions of an antibody. Moreover, enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157 was detected using a specific single-chain antibody, in which Zymolyase was added to partially destroy the cell wall. The incorporation of secreted Cypridina luciferase reporter further simplified the signal detection procedures without cell lysis. The methodology is more cost-effective and faster than using mammalian cells. The ability to detect various targets renders Patrol Yeast a valuable tool for ensuring food and beverage safety and addressing other environmental and technological issues.

Occurrence of Aflatoxins in Edible Vegetable Seeds and Oil Samples Available in Pakistani Retail Markets and Estimation of Dietary Intake in Consumers.

Aflatoxins (AFs) are secondary metabolites toxic to humans as well as animals. The environmental conditions, conventional agricultural practices, and illiteracy are the main factors which favor the production of AFs in food and feed. In the current study 744 samples of vegetable seeds and oils (soybean, sunflower, canola, olive, corn, and mustard) were collected and tested for the presence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and total AFs. Liquid-liquid extraction was employed for the extraction of AFs from seeds and oil samples. Reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography equipped with fluorescence detection was used for the analysis. The results have shown that 92 (56.7%) samples of imported and 108 (57.0%) samples of local edible seeds were observed to be contaminated with AFs. All samples of edible seeds have AFB1 levels greater than the proposed limit set by the European Union (EU, 2 µg/kg) and 12 (7.40%) samples of imported seeds and 14 (7.40%) samples of local seeds were found in the range ≥ 50 µg/kg. About 78 (43.3%) samples of imported edible oil and 103 (48.3%) sample of local edible oil were observed to be positive for AFs. Furthermore, 16 (8.88%) and six (3.33%) samples of imported vegetable oil have levels of total AFs in a range (21–50 µg/kg) and greater than 50 µg/kg, respectively. The findings indicate significant differences in AFs levels between imported and local vegetable oil samples (t = 22.27 and p = 0.009) at α = 0.05 and a significant difference in AFs levels were found between vegetable seeds and oil samples (t = −17.75, p = 0.009) at α = 0.05. The highest dietary intake was found for a local sunflower oil sample (0.90 µg/kg/day) in female individuals (16–22 age group). The results have shown considerably high levels of AFB1 and total AFs in seeds and oil samples and emphasise the need to monitor carefully the levels of these toxic substances in food and feed on regular basis.

Research progress in the application of magnetic solid phase extraction based on carbon based magnetic materials in food analysis

食品中残留的痕量有毒物质严重威胁人体健康,对其进行分析十分必要。然而,食品中有毒物质种类多、量少、基质复杂,需选择适当的样品预处理技术进行提取和净化。磁固相萃取(MSPE)因具有操作简单、省时快速、无需离心过滤、环境友好等优点,被认为是一种高效的样品预处理技术并应用于食品分析中。MSPE中使用的磁性吸附剂的吸附容量和选择性是影响MSPE萃取效率和选择性高低的关键,对所建立分析方法的准确度起着关键作用。碳基磁性材料是具有价格低廉、来源丰富、比表面积大、化学稳定性好、吸附容量高、绿色环保等优点的一类新型功能性磁性材料,可以富集不同性质的有机、无机分析物,在环境分析、生物检测、污染治理等多个领域取得了较大进展。近年来,基于碳基磁性材料的MSPE技术在食品分析预处理领域逐渐得到应用,但尚处于起步阶段,存在巨大的应用潜力。该文以碳基类别(碳纳米管、石墨烯、金属有机骨架衍生碳、活性炭等)为主线,综述了采用MSPE技术,以碳基磁性材料为吸附剂,对食品样品中酯类、真菌毒素、多环芳烃、抗生素、生物碱、酚类、维生素、抗菌药等物质进行萃取,进而采用液相色谱法等进行分析的应用实例,同时阐述了该技术存在的问题,并对其发展方向做出了展望。该综述将为基于碳基磁性材料的MSPE技术在食品分析中的广泛应用提供理论依据和技术支撑。

Methods of detection of food-borne pathogens: a review

Food safety is a major concern in the context of rising population and decreasing earth resources. Food is often contaminated by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites, which induce disease such as hemolytic uremic, irritable bowel and Guillain–Barre syndromes. Detection of pathogenic microbes is therefore essential for food safety. Detection methods include biological methods, biosensors and methods based on spectroscopy, immunology and nucleic acids. Here, we review advanced detection techniques used to analyze toxic substances in food.

The Current Dietary Risk Assessment of Chemicals in Food Underestimates the Actual Risk.

Dietary risk assessments (DRA) help determine safe exposure levels of toxic substances in food. Of these, Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI), derived from No Observed Adverse Effect Levels (NOAEL) of long-term toxicity studies, is compared to exposure estimates using lifetime-averaged food intakes. These estimates ignore intermittent high exposures exceeding the ADI; toxic effects of such exposures are considered irrelevant, on the assumption that toxic potency increases with exposure duration, which would be reflected by decreasing NOAELs. However, our statistical analysis of thousands of animal toxicology studies shows that NOAELs after short- and long-term exposure are similar if study design factors are considered. Thus, the short- and long-term potency effects of chemicals are similar. Hence, a short-term toxic effect is generally ignored in current DRA. It accounts for lifetime-averaged but not intermittent high food intakes and, therefore, must be revised. Additionally, there is no added value of long-term studies for ADI derivation.

Importance of Cooking Methods and Their Effects on Food and Nutrition

Importance of Cooking Methods and Their Effects on Food and Nutrition

Estimated Annual Deaths, Hospitalizations, and Emergency Department and Physician Office Visits from Foodborne Illness in Ontario.

Public Health Ontario is working to estimate the burden of disease from environmental hazards in Ontario, Canada. As part of this effort, we estimated deaths and health care utilization resulting from exposure to pathogens and toxic substances in food. We applied fractions for the proportion of illness attributable to foodborne transmission to the annual (2008–2012) counts of deaths, hospitalizations, emergency department (ED) visits, and physician office visits for 15 diseases (13 pathogen-specific diseases and 2 nonspecific syndromes) captured by administrative health data. Nonspecific gastroenteritis (causative agent unknown) was the dominant disease, accounting for 98% of ED visits, 94% of hospitalizations, and 88% of deaths annually attributed to the 15 diseases. We estimated that foodborne nonspecific gastroenteritis results in ∼137,000 physician office visits (1000/100,000 population), 40,000 ED visits (310/100,000), 6200 hospitalizations (47/100,000), and 59 deaths (0.45/100,000) in Ontario per year (mean estimates). Our results indicate that pathogen-specific approaches to foodborne disease surveillance can substantially underestimate the deaths and illness resulting from exposure to foodborne pathogens and other causes of foodborne illness.

Plasmon-coupled 3D porous hotspot architecture for super-sensitive quantitative SERS sensing of toxic substances on real sample surfaces.

This paper reports a facile, fast, and cost-effective method for the synthesis of three-dimensional (3D) porous AgNPs/Cu composites as SERS substrates for the super-sensitive and quantitative detection of food organic contaminations. Due to the 3D porous hotspot architecture and the strong plasmonic coupling between Ag and Cu, the porous AgNPs/Cu substrate achieves ultrasensitive detection of multiple analytes as low as 10-11 M (crystal violet, CV), 10-9 M (malachite green, MG), 10-11 M (acephate), and 10-9 M (thiram) even with a portable Raman device. Moreover, this 3D solid substrate has good signal uniformity (RSD < 11%) and superior stability (<14% signal loss), allowing for practical SERS detections. Importantly, by simply wiping the real sample surface using the substrate, it successfully detects CV and MG residues on crayfish, and the limit of detection (LOD) of CV and MG is determined to be 1.14 × 10-9 M and 0.94 × 10-7 M, respectively. Further, the substrate can also be applied to detect acephate on eggplant with a LOD of 1.41 × 10-9 M and thiram on an apple surface with a LOD of 1.04 × 10-7 M. Note that all these SERS detections on real samples have a broad dynamic concentration range and a good linear dependence. As a "proof of concept", multi-component detection on a real sample has also been demonstrated. This 3D solid substrate possesses excellent detection sensitivity, diversity, and accuracy, which allows rapid and reliable determination of toxic substances in foods.

Potentiometric Biosensing Applications of Graphene Electrodes with Stabilized Polymer Lipid Membranes

This review provides information and details about the fabrication of biosensors composed of lipid membranes that can be used to rapidly detect toxic compounds in food, environmental pollutants, and analytes of clinical interest. Biosensors based on polymeric lipid membranes have been used to rapidly detect a wide range of these analytes, offering several advantages including fast response times, high sensitivity and selectivity, portability for field applications, and small size. A description of the construction of these devices and their applications for the rapid detection of toxic substances in food, environmental pollutants, and analytes of clinical interest is provided in this review.

Patulin in fruit juices: occurrence, bioaccessibility, and risk assessment for Serbian population

ABSTRACTThis paper reports the first study of patulin occurrence in fruit juices and risk assessment related to patulin intake by children, adolescents and adults in Serbia. During 3 consecutive years (2013–2015), 142 fruit (apple or multi-fruit) juices were collected from the market and analysed using HPLC-UV. Patulin was found in 51.4% of juices with 0.7% of the samples in excess of the legal limit of 50 μg kg−1 (mean 4.3 μg kg−1). Apple juices showed significantly higher percentage of contaminated samples (74.0% vs 27.5%), as well as higher mean patulin content (6.4 vs 2.1 μg kg−1) when compared with the multi-fruit ones. Bioaccessibility of patulin in fruit juices was studied using the standardised in vitro digestion method. A mean of 21.6% of the initial patulin amount reached the end of the intestinal phase showing a significant reduction of this toxin during the human digestion process. Risk assessment of patulin intake by Serbian children, adolescents and adults, conducted by deterministic and probabilistic approaches and including the bioaccessibility results, revealed no health concern. Although patulin alone does not represent risk, further research should consider its co-occurrence with other toxic substances in food and potential adverse effects of their mixtures.

Preparation and Characterization of Dual-Template Molecularly Imprinted Membrane with High Flux Based on Blending the Inorganic Nanoparticles

In this study, the dual-template molecularly imprinted composite membrane (D-MIM) was synthesized using ferulic acid and cinnamic acid as the mixed templates, α-methacrylic acid as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinker, 2,2-azobisisobutyronitrile as photoinitiator inducing polymerization reaction, furthermore blended nanoparticles so as to improve mechanical strength and pure water flux of membrane. This paper has researched that the effect of variety of nanoparticles and its quantity, the quantity of photoinitiator, total template–functional monomer (T/F) ratio on performance of prepared membrane. The study has founded optimum parameters of synthesis: nanoparticles 18 nm TiO2 of 1 wt%, photoinitiator of 0.3 g, T/F ratio is 1:3. Under the above conditions, D-MIM would present a high separation efficiency of template molecules (ferulic acid and cinnamic acid) and the analogues (caffeic acid and syringic acid) with the permeation rate of about 100%. However, the permeation rate of glucose which has an analogous formula weight and extremely different structure is about 60%. From the foregoing, it showed that the D-MIM has specific selectively to the template molecules and its analogues, but the substances which have obvious distinctions in structure would present low permeation rate. It can be seen that D-MIM can identify the same kind of substance with specificity. Therefore, it can be used in the enrichment and separation of some active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine, the detection of toxic substances in food and so on. Finally, the scanning electron microscope and FT-IR spectrometer has been used to visualize the structure morphology of the prepared membrane and to quantity the surface characteristics.

Citizens’ perceptions of the presence and health risks of synthetic chemicals in food: results of an online survey in Spain

ObjectiveTo explore factors influencing perceptions and viewpoints on the responsibility for the presence of toxic substances in food, on enforcement of laws and regulations that control human exposure to toxic substances in food, and on the effectiveness of such regulations. MethodsAn online survey was completed by 740 individuals from several parts of Spain (median age, 47 years; 67% were women; 70% had completed university studies). ResultsOver 87% of respondents said that it was possible that throughout their lives they could have accumulated in their body toxic substances potentially dangerous to their health. The attribution of the responsibility for toxic substances in food to a larger number of social groups was more frequent among respondents who consulted information about the problem more often (odds ratio [OR]: 1.92), who correctly identified factors that increase the likelihood of toxic substances in food being harmful to human health (OR: 2.86), who better knew the health problems that may be caused by such substances (OR: 2.48), and who recognised more food groups that tend to have concentrations of toxic substances potentially harmful to health (OR: 2.92) (all p values <0.001). Women were 65% less likely than men to answer that regulations on toxic substances in food are effective (p<0.001); and so were participants who identified more food groups with potentially toxic concentrations. ConclusionsAmong study participants there was a widespread scepticism and distrust towards the enforcement and effectiveness of laws and regulations that in Spain aim to control human exposure to toxic substances in food.

Variation in ligand responses of the bitter taste receptors TAS2R1 and TAS2R4 among New World monkeys.

BackgroundNew World monkeys (NWMs) are unique in that they exhibit remarkable interspecific variation in color vision and feeding behavior, making them an excellent model for studying sensory ecology. However, it is largely unknown whether non-visual senses co-vary with feeding ecology, especially gustation, which is expected to be indispensable in food selection. Bitter taste, which is mediated by bitter taste receptors (TAS2Rs) in the tongue, helps organisms avoid ingesting potentially toxic substances in food. In this study, we compared the ligand sensitivities of the TAS2Rs of five species of NWMs by heterologous expression in HEK293T cells and calcium imaging.ResultsWe found that TAS2R1 and TAS2R4 orthologs differ in sensitivity among the NWM species for colchicine and camphor, respectively. We then reconstructed the ancestral receptors of NWM TAS2R1 and TAS2R4, measured the evolutionary shift in ligand sensitivity, and identified the amino acid replacement at residue 62 as responsible for the high sensitivity of marmoset TAS2R4 to colchicine.ConclusionsOur results provide a basis for understanding the differences in feeding ecology among NWMs with respect to bitter taste.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0783-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Biosensors as Novel Platforms for Detection of Food Pathogens and Allergens

Food safety involves preparation and storage of food in different ways to prevent food-borne illness. Ever increasing incidences of food-borne diseases have led food industry to employ rapid and inexpensive method of analysis. It is important not only for health, but also from economic point of view because food-borne diseases result in financial losses. Stringent laws have been made for preparation, packaging, and storage of food. Various techniques are used in food industry but biosensing has received considerable attention due to its high specificity and quick response at low cost. The present review describes use of biosensors for the detection of various pathogens, allergens, pesticide residues, natural contaminants, and other toxic substances in food. Different types of biosensors are used to serve the purpose of food quality assurance such as electrochemical, optical, piezoelectric, and thermometric. Various materials such as monoclonal antibodies, aptamers, RNA, and DNA have been used to enhance the sensitivity and specificity of biosensors for food. Employment of nanoparticles in fabrication of biosensors has shown remarkable potential because of their unique properties at small scale. A wide variety of nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles, nanowires, and quantum dots have been used for fabrication of biosensors. Attempts have been made to achieve real-time detection of food contaminants and a little success has been obtained in this regard because more or less, almost every technique requires sample preparation. Highly sensitive and selective biosensors have been developed which showed great potential to mark the presence of food contaminants close to real-time detection. Sensing strategies are moving towards the perfection to obtain real-time detection while assuring high quality of food which is free from any type of contamination.

Determination of glycyrrhetic acid after consumption of liquorice and application to a fatality

Besides alcohol and drugs of abuse, several popular foods contain potentially toxic substances and cases of intoxication after consumption of these foods attract notice of forensic toxicology. This is also true for the case of a 34-year-old woman who was suspected to have suffered lethal acute intoxication from eating nothing but liquorice over a period of several months. The liquorice ingredient glycyrrhizin and its metabolite glycyrrhetic acid, which elicits a mineralocorticoid effect, were determined in the sort of liquorice the woman had consumed by using LC–MS/MS. In addition, a fast and sensitive procedure for the quantification of glycyrrhetic acid including a simple sample preparation was developed. The method was proven to be accurate and precise. In a liquorice ingestion experiment, 200 g of liquorice had to be eaten. Afterwards, concentrations of glycyrrhetic acid in the blood of up to 434 ng/ml were measured. Since only traces of glycyrrhetic acid had been found in the blood and stomach content of the deceased woman, the possibility of acute lethal glycyrrhetic acid intoxication could be eliminated. Excluding other causes of death, the woman is believed to have died from a lethal hyperglycemic coma. Nonetheless, the influence of harmful and toxic substances in food should be taken into consideration in special cases.

Comparative Hazard Characterization in Food Toxicology

Historically, different approaches have been adopted for comparing and characterizing hazards that can be found in the very complex mixture of substances present in food. In this review a variety of prominent risk assessment models are evaluated in the context of food safety. In their current state of refinement, though, they show limited applicability for comparative hazard characterization and impact magnitude scoring of adverse effects of substances in food. Nonetheless, some existing models hold building blocks and modelling concepts that appear promising for further development and integration. Thus, a new, dedicated, and generally accepted model is needed that is capable of generating relevant “Impact Magnitude Score” (IMS) values for comparing potentially toxic substances in food. A brief outline of requirements for a model (Guided Toxicology-assessment of Health Impact; GTHI) is presented that considers “severity” (S), “duration” (D), and “proportion of population affected” (P). An important demand on such a model is to provide significantly improved food safety evaluation amenable to regulatory agencies and consumers. This review is based on a project entitled “Promoting food safety through a new integrated risk analysis approach for foods” (acronym: “SAFE FOODS”) that is under the subsidy of the European Commission.

O estado da arte da cromatografia associada à espectrometria de massas acoplada à espectrometria de massas na análise de compostos tóxicos em alimentos

Chromatography combined with several different detection systems is one of the more used and better performing analytical tools. Chromatography with tandem mass spectrometric detection gives highly selective and sensitive analyses and permits obtaining structural information about the analites and about their molar masses. Due to these characteristics, this analytical technique is very efficient when used to detect substances at trace levels in complex matrices. In this paper we review instrumental and technical aspects of chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and the state of the art of the technique as it is applied to analysis of toxic substances in food.

From biomedical research to health improvement

Traditional means of analysis of research outputs have focussed on citations to papers in journals in other journal publications. But these only chronicle the early stages whereby research in biomedicine is converted into health improvement through better patient care and through preventive measures. New evaluation methods, still based on the concept of citation of research in other documents, are needed and are now being developed. These include the use of textbooks in medical education and the analysis of governmental regulations and health policies, which can influence both the availability of new drugs and the control of toxic substances in food and the environment. There is also an interest in the way that newspapers report biomedical research advances. Readers include politicians, healthcare professionals, the general public (who are increasingly becoming active consumers of healthcare products) and other researchers who may value the immediacy of the reporting. Newspaper articles tend to focus on fashionable topics and to offer premature hopes of cures to disease, but they can also provide a valuable service in showing the importance of animal experiments to biomedical progress. It would be useful to create an international database of newspaper citations through a consortium of partners in different countries who would agree a common protocol and exchange information on a regular basis.