[Warning against food contamination].
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An outbreak of ventilator-associated Pseudomonas aeruginosa respiratory infections in an intensive care unit of a teaching hospital was found to be associated with contaminated food coloring dye. Serotyping and bacteriocin typing indicated that the same strain of Pseudomonas was isolated from the food dye and from the respiratory cultures of the majority of patients. This observation lends credence to the importance of gastric colonization preceding pneumonia in ventilated patients.
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To assess the level of exposure to food contaminants (cadmium, lead, PCBs, DDT, hexachlorobenzene, nitrate and malathion) a total-diet study was carried out. A total of 226 food products were analysed individually; the concentration of contaminants in products not selected for analysis was estimated with the help of published data. The results of the analyses and estimations were used as input for the first Dutch National Food Consumption Survey (1987-1988) (n = 5898, age 1-85). Mean intakes of all contaminants analysed did not exceed the acceptable daily intake (ADI) or comparable values in any of the age-sex groups. Comparison of the results with those of previous total diet studies suggests that the intake of all contaminants analysed had declined between 1976-1978 and 1988-1989. In younger age groups an intake of lead and cadmium exceeding the tolerable daily intake (derived from the WHO/FAO provisional tolerable weekly intake) was found in 1.5% of individuals at most. For the older population groups and for the other contaminants in all population groups mean and maximum intakes were substantially below the ADL. However, individual intakes above the ADI for nitrate were found in 3-23% of individuals. For chronic exposure these percentages are likely to be overestimated because of the short time frame for food consumption measurement. In general, the difference between mean intake and tolerable daily intake was smallest for children aged 1-4. Therefore, it is recommended that future research is concentrated on the intake of contaminants in younger age groups.
The prime objective of the study was to find out whether contamination of food with metals affects body size, energetic reserves and developmental instability in ground beetles (Poecilus cupreus L.: Carabidae). The transfer of Cadmium (Cd) and Zinc (Zn) from medium (nominal concentrations in the medium: 0, 40, 160, 640 or 800 mg kg(-1) for Cd and 0, 400, 1600 or 6400 mg kg(-1) for Zn) to housefly larvae to beetles was also studied. Feeding the beetles throughout their entire lifetime with Cd-contaminated housefly pupae resulted in a significant decrease in body caloric value and the size of the elytrae, tibiae and rear femora. Although body mass also decreased with increasing Cd concentration, this effect was non-significant due to large variance in all treatments. Similar trends were also found in beetles fed pupae contaminated with Zn, but the effect on body mass and caloric value was non-significant. Zn exerted significant effects only on the size of the elytrae, middle and rear tibiae, and front and rear femora. No effect on fluctuating asymmetry (FA) was found in Cd- or Zn-treated beetles. The results indicate that ground beetles exposed to metal-contaminated food have lower amounts of energy available, which may be reflected in lower energetic reserves and changed body growth. However, the metals do not cause developmental instability in the carabids studied, at least not in the first generation. The concentrations of Zn were efficiently regulated in carabids, resulting in only minor differences between the beetles exposed to different Zn treatments. In contrast, Cd accumulated both in the housefly and the beetles, and the concentrations increased significantly with increasing medium contamination level.
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This review article provides an overview of the most recent literature on biosensors for environmental pollutants and food contaminants. Due to the large number of publications, only papers published between 2000 and January 2003 were considered. Also, while not all of the published literature could be reviewed here, over 200 references are cited to provide a good overview of research undertaken in the last two years. Older publications are covered by a number of earlier review articles. This article provides an introduction into the field including specific consideration of the application areas, describes the typical biosensor assay format used, and is subsequently structured according to the biorecognition elements used (i.e., nucleic acids, enzymes, whole cells, tissue and whole organisms, antibodies and receptors, and biomimetic materials). In addition, a section on microbiosensing systems is provided. Since only very few microbiosensors with applications in environmental and food systems have been published, enabling technology is also covered in this article.
Mycotoxins constitute a large number of naturally occurring fungal secondary metabolites with very diversified toxic effects in humans and animals. Among many mycotoxins discovered, aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, sterigmatocystin and several others are identified as carcinogens; several others were found to be mutagenic. Nevertheless, aflatoxin B1 has been found to be one of the most potent carcinogens and contamination of aflatoxins in the food supply is still a major concern. Whereas extensive studies have been made on aflatoxins, little is known about the mode of action of other carcinogenic and mutagenic mycotoxins. Recent progress on research for the carcinogenic and mutagenic mycotoxins is presented in this review with emphasis on their contamination in foods, their carcinogenic potential to humans, and the mode of action as well as possible preventive measures.
Inuit populations meet a large portion of their food needs by eating country food in which pollutants are concentrated. Despite the fact that they contain pollutants, the consumption of country food has many health, social, economic, and cultural benefits. A risk determination process was set up in order to help regional health authorities of Nunavik to deal with this particular issue. Based on Nunavik health authorities' objectives to encourage the region's inhabitants to change their dietary habits, and on both the risks and the benefits of eating country food, several management options were developed. The options aimed at reducing exposure to contaminants by either substituting certain foods with others that have a lower contaminant content or by store-bought foods. This article aims at assessing the potential economic impact of these risk management options before being implemented. Relevant economic data (aggregate income and monetary outlays for the purchase of food and equipment required for food production by households) were collected and identified to serve as a backdrop for the various replacement scenarios. Results show that household budgets, and the regional economy, are not significantly affected by the replacement of contaminated foods with the purchase of store-bought meat, and even less so if the solution involves replacing contaminated foods with other types of game hunted in the region. When financial support is provided by the state, the households can even gain some monetary benefits. Results show that public health authorities' recommended changes to dietary habits among the Inuit of Nunavik would not necessarily involve economic constraints for Inuit households.
The present review reports on the mathematical methods and statistical techniques available for human health risk assessment from exposure to food contaminants. A framework is established for the usage of these methods instead of traditional toxicological techniques. Regarding to each method applicability, strengths, limitations and weaknesses are described.
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The contamination levels of 10 main kinds of foodstuffs in 11 provinces and cities were monitored by the national food contamination monitoring system from 2000-2001. About 45 thousand data were obtained in strict quality control. The data indicated that the contamination level of lead was increased in 10 years in meat, eggs, milk-based products especially in preserved eggs, but the contamination levels of arsenic, cadmium and hydrargyrum were not serious by adopting the national standards. Organochlorine pesticides residues (666, DDT) maintained downtrend and organophosphorus pesticides residues met the national associated criteria except methyl parathion in cereals.
In September 1988 we investigated reports of seizures in persons who had eaten taquitos, a commercially prepared snack food. We identified and interviewed 5 persons with new-onset seizures within 12 hours of eating taquitos, all purchased during a 1-week period from a single store. Leftover taquitos were found to contain endrin, a highly toxic chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticide. Although tissue confirmation of exposure to endrin was not possible and the level of contamination in the tested taquitos was below that previously thought to be capable of inducing seizures, the pattern of symptoms and the common time and place of purchase strongly suggested that the seizures were due to endrin-contaminated taquitos. The source of endrin contamination could not be determined. This episode is the first report of illness associated with endrin-contaminated food products in the United States.
A simple gas-liquid chromatography end-product assay is reported for butyric and other short-chain fatty acids as presumptive indicators of Clostridium botulinum contamination in food.