Food contamination, food adulteration and its control.
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Metal accumulation by juvenile landsnails, Helix engaddensis, and its effect on growth rate was studied over a 5-week period of exposure and 2 weeks of recovery. An artificial food contaminated with Cu (4-2500 microg x g(-1)), Cd (50-800 microg x g(-1)), Pb, and Zn (20-12500 microg x g(-1)) was used. During the 7 weeks of the experiment, mortality rates were 20, 27, 30, and 38% among snails fed Cu-, Pb-, Zn-, and Cd-contaminated food, respectively. According to the ability to inhibit growth, metals were found to have the following order: Cd > Zn > Cu = Pb. Inhibitory effects of dietary metals started to be significant from the third week of exposure on. Inhibition of growth by Pb and Cu was found to be reversible, and within the first week of recovery, snails erupted their aestivation and resumed feeding and growth to gain weights similar to those of the control groups. Snails fed Cd- or Zn-contaminated food failed to resume growth during the 2 weeks of recovery. This indicates that in the case of Cu and Pb, growth inhibition was mainly due to starvation due to food rejection and aestivation. On the other hand, growth inhibition caused by Cd and Zn may have been resulting from irreversible toxicity. Therefore, snails were assumed to be sensitive to Cd and Zn but tolerant to Cu and Pb. Accumulation of Cu and Pb was significant only at the highest concentrations. At low and medium concentrations, no signs of accumulation were observed, indicating regulation at these concentrations. Cd and Zn accumulation starts at low concentrations but became significant at medium and high levels indicating accumulation of these metals.
We suggest that radioactive food contamination, as determined solely by a quantitative gamma-ray spectroscopic measurement, may, apart from the total activity per unit mass, be for quick reference conveniently characterized by another single figure which we call the "Gamma Contamination Food Factor" (GCFF). This factor may be defined as the ratio of the total specific activity of gamma-ray-emitting radionuclides in the food sample (except that of 40K) to the specific activity of 40K either in the sample itself or in an "average man". We discuss briefly the meaning and advantages of these definitions.
The antifungal activity of several components of essential oils were evaluated using a paper-disk method. The substances investigated are structurally related to eugenol. Equimolar amounts were tested on more than ten fungal strains known to contaminate food. Iso-eugenol, cinnamaldehyde, carvacrol, eugenol and thymol revealed the strongest antifungal activity. The most resistant strain appeared to be Penicillium verrucosum var. cyclopium, and the most sensitive was P. viridicatum. Some of the structural effects were considered, including a free hydroxyl group in connection with an alkyl substituent which seemed to represent an especially active configuration of phenolic compounds and which rendered antimicrobial activity.
We describe 2 cases in whom systemic anaphylaxis developed shortly after they had eaten food contaminated by a storage mite, Tyrophagus putrescentiae. We were able to demonstrate that these cases were sensitive to the storage mites but not to food allergens, leading us to conclude that the cases' anaphylactic episodes were the result of ingestion of the storage mites. This is the first report of the ingestion of storage mites causing systemic anaphylaxis in sensitive persons.
A method has been developed for quantitative determination of cyclopiazonic acid, a mycotoxin produced by a common food contaminant, Penicillium cyclopium. The organism was grown successively in synthetic minimal medium, rice, corn, and wheat for 15 days. The toxin was extracted with chloroform followed by separation by thin layer chromatography. A colorimetric assay procedure has been successfully developed for the analysis of cyclopiazonic acid present in infected rice, corn, and wheat. The sensitivity of the method was tested by using recovery experiments.
This paper proposes a new method for estimating the date of infection in an outbreak of diarrhea caused by eating foods contaminated by some sort of foodborne pathogens such as Escherichia coli O-157:H7. Simple methods for calculating maximum likelihood estimator and confidence interval are proposed assuming (1) a common date of infection and (2) the incubation period has a log-normal distribution. Further, this paper shows that all three methods proposed so far for estimating the date of infection under the same assumptions are theoretically inappropriate or computationally imprecise. The proposed methods are illustrated with data from three outbreaks of Escherichia coli O-157:H7 and outbreak due to Escherichia coli O-118:H2 in Japan.
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Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites of microscopic fungi. They are classified with particularly hazardous contaminants of foods and feeds. It has been demonstrated that they are extremely dangerous for the health of man, widely spread and do considerable economic damage. The authors describe in detail the data as to the level of contamination of different foods with aflatoxins, ochertoxins, citrinin, patulin, trichotecenic mycotoxins, and zearalenone. The principal role in the prevention of human mycotoxicoses is played by the control over food contamination with mycotoxins. An organization program of the control has been developed. The principal feature of the program is the organization of the specialized scientific-practical centers responsible for the collection and summarization of the results of monitoring and for the development of prophylactic measures. The authors provide data on the maximum allowable concentrations of aflatoxins in foods validated in different countries. Review the topics concerned with the assessment of the efficacy of the control over food contamination with mycotoxins.
A food contamination incident involving polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) and PCDD/Fs occurred in 1999 in Belgium. On heavily affected farms, concentrations of PCBs in chicken or pork fat exceeded the Belgium tolerance limit of 200 ng/g lipid weight for the sum of seven marker PCBs. Analysis of contaminated samples showed that the patterns for PCB and PCDD/F congeners differed among feed, chicken fat and pork fat. Lower chlorinated PCBs and polychlorodibenzofurans (PCDFs) including those with high TEFs (PCBs 105, 118, 126 and 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF) were shown to either bioaccumulate more in chicken fat or to be eliminated more readily in pork. This leads to the possibility that consumption of chicken would result in a higher TEQ human body burden than that from the same consumption of pork. In addition, PCDF congeners with non-2,3,7,8-substitution (e.g., 1,2,4,7,8-PeCDF) were present in chicken fat but absent in pork fat. Since the residue pattern in this commercial episode changes less in the avian species, these results reinforce the value of birds rather than mammals as markers of the source of contamination with persistent organochlorine pollutants.
The contamination of food and feed by fungi and their toxins (mycotoxins) has to be considered as a serious hazard in the daily live. Mycotoxins are natural contaminants in foods and could induce several syndromes. Many mycotoxicosis are described. The control and surveillance of mycotoxins involve the carrying out of surveys, toxicological studies and institution of regulations.
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A wide variety of naturally contaminated and inoculated raw flesh and highly contaminated food types was analyzed by a modified immunodiffusion enrichment protocol and the Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM) method to determine the equivalence of these methods. This modification was developed by Agriculture Canada to allow addition of a high-temperature selective enrichment step in tetrathionate brilliant green broth at 42 degrees C while maintaining a 2-day total test time. Foods representing red meat, white meat, frog, and seafoods and one type of animal meal were evaluated. A total of 320 samples was tested, resulting in false negative rates of 5.2 and 3.5%, respectively, for the modified immunodiffusion and the BAM culture methods. The overall agreement rate was 96.9%.
Dimethylnitrosamine (NDMA), diethylnitrosamine (NDEA), methylbenzylnitrosamine, and a new N-nitroso compound, N-3-methylbutyl-N-1-methylacetonylnitrosamine (NMAMBA), were found in cornbread that was inoculated with Fusarium moniliforme and underwent an incubation and the addition of a small amount of NaNO2. The carcinogenicity of NMAMBA was shown by the induction of forestomach carcinomas and liver tumors in mice and rats. Another new nitrosamine, N-2-methylpropyl-N-methylacetonyl nitrosamine, was isolated in millet and wheat flour after similar treatment. Some species of fungi not only can reduce nitrates to nitrites but also can increase the amount of secondary amines in the moldy foods and provide favorable conditions for the synthesis of nitrosamines. Some fungi may utilize primary amines to synthesize nitrosamines in appropriate culture mediums. Furthermore, the cornmeal may naturally contain trace amounts of nitrosamines, as detected by a gas chromatography/thermoenergy analyzer. Prolonged feeding of F. moniliforme-inoculated cornbread alone also induced the development of forestomach carcinoma in rats. This indicates the occurrence of potential carcinogens, perhaps certain Fusarium mycotoxins, in the moldy cornbread in addition to the carcinogenic nitrosamines. Another nitroso compound, Roussin red methylester (di-mu-methanethiolatotetranitrosodiiron) was found in pickled vegetables that are eaten daily in the Linxian (China) area. Roussin Red may provide NO-2 ions, which would react readily with secondary amines to form nitrosamines. Possibly this compound is a natural tumor promoter and is able to induce epithelial hyperplasia of the upper digestive tract and forestomach papilloma in treated mice. Also, trace amounts of NDMA, NDEA, and some other nitrosamines were found in the extract of pickled vegetables.