Food Hygiene and Safety Science最新文献

We have developed a method for determination of the species of origin of biological foreign substances using proteomics analysis technology. That is, the amino acid sequence of the tryptic digested product of the protein extracted from the foreign substance is determined by high-resolution LC-MS, and the amino acid sequence is collated with a public protein database to determine the origin species of the foreign substance. As a result of testing meat (beef, pork, chicken) and egg (chicken, quail) from known origin as simulated foreign substances, we were able to find species-specific amino acid sequences for each species, suggesting that the developed method is useful for species discrimination of a foreign substances that have been heat-treated with retort, this method is potentially useful to complement DNA analysis, for determination of the species of origin of foreign substances.

A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)-based method was developed for determining quinclorac in livestock products. Quinclorac was extracted from the samples using a solution of acetone and hydrochloric acid mixed in a 99 : 1 ratio. The crude extract was purified with ethyl acetate under basic conditions, followed by quinclorac extraction with ethyl acetate under acidic conditions and analysis using LC-MS/MS. The average recoveries of quinclorac from five livestock products (n=5) fortified at the maximum residue limits or 0.01 mg/kg ranged from 85.6 to 93.5%, with the precision of repeatability ranging from 1.7 to 6.8%. The quantification limit in this analytical method was 0.01 mg/kg. These results suggest that the developed method is useful for analyzing quinclorac in livestock products.

Fusarium species infect the major cereals consumed as food and feed, contaminating them with various toxic secondary metabolites known as toxins. Among these toxins, which include trichothecenes, zearalenone (ZEA), and fumonisins, the type-B trichothecene deoxynivalenol (DON) is generally considered as the most important. The present study evaluates an analytical method for the detection and quantification of multiple Fusarium toxins, namely, DON, acetyl forms of DON (3-Ac-DON and 15-Ac-DON), a glycoside form of DON (DON-3G), and other Fusarium toxins (nivalenol, an acetyl form of NIV (fusarenonX), T-2 and HT-2 toxins, diacetoxyscirpenol, and ZEA) in Job's tears and buckwheat.

We experienced a pufferfish poisoning case where no food residue was available to detect a causative agent. However, tetrodotoxin (TTX) was detected in vomit and urine samples from a patient using LC-MS/MS. Furthermore, we found a significant matrix effect in this analysis, indicating that the retention time of vomit and urine was not identical to the TTX standard solution and measured values multiplied by the dilution factors were not constant. Elimination of this matrix effect was attained by dilution of samples based on the retention time of the TTX standard solution, i.e., 10-time dilution of vomit test sample for LC-MS/MS analysis or 100-200-time dilution of urine one. Further research on urine analytical methods revealed that when TTX concentrations were too low to identify its peak on a chromatogram, TTX could be identified through a dilution procedure. It also showed that the application of the matrix-added TTX standard solution was effective for quantitative analysis under the influence of the matrix.

A novel method was developed for quantification of bisacuron (BC) and dehydrozingerone (DZ), the functional component of turmeric (Curcuma longa.L)-containing foods, using a relative molar sensitivity (RMS) method based on the combination of HPLC-UV and ¹H-NMR. The RMSs of BC and DZ using 4-hydroxybenzoic acid ethyl ester (HBE) as the internal standard were calculated to 1.66 and 2.55, respectively. Analysis of fourteen beverage products showed the high correlations between the concentrations of BC and DZ quantified by the RMS method and those quantified by absolute calibration curve method. A collaborative study was conducted by four laboratories on one beverage and one tablet products. The repeatable relative standard deviation (RSD_r) of intra-laboratories ranged from 0.7 to 1.7%, and the reproducible relative standard deviation (RSD_R) of inter-laboratories ranged from 2.0 to 7.3%. The RMS method enabled the quantification of analytes for which difficultly obtain standard materials such as BC and DZ, using an internal standard for which obtain routinely readily available. This RMS method is expected to be applied to quality control for food products containing turmeric.

We investigated the prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter coli, Salmonella, enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, Yersinia enterocolitica, and Escherichia albertii in domestic chicken and pork sold at retail stores in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Campylobacter was detected in 35.7% (60/168) of chicken samples and 7.3% (14/190) of pork samples. C. jejuni and C. coli were predominant in chicken and pork, respectively. Salmonella was found in 58.1% (100/172) of chicken samples and 19.9% (41/206) of pork samples. Moreover, Salmonella Schwarzengrund was the major serovar observed in chicken isolates, whereas S. Typhimurium monophasic variant was in pork isolates. Furthermore, ETEC was found in 0.6% (1/160) of chicken samples and 2.4% (5/206) of pork samples. Y. enterocolitica was absent from all (83/83) chicken samples but was present in 9.3% (18/193) of pork samples, with a prevalence in pork tongues as high as 21.0% (13/62 samples). However, EHEC and E. albertii were not detected in our study. Therefore, the results of this study indicate that chicken was highly contaminated with Campylobacter sp. and Salmonella, and pork was with Y. enterocolitica serotype O3, Campylobacter sp., Salmonella, and ETEC.

Arsenic (As) and heavy metals (Cd, Hg, Pb, and Cu) and pesticide residues in 14 edible insects were investigated. The maximum levels of elements were 6.15 for As, 0.82 for Cd, 0.50 for Hg, 0.67 for Pb, and 297.7 ppm for Cu. Fenobucarb (or BPMC) has been quantified through GC- and LC-MS/MS analysis at a concentration of approximately 3 ppm. Further studies of the contaminants may help ensure the safety of edible insect consumption.

To evaluate the effects of handling "not detectable" residues (ND: <0.01 mg/kg) in the pulp and detectable residues in the pits on the calculation of pesticide residue in the whole fruit, residue levels in the pulp, peel, and pits of loquat fruits were separately analyzed. Following conventional Japanese agricultural practices, 16 pesticides were sprayed at the maximum application rates in three test fields. All target pesticides were detected at quantifiable levels in the peel (n=144). In contrast, the percentages of detected pesticides in the pulp and pits were 42% (n=61) and 36% (n=52), respectively. Most pesticide residues were present in the peel. For comparison, the pesticide residue levels in the whole fruits were determined based on three indices: the highest estimate (H), calculated using the measured residue levels in the pits and by replacing the ND residues in the pulp as the limit of quantification (LOQ) values; conventional estimate (C), calculated by neglecting all residues in the pits (0 mg/kg) and replacing the ND residues in the pulp as LOQ values; and the lowest estimate (L), calculated by neglecting all residues in the pits and the ND residues in the pulp (0 mg/kg). The L/C and H/C ratios ranged from 74% (L/C) to 106% (H/C). In seven of eighty-three cases with less than 90% difference, residue levels in the whole loquat fruits were low (≤0.06 mg/kg), with the actual range being equal to or below the minimum unit of 0.01. In comparison of three field datasets, the range of residue levels was estimated to be 2.77 mg/kg. Based on the results of separate analysis, handling of ND residues in the pulp and detectable residues in the pits did not significantly affect the calculated pesticide residue levels in the whole loquat fruits.

Since amantadine, rimantadine, arbidol, laninamvir, oseltamivir, peramivir, and zanamivir may be used as antiviral agents to treat avian influenza, we herein developed a simultaneous assay using LC-MS/MS. This method was applied to chicken products (including yakitori (grilled chicken), fried chicken, chicken steak, and boiled eggs) as well as chicken tissues (muscle, fat, the liver, gizzards, and heart) and eggs.Samples were extracted with methanol-water (9 : 1), purified by a tandem column with an InertSep^® MAX cartridge (upper part) and InertSep^® MCX cartridge (lower part), and then measured by LC-MS/MS. The sample matrix had no effect on the identification of compounds. Chromatographic separation was performed on a ZIC-HILIC column using a mobile phase of 1% acetic acid solution and 1% acetic acid solution in acetonitrile, resulting in complete separation and other obstructive peaks from the sample matrices. An external solvent calibration curve was used for quantification.The application of the method to 6 samples of chicken tissues and eggs achieved good results of between 77.9 and 97.5% for trueness and between 1.7 and 9.2% for concurrent accuracy. The method was also applied to 9 samples of processed products, including grilled chicken and fried chicken, and achieved good results with true percentages ranging between 72.6 and 99.2% and concurrent accuracies between 3.0 and 11.2%. Therefore, the developed method may also be applied to processed products.The limit of quantification (LOQ) of the developed method was 0.01 mg/kg.The method was then applied to 42 types of commercial processed products, including yakitori, fried chicken, steamed chicken, chicken steak, and boiled eggs, and no antiviral agents were detected.Collectively, the present results confirmed that the method developed herein is applicable to not only chicken tissues, but also their processed products.

In the pharmaceutical ingredients contamination testing of 702 commercial dietary supplement products, during fiscal years 2014-2021, 14 pharmaceutical ingredients, barrenwort, leaf axils of senna, and small leaf of senna were detected in 28 products. Screening and confirmation of the pharmaceutical ingredients in the products were performed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detector and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-kingdon trap mass spectrometry, respectively. In particular, leaf axils and small leaf of senna were identified by stereomicroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, we found several pharmaceutical ingredients that exceeded the daily medicated dosage; therefore, it is important to prevent the distribution of such products to prevent the occurrence of health hazard. For that reason, it is necessary to continue the sample purchasing and testing systems to monitor the distribution of products containing pharmaceutical ingredients.