Risk Assessment of Exposure to Multiple Toxic Chemicals from Foods

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Toxicology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2024 | Viewed by 6242

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Laboratory of Toxicology, Medical School, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Interests: biomonitoring; pesticide exposure; analytical toxicology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Toxicology Science and Research, Medical School, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Interests: biomonitoring; risk assessment; biomarkers of exposure; analytical toxicology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last few years, risk assessment of exposure to multiple toxic chemicals from foods and feed has been a difficult and important task for researchers, scientific communities, and relevant authorities. The provision of safe food and the proper management of food and feed procedures from production to consumption are the main pillars for safe and high-quality food.

Chemical substances can play an important role in food production and preservation. Furthermore, food packaging materials and containers may contain chemical substances that can migrate into food. People can be exposed to both man-made chemical compounds present in food and naturally occurring pollutants at various levels. The purpose of chemical risk assessment is to quantify the levels of chemical exposure, investigate routes of exposure, determine safe levels and estimate the risk of exposure. The diversity of chemicals that risk assessors deal with in the food and feed sectors is rather large, including anthropogenic (pesticides, biocides, food and feed additives, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, perfluoroalkyl substances, brominated flame retardants, dioxins, phthalates, bisphenols, etc.) and natural origin pollutants (mycotoxins, biotoxins, etc.).

In this Special Issue of Foods, we encourage the submission of manuscripts focused on risk assessment of chemical exposure from foods. Our aim is to gather new information in this field and provide an up-to-date Special Issue. We invite scientists and researchers to contribute original and unpublished research and review articles that deal with food chain contamination.

Dr. Matthaios P. Kavvalakis
Dr. Manolis N. Tzatzarakis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • risk assessment
  • food
  • chemical mixtures
  • exposure
  • food safety

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 1919 KiB  
Article
Simultaneous Rapid Determination of Seven Alternaria Toxins in Tuberous Crops during Storage Using QuEChERS Coupled with Ultrahigh-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry
by Jiali Xing, Xi Wu, Xiaorong Xu, Hai Cheng, Jian Shen, Ruihang Zheng, Lingyan Mao, Xiaohu Luo, Yinghua Mu and Yu Liu
Foods 2023, 12(4), 862; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12040862 - 17 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1372
Abstract
Robust and sensitive ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS/MS) combined with the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) method was applied for the detection of seven Alternaria toxins (ATs) in tuberous crops. The influence of tuber conditions (fresh, germinated, [...] Read more.
Robust and sensitive ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS/MS) combined with the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) method was applied for the detection of seven Alternaria toxins (ATs) in tuberous crops. The influence of tuber conditions (fresh, germinated, and moldy) during storage on the concentration of the seven ATs is also investigated. ATs were extracted with acetonitrile under acidic conditions and purified with a C18 adsorbent. ATs were scanned with electrospray ionization (positive/negative ion) dynamic switching and detected in MRM mode. Calibration curve analysis results reveal good linear relationships in all toxin concentration ranges (R2 > 0.99). The limit of detection and limit of quantification were 0.25–0.70 and 0.83–2.31 μg/kg, respectively. The average recoveries of the seven ATs were 83.2–104% with intra-/inter-day precision at 3.52–6.55% and 4.02–7.26%, respectively. The developed method provided adequate selectivity, sensitivity, and precision in detecting the seven ATs at trace levels, and dispensed with standard addition or matrix-matched calibration to compensate for matrix effects. ATs in the fresh, germinated, and moldy samples of tuberous crops in storage (taro, potato, sweet potato, yam, cassava) were analyzed with this method, and the concentrations were 2.01–14.51 μg/kg and significantly increased with storage duration. ALS was detected in most samples, whereas no quantities of ALT and ATX-I were detected. AME was often detected in combination with AOH in sweet potatoes. TeA and Ten were mostly detected in taro, potato, and yam. The established method could be used for the simultaneous detection and quantification of multicomponent toxins in elaborate matrices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Assessment of Exposure to Multiple Toxic Chemicals from Foods)
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11 pages, 282 KiB  
Article
Exposure and Health Risk Assessment of Aflatoxin M1 in Raw Milk and Cottage Cheese in Adults in Ethiopia
by Haftom Zebib, Dawit Abate and Ashagrie Zewdu Woldegiorgis
Foods 2023, 12(4), 817; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12040817 - 14 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2230
Abstract
Aflatoxin M1 (milk toxin) found in milk is formed from the hepatic biotransformation of AFB1 (aflatoxin B1) and poses a risk to human health when consumed. The risk assessment of AFM1 exposure due to milk consumption is a [...] Read more.
Aflatoxin M1 (milk toxin) found in milk is formed from the hepatic biotransformation of AFB1 (aflatoxin B1) and poses a risk to human health when consumed. The risk assessment of AFM1 exposure due to milk consumption is a valuable way to assess health risk. The objective of the present work was to determine an exposure and risk assessment of AFM1 in raw milk and cheese, and it is the first of its kind in Ethiopia. Determination of AFM1 was conducted using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results indicated that AFM1 was positive in all samples of milk products. The risk assessment was determined using margin of exposure (MOE), estimated daily intake (EDI), hazard index (HI), and cancer risk. The mean EDIs for raw milk and cheese consumers were 0.70 and 0.16 ng/kg bw/day, respectively. Our results showed that almost all mean MOE values were <10,000, which suggests a potential health issue. The mean HI values obtained were 3.50 and 0.79 for raw milk and cheese consumers, respectively, which indicates adverse health effects for large consumers of raw milk. For milk and cheese consumers, the mean cancer risk was 1.29 × 10−6 and 2.9 × 10−6 cases/100,000 person/year, respectively, which indicates a low risk for cancer. Therefore, a risk assessment of AFM1 in children should be investigated further as they consume more milk than adults. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Assessment of Exposure to Multiple Toxic Chemicals from Foods)

Review

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21 pages, 387 KiB  
Review
Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals and Persistent Organic Pollutants in Infant Formulas and Baby Food: Legislation and Risk Assessments
by Eleftheria Hatzidaki, Marina Pagkalou, Ioanna Katsikantami, Elena Vakonaki, Matthaios Kavvalakis, Aristidis M. Tsatsakis and Manolis N. Tzatzarakis
Foods 2023, 12(8), 1697; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12081697 - 19 Apr 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2200
Abstract
Human milk is the healthiest option for newborns, although, under specific circumstances, infant formula is a precious alternative for feeding the baby. Except for the nutritional content, infant formulas and baby food must be pollutant-free. Thus, their composition is controlled by continuous monitoring [...] Read more.
Human milk is the healthiest option for newborns, although, under specific circumstances, infant formula is a precious alternative for feeding the baby. Except for the nutritional content, infant formulas and baby food must be pollutant-free. Thus, their composition is controlled by continuous monitoring and regulated by establishing upper limits and guideline values for safe exposure. Legislation differs worldwide, although there are standard policies and strategies for protecting vulnerable infants. This work presents current regulations and directives for restricting endocrine-disrupting chemicals and persistent organic pollutants in infant formulas. Risk assessment studies, which are limited, are necessary to depict exposure variations and assess the health risks for infants from dietary exposure to pollutants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Assessment of Exposure to Multiple Toxic Chemicals from Foods)
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