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Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants
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Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 March 2023) | Viewed by 28299

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xiangmei Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Food Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Interests: food analysis; immunoassay; antibody engineering; hapten design; biosensor; food safety
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Lin Luo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Food Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Interests: immunoassay; antibody engineering; hapten design; biosensor; food safety; rapid assay
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Zhanhui Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Beijing Key Laboratory of Detection Technology for Animal-Derived Food, Beijing Laboratory for Food Quality and Safety, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Interests: hapten design for chemical compound in food; production of recognition materials; immunoassay for food safety; food science and quality; antibiotic resistance; environmental drugs and toxins; veterinary medicine; zoonosis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Food contamination is one of the most significant issues affecting human health and food safety. Common food contaminants include antibiotics, mycotoxins, foodborne pathogens, metal ions, pesticide residues, allergens, etc, which can be present in foods as a result of different stages such as food production, processing, transport, and storage. The consumption of contaminated food products could lead to foodborne diseases such as food poisoning, diarrhea, indigestion, neurotoxicity, and others, even at low doses. Based on the World Health Organization (WHO) reports, annually, an estimated 600 million people are in poor health after eating contaminated food and 42,000 die due to this. For this reason, food safety risk assessment is becoming increasingly important.

A wide range of analytical techniques and methodology for contaminant detection have emerged in endless forms, ranging from conventional immunoassays represented by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) and lateral flow immunochromatography assays (LFIAs) to biosensors with various transducer types, especially fluorescence, colourimetry, chemiluminescence, surface plasmon resonance, surface-enhanced Raman scattering optical aptasensors, electrochemical aptasensors, etc. New technologies are promoting the development of the detection of hazardous food contaminants and their application in food safety.

Thus, in order to ensure food quality and safety and protect human health from potential hazards, the main goal of this Special Issue is to collect manuscripts that enable the recent progress to be built upon and the novel knowledge about detection technology and safety risk assessment for food contaminants to be broadened in the field of food safety.

Dr. Xiangmei Li
Dr. Lin Luo
Prof. Dr. Zhanhui Wang
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

  • food contaminants
  • food analysis
  • food safety
  • risk assessment
  • biosensors
  • detection technology
  • novel signal transducers

Published Papers (16 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2304 KiB  
Article
A Robust Homogeneous Fluorescence Polarization Immunoassay for Rapid Determination of Erythromycin in Milk
by Changfei Duan, Huiyan Zhang, Yingjie Zhang, Qiang Li, Peipei Li, Ghulam Mujtaba Mari, Sergei A. Eremin, Jianzhong Shen and Zhanhui Wang
Foods 2023, 12(8), 1581; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12081581 - 07 Apr 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1607
Abstract
Erythromycin (ERY) is one of the most common macrolides applied in veterinary medicine to treat diseases or as a feed additive for animal growth promotion. Long-term irrational use of ERY could lead to residues in animal-derived food and the emergence of drug-resistant strains, [...] Read more.
Erythromycin (ERY) is one of the most common macrolides applied in veterinary medicine to treat diseases or as a feed additive for animal growth promotion. Long-term irrational use of ERY could lead to residues in animal-derived food and the emergence of drug-resistant strains, posing potential threats to human health. In this study, a highly sensitive, specific, robust, and rapid fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) for the determination of ERY in milk has been described. Herein, to achieve high sensitivity, five tracers of ERY with different fluorescein structures were synthesized and paired with three monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Under the optimized conditions, the combination of mAb 5B2 and tracer ERM-FITC achieved the lowest IC50 value in the FPIA with 7.39 μg/L for ERM. The established FPIA was used to detect ERY in milk, revealing a limit of detection (LOD) of 14.08 μg/L with recoveries of 96.08–107.77% and coefficients of variations (CVs) of 3.41–10.97%. The total detection time of the developed FPIA was less than 5 min from the addition of samples to the result readout. All the above results showed that the proposed FPIA in this study was a rapid, accurate, and simple method for the screening of ERY in milk samples. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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14 pages, 2798 KiB  
Communication
Untargeted Metabolite Profiling of Adipose Tissue in Rats Exposed to Mepiquat
by Chuanqin Hu, Xinyu Song, Zhenzhen Shao, Yingli Liu, Jing Wang and Baoguo Sun
Foods 2023, 12(4), 867; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12040867 - 17 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1260
Abstract
Mepiquat (Mep) is a contaminant produced by Maillard reaction with reducing sugar, free lysine and an alkylating agent under typical roasting conditions, particularly in the range of 200–240 °C. It has been reported that exposure to Mep is harmful to rats. However, its [...] Read more.
Mepiquat (Mep) is a contaminant produced by Maillard reaction with reducing sugar, free lysine and an alkylating agent under typical roasting conditions, particularly in the range of 200–240 °C. It has been reported that exposure to Mep is harmful to rats. However, its metabolic mechanism is still not clear. In this study, untargeted metabolomics was used to reveal the effect of Mep on the metabolic profile of adipose tissue in Sprague-Dawley rats. Twenty-six differential metabolites were screened out. Eight major perturbed metabolic pathways were found, which were linoleic acid metabolism, Phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis, phenylalanine metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, Glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism, glycerolipid metabolism, Alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism, and glyoxylate and dicarboxylic acid metabolism. This study lays a solid foundation for clarifying the toxic mechanism of Mep. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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12 pages, 1295 KiB  
Article
Colorimetric Chemosensor Based on Fe3O4 Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Nanoparticles for Highly Selective and Sensitive Detection of Norfloxacin in Milk
by Maiquan Li, Lingli Luo, Jiayin Li, Yingzi Xiong, Ling Wang and Xia Liu
Foods 2023, 12(2), 285; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12020285 - 07 Jan 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1600
Abstract
Long-term use of norfloxacin (NOR) will cause NOR residues in foods and harm human bodies. The determination of NOR residues is important for guaranteeing food safety. In this study, a simple, selective, and label-free colorimetric chemosensor for in situ NOR detection was developed [...] Read more.
Long-term use of norfloxacin (NOR) will cause NOR residues in foods and harm human bodies. The determination of NOR residues is important for guaranteeing food safety. In this study, a simple, selective, and label-free colorimetric chemosensor for in situ NOR detection was developed based on Fe3O4 magnetic molecularly imprinted nanoparticles (Fe3O4 MMIP NPs). The Fe3O4 MMIP NPs showed good peroxidase-like catalytic activity to 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and selective adsorption ability to NOR. The colorimetric chemosensor was constructed based on the Fe3O4 MMIP NPs-H2O2-TMB reaction system. The absorbance differences were proportional to the concentrations of NOR in the range of 10–300 ng/mL with a limit of detection at 9 ng/mL. The colorimetric chemosensor was successfully applied to detect NOR residue in milk. The recovery range was 78.2–95.81%, with a relative standard deviation of 2.1–9.88%. Together, the proposed colorimetric chemosensor provides a reliable strategy for the detection of NOR residues in foods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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12 pages, 2297 KiB  
Article
Production of Ribosomal Protein S12/Renilla Luciferase Fusion and Development of a Bioluminescent Method for Detection of Aminoglycosides in Pork and Studying Its Recognition Mechanism
by Wanqiu Xia, Lei Zhang and Jianping Wang
Foods 2023, 12(2), 284; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12020284 - 07 Jan 2023
Viewed by 1139
Abstract
In this study, the genes of Escherichia coli ribosomal protein S12 and renilla luciferase were linked and expressed to produce a fusion protein, and its intermolecular interactions and affinities with sevenaminoglycosides were studied. Then, the fusion protein was used as the core agent [...] Read more.
In this study, the genes of Escherichia coli ribosomal protein S12 and renilla luciferase were linked and expressed to produce a fusion protein, and its intermolecular interactions and affinities with sevenaminoglycosides were studied. Then, the fusion protein was used as the core agent to develop a bioluminescent method on a conventional microplate for determination of the residues of thesevenaminoglycosides in pork. This method contained only one sample-loading step, and thus the assay was finished within 30 min. The limits of detection for the sevendrugs were in the range of 0.51–1.1 ng/mL, and the sensitivity for a specific drug was mainly determined by the receptordrug affinity but not related with the binding energy. After general comparison, the present method showed generally better performances than the previously reported enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for aminoglycosides. This is the first study reporting the recognition mechanisms of Escherichia coli ribosomal protein S12 for aminoglycosides and developing a bioluminescent method for detection of aminoglycoside residues in pork samples. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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11 pages, 1300 KiB  
Article
Occurrence of Furfural and Its Derivatives in Coffee Products in China and Estimation of Dietary Intake
by Qing Liu, Pingping Zhou, Pengjie Luo and Pinggu Wu
Foods 2023, 12(1), 200; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12010200 - 02 Jan 2023
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2469
Abstract
This is the first report on the content of furfural and its derivatives in coffee products in China. The concentrations of furfural and its derivatives in 449 sampled, commercially available coffee products in China were analyzed through a GC-MS technique, and the associated [...] Read more.
This is the first report on the content of furfural and its derivatives in coffee products in China. The concentrations of furfural and its derivatives in 449 sampled, commercially available coffee products in China were analyzed through a GC-MS technique, and the associated health risks were estimated. As a result, 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (5-HMF) was identified as the predominant derivative compound, with the highest concentration of 6035.0 mg/kg and detection frequency of 98.7%. The mean dietary exposures of 5-HMF, 5-MF(5-methylfurfural), and 2-F(2-furfural) in coffee products among Chinese consumers were 55.65, 3.00, and 3.23 μg/kg bw/day, respectively. The ranges of mean dietary intake of furfural and its derivatives based on age groups were all lower than the acceptable daily intake (ADI) and the toxicological concern threshold (TTC). Risk evaluation results indicate that coffee product intake did not pose potential risks to consumers. Notably, the analysis revealed that children aged 3–6 years had the highest mean exposure due to their low body weight. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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11 pages, 2289 KiB  
Article
Automated and Rapid Easy-to-Use Magnetic Solid-Phase Extraction System for Five Heavy Metals in Cereals and Feeds
by Wei Tian, Yonglin Liu, Songxue Wang, Jin Ye, Hongmei Liu, Yue Wang and Minghui Zhou
Foods 2022, 11(24), 3944; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11243944 - 07 Dec 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1221
Abstract
A rapid, accurate, and ecofriendly pretreatment plays an extremely important role prior to ICP-MS for heavy metal analysis. In order to improve the pretreatment efficiency, a high-throughput and automatic magnetic solid-phase extraction of five heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Mn, Cu, and Zn) was [...] Read more.
A rapid, accurate, and ecofriendly pretreatment plays an extremely important role prior to ICP-MS for heavy metal analysis. In order to improve the pretreatment efficiency, a high-throughput and automatic magnetic solid-phase extraction of five heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Mn, Cu, and Zn) was carried out by a magnet-controlled pretreatment system with an ecofriendly diluted acid as an extracting agent and carboxyl-functionalized magnetic beads as a pretreatment material. Key conditions, including the pH, adsorption time, and eluent solution, were optimized. The time for purification and enrichment was only 8 min. The adsorption capacities of the carboxyl-functionalized magnetic beads were in the range of 152~426 mg g−1. The preconcentration factor of Cu was 40, and others were 200. In the optimal conditions, the limits of detection for Mn, Zn, Cd, Cu, and Pb by ICP-MS were 3.84, 2.71, 0.16, 11.54, and 6.01 ng L−1, respectively. The percentage recoveries were in the range of 80~110%, and the relative standard deviations were less than 3%. The developed method was in good agreement with traditional standard microwave digestion. Additionally, the designed system could simultaneously process up to 24 samples within 22 min, reducing the time to less than 1 min/sample. Thus, the proposed auto-MSPE-ICP-MS method was successfully applied to analyze five heavy metals in cereals and feeds with a simple operation and high precision, safety, and reliability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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16 pages, 8448 KiB  
Article
Identification and Evolution of a Natural Tetr Protein Based on Molecular Docking and Development of a Fluorescence Polari-Zation Assay for Multi-Detection of 10 Tetracyclines in Milk
by Wanqiu Xia, Jing Liu and Jianping Wang
Foods 2022, 11(23), 3850; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11233850 - 28 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1114
Abstract
In this study, the identity of our recently produced natural TetR protein was identified by using the LC-ESI-MS/MS technique, and its recognition mechanisms, including the binding pocket, contact amino acids, intermolecular forces, binding sites, binding energies, and affinities for 10 tetracycline drugs were [...] Read more.
In this study, the identity of our recently produced natural TetR protein was identified by using the LC-ESI-MS/MS technique, and its recognition mechanisms, including the binding pocket, contact amino acids, intermolecular forces, binding sites, binding energies, and affinities for 10 tetracycline drugs were studied. Then, it was evolved by site-mutagenesis of an amino acid to produce a mutant, and a fluorescence polarization assay was developed to detect the 10 drugs in milk. The sensitivities for the 10 drugs were improved with IC50 values decreasing from 30.8–80.1 ng/mL to 15.5–55.2 ng/mL, and the limits of detection were in the range of 0.4–1.5 ng/mL. Furthermore, it was found that the binding affinity for a drug was the critical factor determining its sensitivity, and the binding energy showed little influence. This is the first study reporting the recognition mechanisms of a natural TetR protein for tetracyclines and the development of a fluorescence polarization assay for the detection of tetracyclines residues in food samples. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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16 pages, 3850 KiB  
Article
Simultaneous Determination of 11 Mycotoxins in Maize via Multiple-Impurity Adsorption Combined with Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry
by Xin Guan, Yuchao Feng, Decheng Suo, Zhiming Xiao, Shi Wang, Ying Liang and Xia Fan
Foods 2022, 11(22), 3624; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11223624 - 13 Nov 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1669
Abstract
In this study, multiple-impurity adsorption purification (MIA) technologies and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) were used to establish a method for detecting 11 mycotoxins in maize. The conditions for mass spectrometry and MIA were optimized. Maize was extracted with 70% acetonitrile solution, enriched, [...] Read more.
In this study, multiple-impurity adsorption purification (MIA) technologies and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) were used to establish a method for detecting 11 mycotoxins in maize. The conditions for mass spectrometry and MIA were optimized. Maize was extracted with 70% acetonitrile solution, enriched, and purified using MIA technologies, and then, analyzed via LC-MS/MS. The results showed that the linear correlation coefficients of the 11 mycotoxins were >0.99, the sample recoveries ranged from 77.5% to 98.4%, and the relative standard deviations were <15%. The validated method was applied to investigate actual samples, and the results showed that the main contaminating toxins in maize were aflatoxins (AFs), deoxynivalenol (DON), fumonisins (FBs), ochratoxin A (OTA), and zearalenone (ZEN). Additionally, simultaneous contamination by multiple toxins was common. The maximum detection values of the mycotoxins were 77.65, 1280.18, 200,212.41, 9.67, and 526.37 μg/kg for AFs, DON, FBs, OTA, and ZEN, respectively. The method is simple in pre-treatment, convenient in operation, and suitable for the simultaneous determination of 11 types of mycotoxins in maize. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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16 pages, 9501 KiB  
Article
Facile Synthesis of Molecularly Imprinted Ratiometric Fluorescence Sensor for Ciguatoxin P-CTX-3C Detection in Fish
by Zhenke Qi, Cheng Xiang, Xingguo Tian and Xiaoyan Xu
Foods 2022, 11(20), 3239; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11203239 - 17 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1153
Abstract
Ciguatoxin (CTX) detection methods are essential due to the serious hazard that bioaccumulation in fish and transmission along the food chain poses to human health. We report the rapid and simple development of a dual-emitting, molecularly imprinted, ratiometric fluorescence sensor (MIPs@BCDs/RCDs@SiO2) [...] Read more.
Ciguatoxin (CTX) detection methods are essential due to the serious hazard that bioaccumulation in fish and transmission along the food chain poses to human health. We report the rapid and simple development of a dual-emitting, molecularly imprinted, ratiometric fluorescence sensor (MIPs@BCDs/RCDs@SiO2) to detect ciguatoxin P-CTX-3C with high sensitivity and selectivity. The sensor was fabricated via sol–gel polymerization using monensin as the fragmentary dummy template molecule, blue carbon dots (BCDs) as the response signal, and red carbon dots (RCDs) as the reference signal. The fluorescence emission of BCDs was selectively quenched in the presence of P-CTX-3C, leading to a favorable linear correlation between the fluorescence intensity ratio (I440/I675) and the P-CTX-3C concentration in the range of 0.001–1 ng/mL with a lower detection limit of 3.3 × 10−4 ng/mL. According to LC-MS measurement results, the proposed sensor can rapidly detect ciguatoxin P-CTX-3C in coral reef fish samples with satisfactory recoveries and standard deviations. This study provides a promising strategy for rapid trace analysis of marine toxins and other macromolecular pollutants in complex matrices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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12 pages, 2388 KiB  
Article
Development of a Fluorescence Polarization Assay for Multi-Determination of 10 Aminoglycosides in Pork Muscle Sample Based on Ribosomal Protein S12 and Studying Its Recognition Mechanism
by Wanqiu Xia, Lei Zhang and Jianping Wang
Foods 2022, 11(20), 3196; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11203196 - 13 Oct 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1165
Abstract
The residues of aminoglycosides in foods of animal origin are a potential risk to consumers. There have been some immunoassays reported for the screening of aminoglycoside residues, but the method showing the broadest detection spectrum can only be used to detect two drugs. [...] Read more.
The residues of aminoglycosides in foods of animal origin are a potential risk to consumers. There have been some immunoassays reported for the screening of aminoglycoside residues, but the method showing the broadest detection spectrum can only be used to detect two drugs. This is because a broad specific recognition reagent is not available. In the present study, the receptor of aminoglycosides (ribosomal protein S12 of Lysinibacillussphaericus) was expressed, and its affinities and recognition mechanisms for 10 aminoglycosides were studied by using surface plasmon resonance and molecular docking, respectively. Then the receptor was used as a recognition reagent to develop a fluorescence polarization assay on a 96-well microplate for the detection of the 10 drugs in pork muscle samples. The limits of detection for the 10 drugs ranged from 5.25 to 30.25 ng/g. The sensitivities for the 10 drugs were generally consistent with their respective receptor affinities and binding energies. After comprehensive comparison, the method performances were better than all the previously reported immunoassays for aminoglycosides. This is the first study reporting the recognition mechanisms of ribosomal protein S12 of Lysinibacillussphaericus for 10 aminoglycosides and the use of it as a recognition reagent to develop a pseudo-immunoassay for the multi-determination of aminoglycosides in food samples. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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13 pages, 4134 KiB  
Article
Identification and Evaluation of Microplastics from Tea Filter Bags Based on Raman Imaging
by Tingna Mei, Jiahua Wang, Xiaofeng Xiao, Jingwen Lv, Qiaocong Li, Huang Dai, Xiaodan Liu and Fuwei Pi
Foods 2022, 11(18), 2871; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11182871 - 16 Sep 2022
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3000
Abstract
Microplastic (MP) contamination is a public issue for the environment and for human health. Plastic-based food filter bags, including polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, nylon 6 (NY6), and polyethylene, are widely used for soft drink sub-packaging, increasing the risk of MPs in foods and the [...] Read more.
Microplastic (MP) contamination is a public issue for the environment and for human health. Plastic-based food filter bags, including polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, nylon 6 (NY6), and polyethylene, are widely used for soft drink sub-packaging, increasing the risk of MPs in foods and the environment. Three types of commercially available filter bags, including non-woven and woven bags, were collected, and MPs released after soaking were mapped using Raman imaging combined with chemometrics. Compared with peak area imaging at a single characteristic peak, Raman imaging combined with direct classical least squares calculation was more efficient and reliable for identifying MP features. Up to 94% of the bags released MPs after soaking, and there was no significant correlation with soaking conditions. Most MPs were tiny fragments and particles, and a few were fibrous MPs 620–840 μm in size. Woven NY6 filter bags had the lowest risk of releasing MPs. Source exploration revealed that most MPs originated from fragments and particles adsorbed on the surface of bags and strings. The results of this study are applicable to filter bag risk assessment and provide scientific guidance for regulating MPs in food. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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12 pages, 2384 KiB  
Article
A Rapid Fluorescence Sensor for the Direct Quantification of Rongalite in Foodstuffs
by Hongfang Li, Jie Chen, Baowei Huang, Lingwei Kong, Feifei Sun, Lin Li, Chuanyi Peng, Huimei Cai and Ruyan Hou
Foods 2022, 11(17), 2650; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11172650 - 01 Sep 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1991
Abstract
Rongalite was reported illegally used as a food additive for bleaching purposes and improving the tenderness of foodstuffs, which may endanger public health. At present, rongalite was mostly detected by indirect methods via derivatization or determining its decomposition products. In this study, we [...] Read more.
Rongalite was reported illegally used as a food additive for bleaching purposes and improving the tenderness of foodstuffs, which may endanger public health. At present, rongalite was mostly detected by indirect methods via derivatization or determining its decomposition products. In this study, we developed a new fluorescence sensor for the direct quantification of rongalite based on the principles: (1) dopamine reacts with resorcinol and generates strong fluorophore (azamonardine); (2) rongalite could inhibit the production of fluorophores and then result in lower fluorescence intensity. Hence, the rongalite concentration was inversely proportional to fluorescence intensity of fluorophore. Several crucial reaction conditions of fluorescence sensor were further optimized, such as dopamine and resorcinol concentration, pH values, and reaction time. Under the optimal conditions, the limit of detection of fluorescence sensor was 0.28–0.38 μg/g in vermicelli, wheat and rice powder samples, exhibiting almost 3.5-fold improvement compared to that of lateral flow immunoassay. Moreover, the detection time was substantially decreased to 20 min. The recoveries in spiked samples were 80.7–102.1% with a coefficient of variation of less than 12.6%. In summary, we developed a direct, high throughput, selective and accurate fluorescence sensor that poses a promising application for the rapid detection of rongalite in foodstuffs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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9 pages, 441 KiB  
Article
Detection and Degradation Characterization of 16 Quinolones in Soybean Sprouts by Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry
by Hao Deng, Yujie Feng, Guang Wu, Ronghu Zhang, Bei Li, Qingchun Yin and Lin Luo
Foods 2022, 11(16), 2500; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11162500 - 18 Aug 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1446
Abstract
Recently, there have been increasing safety concerns about the illegal abuse of quinolone in soybean sprouts. This study aimed to establish an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous detection of 16 quinolones (QNs) in soybean sprouts, and then [...] Read more.
Recently, there have been increasing safety concerns about the illegal abuse of quinolone in soybean sprouts. This study aimed to establish an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous detection of 16 quinolones (QNs) in soybean sprouts, and then reveal their degradation characteristics. The samples were extracted with acetonitrile (with 1% formic acid), purified by a C18 adsorbent, and separated by an ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 (1.7 μm, 2.1 mm × 100 mm) column. The internal standard method was applied for quantitative determination. The results demonstrated that the quantification linear range for 16 QNs was between 2.0 ng/mL and 50.0 ng/mL. The detection limits were between 0.5 μg/kg and 4.0 μg/kg, and the quantification limits were between 2.0 μg/kg and 20.0 μg/kg. This method was used to screen for quinolones in 50 batches of market soybean sprouts; the obtained results showed good agreement with those of the standard method. It was found that QNs possessed longer degradation half-life (T1/2) in the storage stage of soybean sprouts, while they degraded to some extent during the germination stage via active enzyme action. In particular, ciprofloxacin was the most stable QNs with a T1/2 of 70.71 d during the storage stage of soybean sprouts. This work not only offers an accurate and efficient QNs residual analysis strategy but also provides a reference for the supervision and management of QNs in foods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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16 pages, 3919 KiB  
Article
Antibiofilm and Antiquorum Sensing Potential of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum Z057 against Vibrio parahaemolyticus
by Xiangpeng Han, Qingying Chen, Xingguo Zhang, Xiaolan Chen, Dongsheng Luo and Qingping Zhong
Foods 2022, 11(15), 2230; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11152230 - 27 Jul 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1901
Abstract
Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a widespread foodborne pathogen that causes serious seafood-borne gastrointestinal infections. Biofilm and quorum sensing (QS) are critical in regulating these infections. In this study, first, the ability of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum Z057 to compete, exclude, and displace V. parahaemolyticus biofilm was [...] Read more.
Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a widespread foodborne pathogen that causes serious seafood-borne gastrointestinal infections. Biofilm and quorum sensing (QS) are critical in regulating these infections. In this study, first, the ability of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum Z057 to compete, exclude, and displace V. parahaemolyticus biofilm was evaluated. Then, the inhibitory effects of L. plantarum Z057 extract (Z057-E) on V. parahaemolyticus biofilm and QS were explored from the aspects of biofilm biomass, metabolic activity, physicochemical properties, extracellular polymer matrix content, QS signal AI-2 activity, biofilm microstructure, and the expression levels of biofilm and QS-related genes. Results showed that L. plantarum Z057 effectively inhibited biofilm formation of V. parahaemolyticus and interfered with the adhesion of V. parahaemolyticus on the carrier surface. In addition, the Z057-E could significantly reduce the biofilm biomass, metabolic activity, hydrophobicity, auto-aggregation ability, swimming and swarming migration diameter, AI-2 activity, extracellular polysaccharide (EPS), and extracellular protein content of V. parahaemolyticus. Fluorescence microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images demonstrated that the Z057-E could efficiently inactivate the living cells, destroy the dense and complete biofilm architectures, and reduce the essential component of the extracellular polymer matrix. Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR revealed that the Z057-E treatment down-regulated the expression of flagellum synthesis-related genes (flaA, flgM), EPS, and extracellular protein synthesis-related genes (cpsA, cpsQ, cpsR, ompW), QS-related genes (luxS, aphA, opaR), and hemolysin secretion-related genes (toxS, toxR) of V. parahaemolyticus. Thus, our results suggested that L. plantarum Z057 could represent an alternative biocontrol strategy against foodborne pathogens with anti-adhesive, antibiofilm, and antiquorum sensing activities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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12 pages, 3208 KiB  
Article
Development of a Highly Sensitive and Specific ic-ELISA and Lateral Flow Immunoassay for Diacetoxyscirpenol
by Shibei Shao, Wenhua Shang, Yuchen Bai, Leina Dou, Suxia Zhang, Jianzhong Shen, Zhanhui Wang and Kai Wen
Foods 2022, 11(11), 1548; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11111548 - 25 May 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1578
Abstract
To monitor the contamination of a type A trichothecene, diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), one monoclonal antibody (mAb) 8A9 with high affinity and specificity was prepared in the present study. The mAb 8A9 showed a 50% inhibition concentration (IC50) of 0.31 μg/L, which is [...] Read more.
To monitor the contamination of a type A trichothecene, diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), one monoclonal antibody (mAb) 8A9 with high affinity and specificity was prepared in the present study. The mAb 8A9 showed a 50% inhibition concentration (IC50) of 0.31 μg/L, which is of the highest affinity reported to date. An indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ic-ELISA) and lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) based on mAb 8A9 were developed and exhibited limits of detection as low as 0.65 μg/kg and 100 μg/kg in rice samples, respectively. The molecular recognition mechanism of mAb 8A9 to DAS was explored by molecular docking. The results showed that the hydrophobic amino acids of mAb 8A9 interacted with DAS by forming hydrogen bonds and a pi-sigma bond, which lead to a highly specific recognition of DAS. In summary, we produced one mAb, developed ELISA and LFIA for DAS detection in rice with significantly sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and precision. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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24 pages, 4722 KiB  
Article
Extraction Optimization, UHPLC-Triple-TOF-MS/MS Analysis and Antioxidant Activity of Ceramides from Sea Red Rice Bran
by Gang Wang, Xue-Jing Jia, Bing-Bing Song, Rui Li, Xiao-Fei Liu, Jian-Ping Chen, Sai-Yi Zhong and Hong-Kai Zhou
Foods 2022, 11(10), 1399; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11101399 - 12 May 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2289
Abstract
As a new type of salt-tolerant rice, sea red rice contains more minerals, proteins, and lipid compounds, and, in particular, its by-product rice bran may be used to replace other commercial rice brans as the main source of ceramides (Cers). However, the extraction [...] Read more.
As a new type of salt-tolerant rice, sea red rice contains more minerals, proteins, and lipid compounds, and, in particular, its by-product rice bran may be used to replace other commercial rice brans as the main source of ceramides (Cers). However, the extraction rate of Cers is generally low, and it is crucial to seek an efficient extraction method. This study optimized the ultrasonic-assisted extraction of Cers from sea red rice bran using response surface methodology (RSM) and obtained a Cers yield of 12.54% under optimal conditions involving an extraction temperature of 46 °C, an extraction time of 46 min, and a material–to-liquid ratio of 5 g/mL. The Cers content in sea red rice bran was preliminarily analyzed using thin-layer chromatography, and the Cers content was determined via UHPLC-Triple-TOF-MS/MS after purification and separation using silica column chromatography. Forty-six different types of Cers were identified in sea red rice bran, of which Cer 18:0/24:0 (2OH), Cer 18:0/26:0, Cer 18:0/26:0 (2OH), and Cer 18:0/24:0 accounted for 23.66%, 17.54%, 14.91%, and 11.96%. Most of the Cers structures were mainly composed of sphingadienine. A biological activity assay indicated that Cers extracted from sea red rice bran had significant antioxidant and anti-aging properties. These findings indicate that the extracted Cers show great potential for applications in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis, Detection Technology and Safety Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants)
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