Application of isotherm calorimetry in the development of foods containing probiotic live flora and enriched with bioavailable Ca<Superscript>2+</Superscript>

The development of functional foods of probiotic effect based on the slime-producing strains isolated in the 1980s, and that of enriched with Ca on the utilization of the high Ca-containing whey of the quarg production in the Carpathian basin using fermentation. The probiotic properties of the slime-producing microbe strains isolated have been proved by in vitro and in vivo examinations. We have used an isotherm DSC method to identify the probiotic microbes. The percentile ratio of probiotic and other microbes was determined in the product by this technique. By utilization of quarg whey a special additive food for Ca-enrichment has been developed which is suitable to complete or enrich different foods (dairy, meat and bakery products). The products developed are: probiotic kefir (Synbiofir), probiotic sour cream, probiotic butter cream, poultry meat products completed with Ca, bakery products completed with Ca.     

Fingerprinting food: current technologies for the detection of food adulteration and contamination

Major food adulteration and contamination events seem to occur with some regularity, such as the widely publicised adulteration of milk products with melamine and the recent microbial contamination of vegetables across Europe for example. With globalisation and rapid distribution systems, these can have international impacts with far-reaching and sometimes lethal consequences. These events, though potentially global in the modern era, are in fact far from contemporary, and deliberate adulteration of food products is probably as old as the food processing and production systems themselves. This review first introduces some background into these practices, both historically and contemporary, before introducing a range of the technologies currently available for the detection of food adulteration and contamination. These methods include the vibrational spectroscopies: near-infrared, mid-infrared, Raman; NMR spectroscopy, as well as a range of mass spectrometry (MS) techniques, amongst others. This subject area is particularly relevant at this time, as it not only concerns the continuous engagement with food adulterers, but also more recent issues such as food security, bioterrorism and climate change. It is hoped that this introductory overview acts as a springboard for researchers in science, technology, engineering, and industry, in this era of systems-level thinking and interdisciplinary approaches to new and contemporary problems.     

Studying variations in the PCDD/PCDF profile across various food products using multivariate statistical analysis

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF) are widely recognized by the scientific community as persistent organic pollutants due to their toxicity and adverse effects on wildlife and human health. The actual regulation dedicated to the monitoring of dioxins in food is based on the measurement of 17 congener concentrations. The final result is reported as a toxic equivalent value that takes into account the relative toxicity of each congener. This procedure can minimize the qualitative information available from the abundances of each PCDD/PCDF congener: the characteristic contamination profile of the sample. Multivariate statistical techniques, such as principal component analysis (PCA) or linear discriminant analysis (LDA), represent an interesting way to investigate this qualitative information. Nevertheless, they have only been applied to the analysis of contamination data from food products and biological matrices infrequently. The objective of the present study was to analyze a large data set from dioxin analyses performed on various food products of animal origin. The results demonstrate the existence of differences in congener-specific patterns between the analyzed samples. Variability was first demonstrated in terms of the food type (fish, meat, milk, fatty products). Then a variability was observed that was related to the specific animal species for meat and milk samples (bovine, ovine, porcine, caprine and poultry). Some practical applications of these results are discussed. The origin(s) of the observed differences, as well as their significance, now remain to be investigated, both in terms of environmental factors and transfer through living organisms. A better knowledge of the relation between a contamination profile and its specific source and/or food product should be of great interest to scientists working in the fields of contaminant analysis, toxicology and metabolism, as well as to regulatory bodies and risk assessors in charge of final decisions regarding the eventual hazards associated with theses substances.     

Detection of buffalo mozzarella adulteration by an ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry methodology

Over the past years, LC–MS‐based approaches have gained a growing interest in food analysis by using different platforms and methodologies. In particular, enhanced selectivity and sensitivity of multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) scan function offer powerful capabilities in detecting and quantifying specific analytes within complex mixtures such as food matrices. The MRM approach, traditionally applied in biomedical research, is particularly suitable for the detection of food adulteration and for the verification of authenticity to assure food safety and quality, both recognized as top priorities by the European Union Commission. Increasingly stringent legislation ensure products safety along every step ‘from farm to fork’, especially for traditional foods designed with the Protected Designation of Origin certification. Therefore, there is a growing demand of new methodologies for defining food authenticity in order to preserve their unique traits against frauds. In this work, an ultra performance liquid chromatopgraphy‐electrospray ionization‐tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) methodology based on MRM has been developed for the sensitive and selective detection of buffalo mozzarella adulteration. The targeted quantitative analysis was performed by monitoring specific transitions of the phosphorylated β‐casein f33‐48 peptide, identified as a novel species‐specific proteotypic marker. The high sensitivity of MRM‐based MS and the wide dynamic range of triple quadrupole spectrometers have proved to be a valuable tool for the analysis of food matrices such as dairy products, thus offering new opportunities for monitoring food quality and adulterations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simultaneous Identification of Pork and Poultry Origins in Pet Foods by a Quick Multiplex Real-Time PCR Assay Using EvaGreen Florescence Dye

EvaGreen multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (EMRT-PCR) was designed for an assay that can join the advantages of multiplex PCR and real-time PCR to recognize animal genes more quickly in pet foods. EMRT-PCR based on melting temperatures discrimination by using EvaGreen fluorescence dye was developed for the analysis of pork and poultry in pet food. The method combines the use of poultry- and pork-specific primers that amplify small fragments of 12S rRNA and mitochondrial DNA genes. Appropriate mixtures of poultry and pork meat in reference samples were used to develop the assay. Gene yields of poultry and pork were represented in two melting peaks generated simultaneously at temperatures of 80.5 and 87.2 °C, respectively. Based upon the assay results, it has been concluded that EMRT-PCR assay might be an efficient tool for the verification of species origin in pet foods.     

Selective melamine detection in multiple sample matrices with a portable Raman instrument using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy-active gold nanoparticles

Melamine adulteration of food and pharmaceutical products is a major concern and there is a growing need to protect the public from exposure to contaminated or adulterated products. One approach to reduce this threat is to develop a portable method for on-site rapid testing. We describe a universal and selective method for the detection of melamine in a variety of solid matrices at the 100–200 μg L⁻¹ level by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) with gold nanoparticles. With minimal sample preparation and the use of a portable Raman spectrometer, this work will lead to field-based screening for melamine adulteration. Citrate coated gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) were investigated for both colorimetric and Raman-based responses. Several non-hazardous solvents were evaluated in order to develop a melamine extraction procedure safe for field applications. Au NP agglomerates formed by the addition of isopropanol (IPA) prior to sample introduction enhanced the Raman signal for melamine and eliminated matrix interference for substrate formation. The melamine Raman signal resulted in a 10⁵ enhancement through the use of Au NP agglomerates. To our knowledge, we have developed the first portable SERS method using Au NPs to selectively screen for the presence of melamine adulteration in a variety of food and pharmaceutical matrices, including milk powder, infant formula, lactose, povidone, whey protein, wheat bran and wheat gluten.     

Rapid Full-Cycle Technique to Control Adulteration of Meat Products: Integration of Accelerated Sample Preparation,Recombinase Polymerase Amplification,and Test-Strip Detection

Verifying the authenticity of food products is essential due to the recent increase in counterfeit meat-containing food products. The existing methods of detection have a number of disadvantages. Therefore, simple, cheap, and sensitive methods for detecting various types of meat are required. In this study, we propose a rapid full-cycle technique to control the chicken or pig adulteration of meat products, including 3 min of crude DNA extraction, 20 min of recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) at 39 °C, and 10 min of lateral flow assay (LFA) detection. The cytochrome B gene was used in the developed RPA-based test for chicken and pig identification. The selected primers provided specific RPA without DNA nuclease and an additional oligonucleotide probe. As a result, RPA–LFA, based on designed fluorescein- and biotin-labeled primers, detected up to 0.2 pg total DNA per μL, which provided up to 0.001% w/w identification of the target meat component in the composite meat. The RPA–LFA of the chicken and pig meat identification was successfully applied to processed meat products and to meat after heating. The results were confirmed by real-time PCR. Ultimately, the developed analysis is specific and enables the detection of pork and chicken impurities with high accuracy in raw and processed meat mixtures. The proposed rapid full-cycle technique could be adopted for the authentication of other meat products.     

成像技术在食品安全与质量控制中的研究进展

食品质量与安全是政府、食品行业以及消费者十分关注的问题。为了保证食品质量与安全，需要对食品中的风险因子进行检测。传统的分析方法如生物化学方法和仪器分析方法（色谱法、色谱-质谱法）存在前处理比较复杂，耗时，对样品具有破坏性及无法获取目标物空间信息等缺点。因此，开发快速，无损，实时和可视化的检测技术十分重要，这也是食品领域研究的热点。近年来，高光谱成像技术融合了成像和光谱两种技术，可以作为一种用于食品质量和安全评估的非破坏性和实时检测的工具。拉曼光谱成像技术可以同时获得待测物的光谱和空间信息，具有快速，无损和低成本等优点，在食品安全评价和质量控制中也得到了成功应用。质谱成像技术不需要标记和染色，即可实现样品组织表面待测物的可视化和高通量分析。它作为一种分子可视化技术，可以获得食品中营养成分及内、外源性有害物质的空间分布信息，在食品领域也表现出良好的应用前景。本文检索了近几年国内外发表的成像技术在食品研究中的相关文献，介绍了高光谱成像技术、拉曼光谱成像技术和质谱成像技术的原理，并综述了它们在食品安全与质量控制中的应用。此外，本文分析和讨论了这几种成像技术的优缺点，并对成像技术在食品领域的发展前景做出了展望。     

NIR-spectrometric analysis of food. Methodical development and achievable performance values

The application of near infrared spectrometry (NIRS) to estimate the distribution of macro nutrients in food provides a rapid method for predicting food quality. Three methods have been developed for quantitative determination of the constituents of foods containing high levels of moisture (meat products, “consumable meals” and potatoes) using reflectance spectrometry in the near infrared region within 1100–2500 nm. Experience concerning these NIRS method developments is reported in order to predict e.g. the fat, crude protein and carbohydrate content. Generally, the performance values achieved so far indicate that the methods may be used as a replacement for conventional expensive and time-consuming wet chemical analysis.     

Food irradiation—US regulatory considerations

The use of ionizing radiation in food processing has received increased interest as a means of reducing the level of foodborne pathogens. This overview discusses the regulatory issues connected with the use of this technology in the United States. Several recent changes in the FDA's review process are discussed. These include the current policy that utilizes an expedited review process for petitions seeking approval of additives and technologies intended to reduce pathogen levels in food, and the recent USDA rule that eliminates the need for a separate rulemaking process by USDA for irradiation of meat and poultry. Recently promulgated rules and pending petitions before the FDA associated with the use of ionizing radiation for the treatment of foods are also discussed along with the current FDA labeling requirements for irradiated foods and the 1999 advanced notice of proposed rule on labeling. Another issue that is presented is the current status of the approval of packaging materials intended for food contact during irradiation treatment of foods.     

Application of Pomegranate by-Products in Muscle Foods: Oxidative Indices,Colour Stability,Shelf Life and Health Benefits

In recent years, considerable importance is given to the use of agrifood wastes as they contain several groups of substances that are useful for development of functional foods. As muscle foods are prone to lipid and protein oxidation and perishable in nature, the industry is in constant search of synthetic free additives that help in retarding the oxidation process, leading to the development of healthier and shelf stable products. The by-products or residues of pomegranate fruit (seeds, pomace, and peel) are reported to contain bioactive compounds, including phenolic and polyphenolic compounds, dietary fibre, complex polysaccharides, minerals, vitamins, etc. Such compounds extracted from the by-products of pomegranate can be used as functional ingredients or food additives to harness the antioxidant, antimicrobial potential, or as substitutes for fat, and protein in various muscle food products. Besides, these natural additives are reported to improve the quality, safety, and extend the shelf life of different types of food products, including meat and fish. Although studies on application of pomegranate by-products on various foods are available, their effect on the physicochemical, oxidative changes, microbial, colour stabilizing, sensory acceptability, and shelf life of muscle foods are not comprehensively discussed previously. In this review, we vividly discuss these issues, and highlight the benefits of pomegranate by-products and their phenolic composition on human health.     

Development of a multiplex DNA-based traceability tool for crop plant materials

The authenticity of food is of increasing importance for producers, retailers and consumers. All groups benefit from the correct labelling of the contents of food products. Producers and retailers want to guarantee the origin of their products and check for adulteration with cheaper or inferior ingredients. Consumers are also more demanding about the origin of their food for various socioeconomic reasons. In contrast to this increasing demand, correct labelling has become much more complex because of global transportation networks of raw materials and processed food products. Within the European integrated research project ‘Tracing the origin of food’ (TRACE), a DNA-based multiplex detection tool was developed—the padlock probe ligation and microarray detection (PPLMD) tool. In this paper, this method is extended to a 15-plex traceability tool with a focus on products of commercial importance such as the emmer wheat Farro della Garfagnana (FdG) and Basmati rice. The specificity of 14 plant-related padlock probes was determined and initially validated in mixtures comprising seven or nine plant species/varieties. One nucleotide difference in target sequence was sufficient for the distinction between the presence or absence of a specific target. At least 5% FdG or Basmati rice was detected in mixtures with cheaper bread wheat or non-fragrant rice, respectively. The results suggested that even lower levels of (un-)intentional adulteration could be detected. PPLMD has been shown to be a useful tool for the detection of fraudulent/intentional admixtures in premium foods and is ready for the monitoring of correct labelling of premium foods worldwide.     

Evaluation of VIDAS Listeria species Xpress (LSX) immunoassay method for the detection of Listeria species in foods: collaborative study

In a multilaboratory study, the effectiveness of an alternative method for rapid screening of Listeria species compared to traditional reference methods was demonstrated in a variety of food products. A collaborative study was conducted to compare the VIDAS Listeria species Xpress (LSX) method and the standard cultural methods for the detection of Listeria species in foods. Six food types were tested: vanilla ice cream, cheddar cheese, raw ground beef, frozen green beans, deli turkey, and cooked shrimp. Each food, inoculated with a different Listeria strain at two levels and uninoculated test portions, was analyzed by each method. A total of 15 laboratories representing government and industry participated. In this study 1134 tests were analyzed in the statistical analysis. There were 490 positives by the VIDAS LSX method using the sample boiling step, 483 positives by the VIDAS LSX method using the Heat and Go system, and 439 positives by the standard culture methods. Overall, the Chi-square result for the VIDAS LSX method with boiling for all foods was 7.25, indicating a significant statistical difference between the VIDAS method and the standard methods at the 5% confidence. For the VIDAS LSX method with the Heat and Go system, the Chi-square result for all foods was 5.37, indicating a significant statistical difference between the VIDAS LSX assay with the Heat and Go system and the standard methods at the 5% level of significance. In both cases, the VIDAS method was more sensitive than the standard methods. The LSX method detects Listeria species in foods with negative or presumptive positive results in a minimum of 30 h compared to at least 5 days for the cultural methods. Based on the results of this collaborative study, it is recommended that the VIDAS LSX method be adopted as an AOAC Official Method for the detection of Listeria species in dairy products, vegetables, seafood, raw meats and poultry, and processed meats and poultry.     

Measurement of Antioxidant Capacity of Meat and Meat Products: Methods and Applications

At present, a wide variety of analytical methods is available to measure antioxidant capacity. However, this great diversity is not reflected in the analysis of meat and meat products, as there are a limited number of studies on determining this parameter in this complex food matrix. Despite this, and due to the interest in antioxidants that prevent oxidation reactions, the identification of antioxidants in meat and meat products is of special importance to the meat industry. For this reason, this review compiled the main antioxidant capacity assays employed in meat and meat products, to date, describing their foundations, and showing both their advantages and limitations. This review also looked at the different applications of antioxidant properties in meat and meat products. In this sense, the suitability of using these methodologies has been demonstrated in different investigations related to these foods.     

Utilizing AgNPt-SALDI to Classify Edible Oils by Multivariate Statistics of Triacylglycerol Profile

Edible oils are valuable sources of nutrients, and their classification is necessary to ensure high quality, which is essential to food safety. This study reports the establishment of a rapid and straightforward SALDI-TOF MS platform used to detect triacylglycerol (TAG) in various edible oils. Silver nanoplates (AgNPts) were used to optimize the SALDI samples for high sensitivity and reproducibility of TAG signals. TAG fingerprints were combined with multivariate statistics to identify the critical features of edible oil discrimination. Eleven various edible oils were discriminated using principal component analysis (PCA). The results suggested the creation of a robust platform that can examine food adulteration and food fraud, potentially ensuring high-quality foods and agricultural products.     

Rapid and quantitative detection of the microbial spoilage of beef by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and machine learning

Beef is a commercially important and widely consumed muscle food and central to the protein intake of many societies. In the food industry no technology exists for the rapid and accurate detection of microbiologically spoiled or contaminated beef. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy is a rapid, reagentless and non-destructive analytical technique whose continued development is resulting in manifold applications across a wide range of biosciences. FT-IR was exploited to measure biochemical changes within the fresh beef substrate, enhancing and accelerating the detection of microbial spoilage. Separately packaged fresh beef rump steaks were purchased from a national retailer, comminuted for 15 s and left to spoil at ambient room temperature for 24 h. Every hour, FT-IR measurements were collected directly from the sample surface using attenuated total reflectance, in parallel the total viable counts of bacteria were obtained by classical microbiological plating methods. Quantitative interpretation of FT-IR spectra was undertaken using partial least squares regression and allowed for accurate estimates of bacterial loads to be calculated directly from the meat surface in 60 s. Machine learning methods in the form of genetic algorithms and genetic programming were used to elucidate the wavenumbers of interest related to the spoilage process. The results obtained demonstrated that using FT-IR and machine learning it was possible to detect bacterial spoilage rapidly in beef and that the most significant functional groups selected could be directly correlated to the spoilage process which arose from proteolysis, resulting in changes in the levels of amides and amines.     

Review of current techniques for the verification of the species origin of meat

An overview of developments that have occurred in meat species identification over the last decade is presented. It starts by noting the different requirements for speciation techniques over the period, describes the complex nature of meat in terms of chemical composition and shows how the chain of events from slaughter to retail gives rise to opportunities for deliberate adulteration or innocent contamination. The limitations of techniques such as electrophoresis and isoelectrofocusing are pointed out where the analysis of mixed meats is concerned; attention then focuses on the range of techniques based on antigen-antibody interactions: agar gel immunodiffusion, counter immuno-electrophoresis and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in three formats. The choice of analyte is discussed, firstly for the analyses of raw meat materials and secondly, for heat-processed meat products. In the first example, blood serum proteins are used almost exclusively despite the limitation that their presence does not necessarily denote the presence of the corresponding muscle tissue (meat). For cooked products, a new range of antisera are necessary, based on thermally stable components derived from the tissues. By using different formats of ELISA, it is demonstrated that different responses can be obtained for heat-processed meat versus processed offal, and that determination of a species meat content in a cooked mixed meat product is possible. Techniques for improving the specificity and performance of antisera are discussed briefly, with the future introduction of thermally stable, muscle-specific monoclonal antisera being seen as the way forward.     

Integration of a linear accelerator into a production line of mechanically deboned separated poultry meat

Linear accelerators, commonly called Linacs, are being used for different industrial processes. This kind of machine produces high power electron beams and can treat many products with a high throughput.

The main application of a Linac is the sterilization of medical disposable devices, polymerization and decontamination of food products. Salmonella commonly contaminates poultry. Thanks to E-beam treatment, it eradicates the pathogen quickly and permits the use of meat that should have been thrown away because of its infection.

The world’s first Linac dedicated to treat mechanically deboned poultry meat is located in Brittany at the Société des Protéines Industrielles. It is a Thomson CSF Linac product, the CIRCE II, with an energy of 10 MeV and a power of 10 kW. This Linac has been used for more than 8 years, and its technology is fully proven.     

Review: Authentication and traceability of foods from animal origin by polymerase chain reaction-based capillary electrophoresis

This work presents an overview of the applicability of PCR-based capillary electrophoresis (CE) in food authentication and traceability of foods from animal origin. Analytical approaches for authenticating and tracing meat and meat products and fish and seafood products are discussed. Particular emphasis will be given to the usefulness of genotyping in food tracing by using CE-based genetic analyzers.