Applications of radiation processing in combination with conventional treatments to assure food safety: New development

Spice extracts under the form of essential oils (Eos) were tested for their efficiency to increase the relative bacterial radiosensitivity (RBR) of Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi in culture media under different atmospheric conditions. The selected Eos were tested for their ability to reduce the dose necessary to eliminate E. coli and S. typhi in medium fat ground beef (23% fat) and Listeria in ready-to-eat carrots when packed under air or under atmosphere rich in oxygen (MAP). Results have demonstrated that depending of the compound added and the combined treatment used, the RBR increased from 2 to 4 times. In order to evaluate the industrial feasibility, EOs were added in ground beef at a concentration which does not affect the taste and treated at a dose of 1.5 kGy. The content of total mesophilic aerobic, E. coli, Salmonella, total coliform, lactic acid bacteria, and Pseudomonas was determined during 28 days. The results showed that the combined treatment (radiation and EOs) can eliminate Salmonella and E. coli when done under air. When done under MAP, Pseudomonas could be eliminated and a shelf life of more than 28 days was observed. An active edible coating containing EOs was also developed and sprayed on ready-to-eat carrots before radiation treatment and Listeria was evaluated. A complete inhibition of Listeria was obtained at a dose of 0.5 kGy when applied under MAP. Our results have shown that the combination of an edible coating, MAP, and radiation can be used to maintain the safety of meat and vegetables.     

Effects of combined treatments of irradiation and antimicrobial coatings on reduction of food pathogens in broccoli florets

The effect of combined treatment of antimicrobial coatings and γ-radiation on reduction of food pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella Typhimurium was evaluated in broccoli florets. Broccoli florets were inoculated with pathogenic bacteria at 10⁶ CFU/g. Inoculated florets were then coated with methylcellulose-based coating containing various mixtures of antimicrobial agents: organic acids (OAs) plus lactic acid bacteria metabolites (LABs), OA plus citrus extract (CE), OA plus CE plus spice mixture (SM), and OA plus rosemary extract (RE). Coated florets were irradiated with various doses (0–3.3 kGy), and microbial analyses were used to calculate the D₁₀ value and radiosensitive relative. The coating containing OA plus CE was the most effective formulation for increasing the sensitization of Escherichia coli by 2.4 times as compared to the control without the antimicrobial coating. For Salmonella Typhimurium, coating containing OA plus LAB was the most effective formulation, increasing radiosensitivity by 2.4 times as well. All antimicrobial coatings had almost the same effect of increasing the sensitivity of Listeria monocytogenes (from 1.31 to 1.45 times) to γ-irradiation.     

Thermal analysis and safety in relation to food processing

The adaptation of thermal analysis techniques to study exothermic phenomena and self-ignition of foodstuffs, and the use of special tools to simulate and analyze dust explosions are described. The examples shown should provide a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in phenomena which can lead to the bursting of an autoclave, to fires or to dust explosions during food processing operations.     

Applications of nanotechnology in food packaging and food safety: barrier materials, antimicrobials and sensors

In this article, several applications of nanomaterials in food packaging and food safety are reviewed, including: polymer/clay nanocomposites as high barrier packaging materials, silver nanoparticles as potent antimicrobial agents, and nanosensors and nanomaterial-based assays for the detection of food-relevant analytes (gasses, small organic molecules and food-borne pathogens). In addition to covering the technical aspects of these topics, the current commercial status and understanding of health implications of these technologies are also discussed. These applications were chosen because they do not involve direct addition of nanoparticles to consumed foods, and thus are more likely to be marketed to the public in the short term.     

Irradiation conditions required in combined radiation-microbial process for landfill leachate

A landfill leachate, which contains large amounts of microbially refractory humic substances, was irradiated with 60Co gamma-rays under several conditions and the modification of its biodegradability was examined. The effects of initial pH and dose rate on the modification were found to be insignificant. The apparent effect was observed for the initial concentration of the humic substances. High biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) value was obtained as the initial concentration was higher. As the initial concentration was lower, in contrast, the decreasing rates of total organic carbon (TOC) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were high. Therefore two possible designs of the combined radiation-microbial processes with and without dilution are proposed. Both processes require only about 30% of the irradiation dose, compared with a simple radiation process.     

Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry in food safety

The use of powerful mass spectrometric detectors in combination with liquid chromatography has played a vital role to solve many problems related to food safety. Since this technique is especially well suited for, but not restricted to the analysis of food contaminants within the food safety area, this review is focused on providing an insight into this field. The basic legislation in different parts of the world is discussed with a focus on the situation within the European Union (EU) and why it favors the use of liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS). Main attention in this review is on the achievements that have been possible because of the latest advances and novelties in mass spectrometry and how these progresses have influenced the best control of food allowing an increase in the food safety and quality standards. Emphasis is given to the potential and pitfalls of the different LC–MS approaches as well as in its possibilities to address current hot issues in food safety, such as the development of large-scale multi-residue methods and the identification of non-target and unknown compounds. Last but not least, future perspectives and potential directions are also outlined highlighting prospects and achievements.     

碳点的功能化及其在食品安全领域的应用

作为新型的传感材料,碳点在过去10年中受到了广泛的关注。由于制备方法相对单一,未经功能化碳点的表面有效传感作用位点的种类受到了限制（多为羧基、羟基、醛基等含氧官能团）,导致其选择性和灵敏度不佳。因此,功能化在开发碳点传感器中扮演了重要的角色。碳点的功能化主要分为两大类：掺杂改性及表面修饰。掺杂改性是在碳点的骨架结构中引入新的元素,一方面能够实现碳点的光学改性,另一方面也可以在其表面形成新的作用位点用于传感。表面修饰是在碳点表面原有结构的基础上,通过共价或非共价的形式与其他功能结构相结合,从而拓展碳点的选择性并提升其灵敏度。本文对近8年来碳点功能化及其在食品安全检测领域应用的相关研究进展进行了系统性的梳理,为开发基于功能化碳点的食品快检设备提供一些新的思路。     

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...     

Metrological concepts required for food safety and quality testing

The safety of the food we consume has a direct impact on our well-being and is a determinant for the quality of life. Food testing and the metrological principles associated with this activity play a key role in helping to ensure the safety of the food chain. The globalisation of food trade and national as well as international food safety regulations has produced an enormous demand for comparability of analytical results independent of temporal or spatial borders. Measurement-related elements of EU food legislation and their practical implementation as well as analytical requirements derived from the Codex Alimentarius are discussed in this contribution.     

Microplastics in fisheries and aquaculture: implications to food sustainability and safety

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表面增强拉曼光谱在食品安全分析中的应用

拉曼光谱技术具有样品用量少、快速高效、无损分析等特点,表面增强拉曼光谱克服了常规拉曼光谱灵敏度低的缺点,可以获得更多物质结构信息,在现场快速筛查、检测和鉴别农兽残、限用或禁用添加剂分析检测中具有广阔的应用前景。本文综述了表面增强拉曼光谱在食品中农药残留、兽药残留和限/禁用添加剂检测中的研究进展,并展望了其发展前景。     

原位电离质谱技术在食品质量安全检测中的应用

原位电离质谱技术能够在常压环境下直接分析各种食品样品,无需或仅需极少的食品制备,大大提高了分析效率,已经成为一种重要的食品快速分析方法。本文对原位电离质谱的离子化技术和工作流程进行了介绍,从食品污染物检测、非法添加物筛查、食品真伪鉴别和品质评价等方面出发,综述了该技术在食品质量安全检测中的应用。讨论了其应用于食品分析领域时面临的挑战和未来发展趋势。     

Recent trends in SELEX technique and its application to food safety monitoring

The method referred to as “systemic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment” (SELEX) was introduced in 1990 and ever since has become an important tool for the identification and screening of aptamers. Such nucleic acids can recognize and bind to their corresponding targets (analytes) with high selectivity and affinity, and aptamers therefore have become attractive alternatives to traditional antibodies not the least because they are much more stable. Meanwhile, they have found numerous applications in different fields including food quality and safety monitoring. This review first gives an introduction into the selection process and to the evolution of SELEX, then covers applications of aptamers in the surveillance of food safety (with subsections on absorptiometric, electrochemical, fluorescent and other methods), and then gives conclusions and perspectives. The SELEX method excels by its features of in vitro, high throughput and ease of operation. This review contains 86 references.

食品安全快速检测方法的研究进展

近年来,因环境污染、农兽残超标、人为添加滥用或贮藏不当等因素带来的食品安全问题受到广泛关注,快速检测技术简便快速、高效经济,满足食品初筛检测的要求。本文综述了酶抑制速测法、生物传感器法和免疫速测法等食品安全快速检测方法的研究进展,并展望了其发展方向。     

Calorimetric analysis of three hydroxy acids as markers for quality and safety in food

A new analytical methodology to quantify three hydroxy acids (orotic, ascorbic, L-malic acids), by isothermal solution microcalorimetry, was outlined and applied to different foods. Three specific enzymatic reactions were used to ensure the correctness of the results. The considered acids can be considered as markers in food quality for their biochemical peculiarities. The enzymatic microcalorimetric method is very reliable and linearity is satisfied in the concentration ranges useful for food analyses. The analytical results of the underlined method are very accurate, precise, sensitive and in good agreement with the values obtained with other common methods.     

A novel electrochemical noise sensor applied to detect food safety

A novel electrochemical noise (EN) sensor was elaborately designed to detect the metal residue in energy drinks. By calculating the characteristic parameter, noise resistance R _n, obtained from the EN data, the tin and iron residue can be semiquantitatively evaluated. In addition, R _n was further compared with the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) results. Accordingly, an interesting relationship was found between the EN data and ICP-MS results. The experimental results reveal that R _n can indirectly reflect the corrosion-induced metal release from the packaging materials; a lower R _n means a higher metal release. This electrochemical sensor has potential applications in evaluating food safety because of its fast, economic and in-situ features.     

Mass spectrometry-based metabolomics applied to the chemical safety of food

Mass spectrometry (MS)-based metabolomics is emerging as an important field of research in many scientific areas, including chemical safety of food. A particular strength of this approach is its potential to reveal some physiological effects induced by complex mixtures of chemicals present at trace concentrations. The limitations of other analytical approaches currently employed to detect low-dose and mixture effects of chemicals make detection very problematic. Besides this basic technical challenge, numerous analytical choices have to be made at each step of a metabolomics study, and each step can have a direct impact on the final results obtained and their interpretation (i.e. sample preparation, sample introduction, ionization, signal acquisition, data processing, and data analysis). As the application of metabolomics to chemical analysis of food is still in its infancy, no consensus has yet been reached on defining many of these important parameters. In this context, the aim of the present study is to review all these aspects of MS-based approaches to metabolomics, and to give a comprehensive, critical overview of the current state of the art, possible pitfalls, and future challenges and trends linked to this emerging field.     

用于食品安全分析样品前处理的共价有机聚合物的制备及应用进展

食品安全关系身体健康和生命安全,是全球关注的热点之一。食品基质复杂,痕量有毒有害物质分析之前必须经过有效的前处理。目前发展的前处理技术如固相萃取、磁固相萃取、固相微萃取等,其关键是吸附介质。共价有机聚合物是一类通过共价键连接而成的有机多孔材料,具有质轻、稳定性好、比表面积大、结构可控、易于修饰等特性,是一类优异的新型吸附材料。该文综述了近年来共价有机聚合物(COPs)在食品安全分析前处理中的应用进展。共价有机聚合物及其功能化复合材料通过简单的装填、聚合反应或化学键合固定到小柱或毛细管柱中用作固相萃取的吸附介质;通过一锅法、原位还原法、原位生长法或共沉淀法生成具有磁性的固相萃取吸附介质;或者通过物理涂覆、化学键合、溶胶凝胶法及原位生长法制备固相微萃取纤维。基于以上高吸附容量共价有机聚合物的样品前处理技术,食品中农残兽残、添加剂、环境污染物及生物毒素等得到了有效富集。最后,展望了COPs在食品分析样品前处理应用中的发展方向:简单高效绿色制备方法的开发,功能化COPs的设计合成;萃取机理的研究;高通量、高灵敏度分析方法研究。这些研究将促进COPs在样品前处理领域获得更广泛的应用。