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1.
Plant Phytochemicals in Food Preservation: Antifungal Bioactivity: A Review.
Redondo-Blanco, S, Fernández, J, López-Ibáñez, S, Miguélez, EM, Villar, CJ, Lombó, F
Journal of food protection. 2020;(1):163-171
Abstract
Synthetic food additives generate a negative perception in consumers. This fact generates an important pressure on food manufacturers, searching for safer natural alternatives. Phytochemicals (such as polyphenols and thiols) and plant essential oils (terpenoids) possess antimicrobial activities that are able to prevent food spoilage due to fungi (e.g., Aspergillus, Penicillium) and intoxications (due to mycotoxins), both of which are important economic and health problems worldwide. This review summarizes industrially interesting antifungal bioactivities from the three main types of plant nutraceuticals: terpenoids (as thymol), polyphenols (as resveratrol) and thiols (as allicin) as well as some of the mechanisms of action. These phytochemicals are widely distributed in fruits and vegetables and are very useful in food preservation as they inhibit growth of important spoilage and pathogenic fungi, affecting especially mycelial growth and germination. Terpenoids and essential oils are the most abundant group of secondary metabolites found in plant extracts, especially in common aromatic plants, but polyphenols are a more remarkable group of bioactive compounds as they show a broad array of bioactivities.
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2.
Electrochemical sensors for improved detection of paraquat in food samples: A review.
Laghrib, F, Bakasse, M, Lahrich, S, El Mhammedi, MA
Materials science & engineering. C, Materials for biological applications. 2020;:110349
Abstract
Paraquat (1,10-dimethyl-4,40-dipyridinium chloride), also known as methyl viologen, is widely used as a quaternary ammonium herbicide (broadleaf weed killer) all over the world owing to its excellent effect in plant cells for crop protection and horticultural use. However, it is dangerous because of its high acute toxicity even at low concentrations. Its detection in the environment is therefore necessary. As a consequence of its widespread usage, it causes genotoxic, teratogenic as well as other environmental and ecological adverse impacts. Exposure to PQ leads to a high mortality rate because no specific drug is effective for treatment. Excessive consumption of PQ can cause cellular damage and necrosis in the brain, heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys. The diversity and sensitivity of the analyses currently required have forced the experimenter to use more advanced and efficient techniques, which can provide qualitative and quantitative results in complex environments. Electrochemical methods generally meet these criteria while offering other advantages to achieve excellent accuracy and fast handling. This paper provides an overview of the determination of PQ using electrochemical methods combined with several modified electrodes in food samples, including milk, apple juice, tomato juice, and potato juice. Emphasis was placed on the most relevant modifiers used to generate high selectivity and sensitivity such as noble metals, metallic nanoparticles, polymers, biomolecules, clay, and apatite minerals. Comprehensively, it is strongly convincing that the synergy between the sensor substrate and the modifier architecture gives the electrodes a high capacity to detect paraquat in complex matrices such as food. In line with the context, information's on the mechanism of electrooxidation or reduction of PQ has been reported with the discussion of some future prospects and some insights. To the best of our knowledge, there is no review article relating the electrochemical determination of paraquat.
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3.
Fusarium Mycotoxins Enniatins: An Updated Review of Their Occurrence, the Producing Fusarium Species, and the Abiotic Determinants of Their Accumulation in Crop Harvests.
Gautier, C, Pinson-Gadais, L, Richard-Forget, F
Journal of agricultural and food chemistry. 2020;(17):4788-4798
Abstract
Cereal grains and their processed food products are frequently contaminated with mycotoxins produced by the Fusarium genus. Enniatins (ENNs), which belong to the so-called "emerging mycotoxins" family, are among the most frequently found in small grain cereals. Health hazards induced by a chronic exposure to ENNs or an association of ENNs with other major mycotoxins is a risk that cannot be excluded given the current toxicological data. Thus, efforts must be pursued to define efficient control strategies to mitigate their presence in cereal grains. A key condition for achieving this aim is to gain deep and comprehensive knowledge of the factors promoting the appearance of ENNs in crop harvests. After an update of ENN occurrence data, this review surveys the scientific literature on the Fusarium species responsible for ENN contamination and covers the recent advances concerning the abiotic determinants and the genetic regulation of ENN biosynthesis.
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4.
RES transformation for biosynthesis and detoxification.
Huang, JQ, Lin, JL, Guo, XX, Tian, X, Tian, Y, Shangguan, XX, Wang, LJ, Fang, X, Chen, XY
Science China. Life sciences. 2020;(9):1297-1302
Abstract
The reactive electrophilic species (RES), typically the molecules bearing α,β-unsaturated carbonyl group, are widespread in living organisms and notoriously known for their damaging effects. Many of the mycotoxins released from phytopathogenic fungi are RES and their contamination to cereals threatens food safety worldwide. However, due to their high reactivity, RES are also used by host organisms to synthesize specific metabolites. The evolutionary conserved glyoxalase (GLX) system scavenges the cytotoxic α-oxoaldehydes that bear RES groups, which cause host disorders and diseases. In cotton, a specialized enzyme derived from glyoxalase I (GLXI) through gene duplications and named as specialized GLXI (SPG), acts as a distinct type of aromatase in the gossypol pathway to transform the RES intermediates into the phenolic products. In this review, we briefly introduce the research progress in understanding the RES, especially the RES-type mycotoxins, the GLX system and SPG, and discuss their application potential in detoxification and synthetic biology.
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5.
Microbial safety of oily, low water activity food products: A review.
Olaimat, AN, Osaili, TM, Al-Holy, MA, Al-Nabulsi, AA, Obaid, RS, Alaboudi, AR, Ayyash, M, Holley, R
Food microbiology. 2020;:103571
Abstract
Oily, low water activity (OL aw) products including tahini (sesame seed paste), halva (tahini halva), peanut butter, and chocolate, have been recently linked to numerous foodborne illness outbreaks and recalls. This review discusses the ingredients used and processing of OL aw products with a view to provide greater understanding of the routes of their contamination with foodborne pathogens and factors influencing pathogen persistence in these foods. Adequate heat treatment during processing may eliminate bacterial pathogens from OL aw foods; however, post-processing contamination commonly occurs. Once these products are contaminated, their high fat and sugar content can enhance pathogen survival for long periods. The physiological basis and survival mechanisms used by pathogens in these products are comprehensively discussed here. Foodborne outbreaks and recalls linked to OL aw foods are summarized and it was observed that serotypes of Salmonella enterica were the predominant pathogens causing illnesses. Further, intervention strategies available to control foodborne pathogens such as thermal inactivation, use of natural antimicrobials, irradiation and hydrostatic pressure are assessed for their usefulness to achieve pathogen control and enhance the safety of OL aw foods. Sanitation, hygienic design of manufacturing facilities, good hygienic practices, and environmental monitoring of OL aw food industries were also discussed.
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6.
Enzymatic assays for the assessment of toxic effects of halogenated organic contaminants in water and food. A review.
Artabe, AE, Cunha-Silva, H, Barranco, A
Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association. 2020;:111677
Abstract
Halogenated organic compounds are a particular group of contaminants consisting of a large number of substances, and of great concern due to their persistence in the environment, potential for bioaccumulation and toxicity. Some of these compounds have been classified as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) under The Stockholm Convention and many toxicity assessments have been conducted on them previously. In this work we provide an overview of enzymatic assays used in these studies to establish toxic effects and dose-response relationships. Studies in vivo and in vitro have been considered with a particular emphasis on the impact of halogenated compounds on the activity of relevant enzymes to the humans and the environment. Most information available in the literature focuses on chlorinated compounds, but brominated and fluorinated molecules are also the target of increasing numbers of studies. The enzymes identified can be classified as enzymes: i) the activities of which are affected by the presence of halogenated organic compounds, and ii) those involved in their metabolisation/detoxification resulting in increased activities. In both cases the halogen substituent seems to have an important role in the effects observed. Finally, the use of these enzymes in biosensing tools for monitoring of halogenated compounds is described.
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7.
Nuts and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Are Nuts Safe for Patients with Fatty Liver Disease?
Plaz Torres, MC, Bodini, G, Furnari, M, Marabotto, E, Zentilin, P, Giannini, EG
Nutrients. 2020;(11)
Abstract
Diet and lifestyle interventions are the recommended treatment for patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), with the aim of achieving a 7-10% weight loss. Several dietary patterns have been suggested for this purpose, however, to date, the best one is represented by the Mediterranean diet (MD) as it is rich in macro- and micro- nutrients known for their effectiveness in health-promotion and cardio-vascular disease prevention. Moreover, MD is characterized by the inclusion of nuts. These foods have shown potential benefits in health-promotion as they are rich in fibers, which have lipid-lowering effects, rich in mono- and poly-unsaturated fatty acids, which help reduce insulin-resistance and serum cholesterol, and contain anti-oxidants which reduce oxidative stress and inflammation. Additionally, nuts are associated with a better control, or reduction, of Body Mass Index (BMI). All these effects are useful targets to achieve in NAFLD, so that nuts have been proposed as a suitable dietary treatment supplement for weight and metabolic control in these patients. In recent years, health authorities raised an alert on nuts consumption as these may be at high risk of aflatoxin (AF) contamination, for which controls and legislations are different among countries. AF is a well-known cancerogenic agent and a recognized risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma. Patients with NAFLD have an overall, inherent sevenfold increased risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma as compared with the general population. In this context, one could argue that recommending the inclusion of nuts in the diet of NAFLD patients has to be balanced with the risk of potential chronic exposure to AF, and every effort should be pursued to assure the safety of these nutrients. In this review, we aim to summarize the benefits of nuts consumption, the evidence for AF contamination of nuts and the consequent potential risks in patients with NAFLD.
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8.
A review of postharvest approaches to reduce fungal and mycotoxin contamination of foods.
Liu, Y, Galani Yamdeu, JH, Gong, YY, Orfila, C
Comprehensive reviews in food science and food safety. 2020;(4):1521-1560
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Abstract
Contamination of agricultural and food products by some fungi species that produce mycotoxins can result in unsafe food and feed. Mycotoxins have been demonstrated to have disease-causing activities, including carcinogenicity, immune toxicity, teratogenicity, neurotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, and hepatotoxicity. Most of mycotoxins are heat stable and cannot be easily destroyed by conventional thermal food processing or domestic cooking methods. Postharvest approaches to prevent growth of mycotoxin-producing fungi and detoxify mycotoxins from contaminated food are important topics in food safety research. Physical, chemical, and biological methods have been applied to prevent fungal growth or mycotoxin production, or to reduce mycotoxin content in the postharvest period and contribute toward mitigating against the effects of mycotoxins on human health. This literature review aims to evaluate postharvest approaches that have been applied to control both fungi growth and mycotoxin content in food and discuss their potential for upscaling to industrial scale.
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9.
[Application, development, and challenges of capillary electrophoresis in disease prevention and control].
Lin, C, Ding, X
Se pu = Chinese journal of chromatography. 2020;(9):999-1012
Abstract
Since the advent of commercial instruments in 1989, capillary electrophoresis (CE) has advanced considerably, with improvement in reproducibility and accuracy in many application fields. CE is predominantly used in research on disease prevention and control, and hygienic chemical inspection. The applications of CE range from assessment of inorganic anions and cations in drinking water to that of biological macromolecules, such as nucleic acids, in pathogenic microorganisms. Since the analytical capacity of CE ranges from inorganic ions to cell, it has become an indispensable technique in this field, particularly in public health emergency and epidemic management. Universal non-targeted analyses to detect possible pathogens, and the capability of rapid and accurate testing of large numbers of specimens are required. In the analyses of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products, nucleic acid sequencing, mutation detection and genotyping, food-borne disease pathogens, and vaccine analyses, CE methods characterized by high through-put and sensitivity are necessary. In the public health sector, CE is essential in the analyses of food (including emergency analyses for food poisoning), cosmetics, and disinfectants. Satisfactory results of the FAPAS (Food Analysis Performance Assessment Scheme) and domestic proficiency tests indicated the accuracy of CE in quantitative analyses. Application of CE in disease prevention and control is challenged by a number of new molecular biological methods, as optimizing CE methods may not be feasible, and results are difficult to interpret. CE methods, including transformation of peaks to identification of pathogens, can be an arduous task. Thus, end-users prefer using commercialized CE systems and reagents in their routine work. Alternatively, CE methods for analysis of small molecules in product analyses, such as food safety, cosmetics and disinfectant testing, is commonly performed. A plethora of studies published within the decade, indicate that CE is still an active research area in hygienic chemical inspection. To a large extent, CE has not been used for routine analysis in the centers for disease control and prevention, accredited laboratories in China, nor regulatory agencies worldwide. This may be due to the lack of practical protocols for the standards, and the misconceptions regarding the ease of use of CE, which could have hindered its widespread application. Although CE is an environmental friendly technique with minimal usage of toxic chemicals, few standard methods of CE exist in agriculture, environmental protection, food, beverage, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries in the United States, Britain, Europe, Japan, India, Brazil, Russia, and China. Since 2002, CE was used in our laboratory to analyze a large variety of samples. We found that once the CE method has been fully verified and described in detail, it was easily standardized. It is not necessary to screen the equivalent chromatographic column, or to use a specific liquid chromatographic (LC) column. This can effectively circumvent the challenge of shifting peak orders caused by different LC column selectivity. Once combined with general, high sensitivity detectors, CE can be used in the detection of bacteria or viruses in food safety, and play a greater role in the field of disease prevention and control. In the present review, applications of CE in nucleic acid detection for viruses and bacteria, analysis of vaccines, routine testing on food, dietary supplements, medical foods, cosmetics and disinfectants, proficiency tests, and emergency analyses of food poisoning were summarized. The applications and challenges of CE in the field of disease control and prevention were analyzed, and development of this technique was prospected.
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10.
Bisphenol S in Food Causes Hormonal and Obesogenic Effects Comparable to or Worse than Bisphenol A: A Literature Review.
Thoene, M, Dzika, E, Gonkowski, S, Wojtkiewicz, J
Nutrients. 2020;(2)
Abstract
In recent years, bisphenol analogues such as bisphenol S (BPS) have come to replace bisphenol A in food packaging and food containers, since bisphenol A (BPA) has been shown to leach into food and water, causing numerous negative health effects. Unfortunately, little or no research was done to determine the safety of these BPA-free products before they were marketed to the public as a healthier alternative. The latest studies have shown that some of these bisphenol analogues may be even more harmful than the original BPA in some situations. This article used a literature survey to investigate the bisphenol analogue BPS and compare it to BPA and other analogues with regards to increased obesity, metabolic disorders, cancer, and reproductive defects; among others. It was found that BPS works via different pathways than does BPA while causing equivalent obesogenic effects, such as activating preadipocytes, and that BPS was correlated with metabolic disorders, such as gestational diabetes, that BPA was not correlated with. BPS was also shown to be more toxic to the reproductive system than BPA and was shown to hormonally promote certain breast cancers at the same rate as BPA. Therefore, a strong argument may be made to regulate BPS in exactly the same manner as BPA.