Development of QuEChERS clean-up based on EMR-lipid for simultaneous analysis of 9 mycotoxins, acaylamide and 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural in biscuit by UHPLC-MS/MS

Enhanced selectivity for convenient extraction of acidic mycotoxins using a miniaturized centrifugal integrated cold-induced phase separation: Determination of fumonisins and ochratoxins in cereals as a proof-of-concept study

Starches-rich and protein-rich cereal samples commonly need tedious sample preparation steps before instrumental analysis. This study developed a miniaturized centrifugal integrated cold-induced phase separation (CIPS) method for convenient sample preparation. A small-sized centrifuge tube (2 mL) and a low-temperature centrifuge, both of which are easily accessible, make up the basic components of the system. Unlike conventional sample preparation methods that need a step-by-step extraction, enrichment, purification, and centrifugation, this centrifugal integrated CIPS method can be performed by a one-step combination protocol under a low-temperature centrifuge. As a proof-of-concept study, satisfactory recoveries and enrichment factors were demonstrated for the extraction of fumonisins and ochratoxins from cereals. A sensitive and selective quantification method was yielded by combining LC-HRMS using tSIM acquisition mode, with good linearity (R2 > 0.998), accuracy (82.9-106.5%), and precision (<13.4%). This strategy is convenient, low-cost, repeatable, and easy to semi-automate, further expanding the extraction potential for other acidic mycotoxins.

Enhancing analysis of neo-formed contaminants in two relevant food global commodities: Coffee and cocoa

Neo-formed contaminants (NFCs) are common in many foods, especially those subjected to high-temperature processing. Among these contaminants, products arising from the Maillard reaction, sugar reduction, thermal degradation of polyphenols and lipid oxidation, including acrylamide, furan, furfuryl alcohol, and hydroxymethylfurfural, are consistently linked to potential neoplastic effects. NFCs are found in globally traded commodities like coffee and cocoa, posing a significant risk due to their frequent consumption by consumers. A direct correlation exists between consumption frequency, exposure levels, and health risks. Hence, it's crucial to establish reliable methods to determine levels in both matrices, aiming to mitigate their formation and minimise risks to consumers. This review offers a comprehensive examination, discussion, and identification of emerging trends and opportunities to enhance existing methodologies for extracting and quantifying NFCs in coffee and cocoa. By presenting an in-depth analysis of performance parameters, we aim to guide the selection of optimal extraction techniques for quantifying individual NFCs. Based on the reviewed data, headspace extraction is recommended for furan, while solid and dispersive solid phase extractions are preferred for acrylamide when quantified using gas and liquid chromatography, respectively. However, it is worth noting that the reported linearity tests for certain methods did not confirm the absence of matrix effects unless developed through standard addition, leading to uncertainties in the reported values. There is a need for further research to verify method parameters, especially for determining NFCs like furfuryl alcohol. Additionally, optimising extraction and separation methods is essential to ensure complete compound depletion from samples. Ideally, developed methods should offer comprehensive NFC determination, reduce analysis time and solvent use, and adhere to validation parameters. This review discusses current methods for extracting and quantifying NFCs in coffee and cocoa, highlighting emerging trends and emphasising the need to improve existing techniques, especially for compounds like furfuryl alcohol.

Disruption of intestinal epithelial permeability in the Co-culture system of Caco-2/HT29-MTX cells exposed individually or simultaneously to acrylamide and ochratoxin A

Mycotoxins and thermal processing hazards are common contaminants in various foods and cause severe problems in terms of food safety and health. Combined use of acrylamide (AA) and ochratoxin A (OTA) would result in more significant intestinal toxicity than either toxin alone, but the underlying mechanisms behind this poor outcome remain unclear. Herein, we established the co-culture system of Caco-2/HT29-MTX cells for simulating a real intestinal environment that is more sensitive to AA and OTA, and showed that the combination of AA and OTA could up-regulate permeability of the intestine via increasing LY permeabilization, and decreasing TEER, then induce oxidative stress imbalance (GSH, SOD, MDA, and ROS) and inflammatory system disorder (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-10, and IL-6), thereby leading a rapid decline in cell viability. Western blot, PAS- and AB-staining revealed that AA and OTA showed a synergistic effect on the intestine mainly through the disruption of tight junctions (TJs) and a mucus layer. Furthermore, based on correlation analysis, oxidative stress was more relevant to the mucus layer and TJs. Therefore, our findings provide a better evaluation model and a potential mechanism for further determining or preventing the combined toxicity caused by AA and OTA.

Research progress on generation, detection and inhibition of multiple hazards - acrylamide, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, advanced glycation end products, methylimidazole - in baked goods

While baking produces attractive flavors for foods, it also generates various endogenous by-products, including acrylamide (AA), 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and methylimidazole (MI). This review briefly presents the recent studies on the above hazards, and research progress on the formation and control of the above substances in detail. There have been more detailed studies on a single category of hazards. However, few studies and reports have considered the integrated prevention and control of multiple hazards, which is related to the difficulty of analyzing the reaction mechanisms of multiple hazards at multiple scales and under multiple phases in complex food matrices. In this regard, the sample pretreatment methods are a crucial step in achieving simultaneous detection. The coordinated implementation of various methods, including reducing precursor levels, modifying baking conditions and equipment, and incorporating exogenous additives, is necessary to achieve a synchronized reduction in multiple hazardous substances.

Mycotoxins in Vegetable Oils: A Review of Recent Developments, Current Challenges and Future Perspectives in Sample Preparation, Chromatographic Determination, and Analysis of Real Samples

Mycotoxins are toxic compounds that are formed as secondary metabolites by some fungal species that contaminate crops during pre- and postharvest stages. Exposure to mycotoxins can lead to adverse health effects in humans, such as carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and teratogenicity. Hence, there is a need to develop analytical methods for their determination in vegetable oils that possess high sensitivity and selectivity. In the current review (116 references), the recent developments, current challenges, and perspectives in sample preparation techniques and chromatographic determination are summarized. It is impressive that current sample preparation techniques such as dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME), quick, easy, cheap, rugged, and safe method (QuEChERS) and solid phase extraction (SPE) have exhibited high extraction recoveries and minimal matrix effects. However, a few studies have reported signal suppression or enhancement. Regarding chromatographic techniques, high sensitivity and selectivity have been reported by liquid chromatography coupled to fluorescence detection, tandem mass spectrometry, or high-resolution mass spectrometry. Furthermore, current challenges and perspectives in this field are tentatively proposed.

Hydrophobic carboxymethyl cellulose as a clean-up sorbent in the determination of nitrofuran metabolites in animal-fat samples

Hydrophobic carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) biopolymers were fabricated for the removal of fat from food sample matrices. The hydrophobic CMCs were synthesised via the esterification of CMC with three alcohols with carbon chains of different lengths, methanol, butanol, and octadecanol, in the presence of sulfuric acid. The structure of the three synthesised hydrophobic CMCs was verified using FT-IR, and the physicochemical properties were investigated by TGA, SEM, and X-ray. Characterization confirmed the successful synthesis of the hydrophobic CMCs and that the hydrophobic groups are embedded in the sorbent biopolymer to interact with fat and reduce the fat content of the sample extract. Moreover, the performance of the fabricated hydrophobic CMCs was studied in two applications: fat removal and the determination of nitrofuran (NF) metabolites in fat samples. In the first application, excellent results were observed for fat removal; the highest percentage of fat removed from food sample extracts was 94.2% and the lowest was 88.5%. Successful results were also observed in the determination of NF metabolites in fat samples, as the final extract was clear and pure using the hydrophobic CMCs, while it was turbid for the control sample. In addition, the recovery of four NF metabolites was in the range of 97-117%. In general, the hydrophobic CMCs showed promising and satisfactory results, with CMC-C18 exhibiting the best results. The NF detection method was validated using CMC-C18 in three spiking levels; 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 μg kg-1. The average recoveries of NF range between 83.3 to 104.3%, and the intra-day precision was determined by coefficient of variation, which was below 10% for all NF. The limit of detection and limit of quantification were between 0.6 to 0.9 and 0.20 to 0.28 μg kg-1 respectively. For linearity, the correlation coefficient (r2) was higher than 0.99 for NF metabolites. Overall, the hydrophobic CMCs can be further developed and safely used as green sorbents in food analysis applications.

Recent Insights into Sample Pretreatment Methods for Mycotoxins in Different Food Matrices: A Critical Review on Novel Materials

Mycotoxins pollution is a global concern, and can pose a serious threat to human health. People and livestock eating contaminated food will encounter acute and chronic poisoning symptoms, such as carcinogenicity, acute hepatitis, and a weakened immune system. In order to prevent or reduce the exposure of human beings and livestock to mycotoxins, it is necessary to screen mycotoxins in different foods efficiently, sensitively, and selectively. Proper sample preparation is very important for the separation, purification, and enrichment of mycotoxins from complex matrices. This review provides a comprehensive summary of mycotoxins pretreatment methods since 2017, including traditionally used methods, solid-phase extraction (SPE)-based methods, liquid-liquid extraction (LLE)-based methods, matrix solid phase dispersion (MSPD), QuEChERS, and so on. The novel materials and cutting-edge technologies are systematically and comprehensively summarized. Moreover, we discuss and compare the pros and cons of different pretreatment methods and suggest a prospect.

Determination of benzothiazoles, benzotriazoles and benzenesulfonamides in seafood using quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe extraction followed by gas chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry: Method development and risk assessment

The common use of benzothiazoles, benzotriazoles and benzenesulfonamides has led to widespread ubiquity in several environmental matrices. Their occurrence in edible fish could represent an additional exposure route for the population. The present study aims to develop a method for the simultaneous determination of these three compound families in seafood samples. Based on QuEChERS extraction, different salt combinations and clean-up strategies have been evaluated to achieve the highest recoveries while reducing the matrix effect in low and high lipidic content species. The best results were obtained with the original method salts and the lipid-selective push-through clean-up, which combined with gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry led to recoveries between 50 and 112% with negligible matrix effects and method detection limits between 0.15-9.50 ng g^-1 dw. The application of the method to commercially available samples confirmed the presence of BTs as well as BSAs, with the latter being determined in seafood for the first time. Exposure and risk assessment calculations indicated a minor risk for the population when consuming fish.