Monitoring Alternaria toxins in Italian food to support upcoming regulation

The collection of occurrence data on Alternaria toxins in food and feed across the European countries is required since 2012 by the European Commission, endorsing the relevant scientific opinion by the EFSA CONTAM Panel. Within this framework, occurrence data for Alternaria toxins (Alternariol, Alternariol monomethyl ether, Tenuazonic acid, Tentoxin, and Altenuene) in 97 samples of cereal foods, tomato products, and sunflower seeds have been provided as requested by the Italian national monitoring programme (years 2017-2020). To this purpose, an LC-MS/MS method was set up and validated, obtaining fit for purpose sensitivity, recoveries (70-120%), repeatability (≤20%) and within laboratory reproducibility (≤26%). Occurrence data showed that oilseeds were the most contaminated food group with levels of Tenuazonic acid up to 16752 µg/kg and Tentoxin up to 570 µg/kg, whereas for the other mycotoxin/commodities combinations, the percentage of left censored data (below the limit of quantification) ranged from 74 to 100%.

[On the regulate tropane alkaloids in grain products]

Tropane alkaloids (TA) are metabolites of various plant species in the families Brassicaceae, Solanaceae and Erythroxylaceae. Seeds of these weeds are found in flax, soy, sorghum, millet, sunflower, buckwheat and food products obtained from them, in herbals used as a part of food supplements and herbal teas. Despite the fact that the contamination of grain seeds by various parts of weeds reduces by sorting and clean up, a certain amount of TA gets into processed foods. An analysis of the consumption of TA with all types of foods, conducted by the European food safety Agency (EFSA), showed that TA intake with ration of various population groups can exceed the established level of single safe intake (ARfD) - 0.016 μg/kg of body weight (by 11-18% for adults, and by 5-25% for children depending on the age). The aim of the research was to justify the need to introduce regulations for the safe content of TA in grain products. Material and methods. The study process used hygiene, analytical methods, expert assessments on the basis of generalization and analysis of contemporary scientific researches published in databases Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, RISC, Russian and international regulatory and legislative documents. Results. The established risks associated with TA contamination of grain and grain-based foods, as well as food supplements based on herbs and herbal teas, make it necessary to monitor food products for it's presence. Conclusion. Due to the greater study of the risks associated with the presence of atropine and scopolamine in foods, scientific justification of safe levels of these TA in foods based on cereals, including baby foods for children under 3 years old containi ng millet, sorghum, buckwheat or products based on these cereals is required.

Analysis of Glyphosate Residues in Foods from the Canadian Retail Markets between 2015 and 2017

Underlying the risk management of pesticides to protect human health and to facilitate trade among nations are sound scientific data on the levels of compliance with standards set by governments and internationally from monitoring of the levels of pesticides in foods. Although glyphosate is among the universally used pesticides in the world, monitoring has been hampered by the analytical difficulties in dealing with this highly polar compound. Starting in 2015, using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) that permits accurate and reproducible determination of glyphosate, the prevalence, concentrations, and compliance rates were determined. In this work, the glyphosate residues contents of 7955 samples of fresh fruits and vegetables, milled grain products, pulse products, and finished foods collected from April 2015 to March 2017 in the Canadian retail market are reported. A total of 3366 samples (42.3%) contained detectable glyphosate residues. The compliance rate with Canadian regulations was 99.4%. There were 46 noncompliant samples. Health Canada determined that there was no long-term health risk to Canadian consumers from exposure to the levels of glyphosate found in the samples of a variety of foods surveyed. The high level of compliance (99.4% of samples with the Canadian regulatory limits) and the lack of a health risk for noncompliant samples indicate that, with respect to glyphosates, the food available for sale in Canada is safe.

Electrode Modified by Reduced Graphene Oxide for Monitoring of Total Thallium in Grain Products

Grain products and the associated industry have a notable economic and social impact all over the world. The toxicological safety of grain products is a nutritional prerogative. This study focused on the determination of thallium content in grain product samples collected from a commercial brand commonly available in Poland. The samples were analyzed with the use of differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV) with graphene oxide based on glassy carbon. The stripping anodic peak current of thallium was linear over its concentration range from 9.78 × 10⁻⁹ to 97.8 × 10⁻⁹ M. The limit of detection (LOD) was calculated according to the formula LOD = (κ × SDa)/b, where κ is 3.3, SDa is the standard deviation of the intercept, and b is the slope. The determined value of LOD was 1.229 µg L⁻¹ (6.01 × 10⁻⁹ M). The proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of thallium ions in samples of actual grain products. The obtained results confirmed that thallium was present in the studied cereal samples (average content at 0.0268 ± 0.0798 mg/kg). Thallium has a half-life of 60 days; therefore, the consumption of foods with thallium content of approximately 0.08 mg/kg has the potential for harmful bioaccumulation in the body. Thallium contamination in cereal products should be a critical parameter for health environmental regulations.