Search results for " Contamination"
showing 10 items of 571 documents
Exposure to patulin from consumption of apple-based products.
2007
Patulin is a mycotoxin produced by species of Penicillium, Aspergillus and Byssochylamys. Several Scientific Committees classify patulin as mutagenic, embryotoxic and immunotoxic. It has been found as a natural contaminant of processed apple products and its presence may be indicative of the quality of fruit used in production. In this work, a method for the analysis of patulin is described, based on a simple liquid-liquid extraction with acetonitrile; patulin is analyzed using liquid chromatography with UV detection. Patulin identity was confirmed by GC-MS after its reaction with N-methyl-N-(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide. Fifty-three apple-containing products were analyzed and patulin …
Quantitative determination of trichothecenes in breadsticks by gas chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry.
2014
Breadsticks are pencil-sized sticks of dry bread widely consumed as a pre-meal appetiser. They are basically wheat-based snacks, which makes them a good matrix to evaluate mycotoxin contamination, since wheat is very susceptible to fungal attack. In this sense, the fast, selective and sensitive gas chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (GCQqQ- MS/MS) method proposed here allows simultaneous determination of deoxynivalenol (DON), 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol, fusarenon-X, diacetoxyscirpenol, nivalenol, neosolaniol, HT-2 and T-2 toxin in breadsticks after QuEChERS extraction and clean-up. The performance of the method was assessed with respect to European Commission Regulations …
Effect of soil moisture on pesticide toxicity to an enchytraeid worm, Enchytraeus sp.
1997
The aim of the study was to find out whether soil moisture affects toxicity of organic pesticides to an enchytraeid worm. Laboratory experiments were carried out with dimethoate and benomyl, using a small Enchytraeus sp. as the test species. Substrate was natural agricultural field soil cultivated without pesticides for several years. Experimental design consisted of three soil moistures (40, 55, and 70% of water holding capacity) and five pesticide concentrations, plus controls. Measured parameters were survival, size of the parent worms and number and size of juveniles produced. Dimethoate was relatively non-toxic to this species. Dimethoate did not decrease survival, but sublethal effect…
Assessment of ecotoxicity and total volatile organic compound (TVOC) emissions from food and children's toy products
2018
The development of new methods for identifying a broad spectrum of analytes, as well as highly selective tools to provide the most accurate information regarding the processes and relationships in the world, has been an area of interest for researchers for many years. The information obtained with these tools provides valuable data to complement existing knowledge but, above all, to identify and determine previously unknown hazards. Recently, attention has been paid to the migration of xenobiotics from the surfaces of various everyday objects and the resulting impacts on human health. Since children are among those most vulnerable to health consequences, one of the main subjects of interest…
Study on Trichothecene and Zearalenone Presence in Romanian Wheat Relative to Weather Conditions
2019
To evaluate the influence of weather conditions on mycotoxin presence in wheat, deoxynivalenol (DON), 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol (3AcDON), 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol (15AcDON), fusarenon-X (FUS-X), nivalenol (NIV), HT-2 toxin (HT-2), T-2 toxin (T-2), diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), neosolaniol (NEO) and zearalenone (ZEN) were evaluated in 102 Romanian wheat samples coming from five wheat growing areas during 2015. Only six mycotoxins were detected, while FUS-X, DAS, NEO and NIV were not present in the wheat samples. Mycotoxin concentrations were correlated with precipitation and temperature values during anthesis and the preharvest period. Overall, the highest frequency was registered for DON, while the…
Assessment of the Microbiological Quality of Groundwater in Three Regions of the Valencian Community (Spain)
2014
Urban groundwater development was traditionally constrained by concerns about its quality. This study was conducted in the regions of La Ribera Alta and Ribera Baja and La Plana de Requena-Utiel of the Valencian Community (Valencia, Spain) where population density, demand for drinking water and agricultural activities are high. Groundwater bodies (GWBs) are regarded as management areas within each territory, and were used to establish protection policies. This study analyzed eleven GWBs. We used two databases with microbiological measurements from 154 wells over a 7-year period (2004–2011), risk factors and groundwater information. Wells were grouped according to frequency of microbiologica…
Occurrence of glyphosate in beer from the Latvian market.
2018
A sensitive LC-MS/MS method for the determination of glyphosate in beer has been developed, validated, and applied to analyse 100 beer samples from 24 different producers and distributors in Latvia. The selected samples represented most beer brands and varieties sold in local supermarkets. Different procedures for sample preparation and chromatographic separation were compared. The final version of the method consisted of solid phase extraction, chromatographic separation on aminopropyl stationary phase, and detection using tandem mass spectrometry. The concentration of glyphosate in beer varied from below the LOD of 0.2 μg kg-1 up to 150 μg kg-1, higher than previously reported. Significan…
Assessing soil contamination and temporal trends of heavy metal contents in greenhouses on semiarid land
2018
Information about the behavior and temporal evolution of heavy metals in agricultural soils is limited, particularly about greenhouse soils on semiarid lands, indeed it nonexistent. Western Almería (Southern Spain) is a semiarid land where some 30,000 ha are occupied by greenhouses with high productivity. As these greenhouses are fundamental to the socioeconomic development of this area, they should be maintained and well conserved. However, there are indications that long-term intensive agriculture with considerable agrochemicals use can deteriorate soil quality, which in turn, would reduce productivity and food quality. This study was conducted to investigate soil contamination and the te…
Response of soil bacterial community structure to successive perturbations of different types and intensities
2008
SummaryIn soil, genetic structure modifications of indigenousbacterial community consecutively to a severe stress(mercury contamination) were delayed when thecommunity was pre-exposed to various minor per-turbations (heat, copper and atrazine). Such minorperturbations induced transitory community struc-ture modifications leading to an increase of commu-nity stability towards a severe mercury stress. Theseresults illustrated well the short-term pre-adaptationprocess for bacterial community hypothesizing thatcommunity submitted to perturbations become moreresistant to withstand another stress. Compared with other environmental matrices of the bio-sphere, soils are considered as the main reservo…
Analysis of furan in coffee of different provenance by head-space solid phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry: effect of brewing…
2009
A simple, sensitive and accurate method for the analysis of furan in roasted coffee has been used based on headspace-solid-phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The extraction was performed using 75-microm carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane fiber. Ionic strength, extraction time and temperature, and desorption time were assessed as the most important parameters affecting the HS-SPME procedure and d(4)-furan was used as the internal standard. The linearity range was in the range 0.0075-0.486 ng g(-1); the LOD and LOQ calculated using the signal-to-noise ratio approach were 0.002 and 0.006 ng g(-1), respectively. The inter- and intra-day precisio…