Search results for "contamination"

Decomposer communities in contaminated soil: Is altered community regulation a proper tool in ecological risk assessment of toxicants?

1997

Abstract Effects of patchy soil contamination on decomposer organisms, their community regulation and nutrient mineralization were studied in a microcosm experiment. Coniferous forest soil was patchily contaminated with three concentrations of sodiumpentachlorophenate PCP (0, 50 and 500 mg PCP kg−1 of dry soil). Abundance of microbes, enchytraeids, nematodes, small oribatids and predatory mites were reduced by the PCP. Direct toxicity of PCP and lowered microbial biomass seemed to affect animal community composition in the most contaminated patches. Some large oribatids which seemed to be tolerant to PCP increased their numbers in the most contaminated patches. Although predatory mites suff…

Development of a nutritional HACCP plan.

2002

Recent advances in the application of pulsed light processing for improving food safety and increasing shelf life

2019

Abstract Background New technologies of non-thermal disinfection such as pulsed light (PL) have emerged lately as an alternative to traditional (thermal and chemical) disinfection and preservation methods. PL can be used to decontaminate a great variety of foods as well as to decontaminate contact surfaces, thus improving safety in foods and extending their shelf life. Moreover, this technology can prevent or reduce some of the detrimental effects of traditional methods on nutrients and bioactive compounds of food products. Scope and approach The combination of PL with other techniques such as ultraviolet light (UV), thermosonication (TS), pulsed electric fields (PEF), manothermosonication …

The Role of Perceived Control in the Psychophysiological Responses to Disgust of Subclinical OCD Women

2019

Obsessive‒compulsive disorder (OCD), and especially contamination obsessions and washing compulsions, has been related to disgust. However, when its cardiovascular correlates have been studied, contradictory results have been found, including heart rate accelerations and decelerations. The aim of this study is to analyze emotional, cognitive, and cardiovascular responses in nonclinical (control) and subclinical participants with obsessive‒compulsive contamination/washing symptoms when confronted with a disgusting stimulus. Twenty-seven participants (14 subclinical OCD) completed a behavioral avoidance task with a contamination-based stimulus while their heart rate and subjective variables w…

Analysis of mycotoxins in coffee and risk assessment in Spanish adolescents and adults.

2015

Mycotoxins are toxic compounds produced by fungal secondary metabolism that cause toxicological effects. Coffee is a highly popular beverage that is susceptible to contamination by mycotoxigenic fungi. The aim of the present study was to determine the presence of the following 21 mycotoxins in coffee using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS-IT): aflatoxin B1, B2, G1 and G2; ochratoxin A; nivalenol; deoxynivalenol; 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol; 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol; diacetoxyscirpenol; neosolaniol; T-2 and HT-2 toxin; sterigmatocystin; enniatin A, A1, B, and B1; beauvericin; and fumonisin B1 and B2. We aimed to determine differences by coffee process (coffee maker, electri…

Dietary Exposure to Mycotoxins through Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Beverages in Valencia, Spain

2021

The present study investigated the presence of 30 mycotoxins in 110 beverage samples of beer, wine, cava, and cider purchased in Valencia (Spain). A validated method based on dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction and chromatographic methods coupled with tandem mass spectrometry was applied. The method showed satisfactory recoveries ranging from 61 to 116% for the different beverages studied. The detection and quantification limits ranged from 0.03 to 2.34 µg/L and 0.1 to 7.81 µg/L, respectively. The results showed that beer samples were the most contaminated, even with concentrations ranging from 0.24 to 54.76 µg/L. A significant presence of alternariol was found in wine, which reached c…

Multi-mycotoxin contamination of green tea infusion and dietary exposure assessment in Moroccan population

2021

Green tea infusion is one of the most widely drunk beverages worldwide due to its health benefits associated with microelements, essential oils, and polyphenols, etc. Several studies have reported that green tea is subjected to contamination by various toxigenic fungi. Thus, this work aims to investigate the co-occurrence of 15 mycotoxins [four aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2), ochratoxin A (OTA), beauvericin (BEA), four enniatins (ENA, ENA1, ENB, ENB1), zearalenone (ZEN), alternariol (AOH), tentoxin (TENT), T-2 and HT-2 toxins] in green tea samples available in Morocco by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method. Analytical and consumption data were then used to assess the …

Bioaccessibility of Deoxynivalenol and its natural co-occurrence with Ochratoxin A and Aflatoxin B1 in Italian commercial pasta

2012

Abstract Cereals products for direct human consumption are rarely contaminated by moulds, unlike raw materials, which are often infected, either in the field or during storage. In this study, 27 samples of dried pasta characterised by size, packaging and marketing intended for young children consumption were collected and analysed by liquid chromatography (LC) and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) for Deoxynivalenol (DON), Ochratoxin A (OTA) and Aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) determination. The samples that showed the highest amounts of one of the mycotoxins were cooked for 10 min, digested with an in vitro gastrointestinal protocol and bioaccessibility values were calculate…

Natural co-occurrence of ochratoxin A, ochratoxin B and aflatoxins in Sicilian red wines

2015

The natural occurrence of ochratoxin A, ochratoxin B, aflatoxin B1, aflatoxin B2, aflatoxin G1 and aflatoxin G2 (OTA, OTB, AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2) in red wines was investigated by HPLC/FLD after immunoaffinity column clean-up in 57 market samples produced in Sicily (Italy). The results showed a very low incidence of these mycotoxins in analysed samples, confirming the high degree of quality and safety of Sicilian red wines. The results indicated 71.9% and 64.9% positive samples for OTA and OTB respectively, with an average level of 0.13 μg l(-1), well below the European maximum permitted levels (MLs). The aflatoxin most frequently detected in the samples was AFG1, present in 57.9% of sample…

Evaluation of matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) extraction for multi-mycotoxin determination in different flours using LC-MS/MS

2011

An existing matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) method for aflatoxins (AFs) and ochratoxin A (OTA) extraction was extended by further 14 mycotoxins. After it careful optimization, this method was applied to determine the occurrence of these mycotoxins on commercial flour samples (with different cereals composition) collected from local markets. In a total of 49 samples investigated, 9 mycotoxins were identified. Nivalenol (NIV) and Beauvericin (BEA) were the mycotoxins found most frequently. The samples that presented major contamination were wheat flours and bakery preparations. Despite of the great number of positives finding, only one wheat flour sample exceeded the maximum limits (ML) …