Research Publications (Food Safety)

Currently, there are more than 1000 varieties of synthetic sulfonamides universally used as antibiotics causing severe results of potential carcinogenicity and drug resistance for human health due to excessive residue of animal-derived food. A facile and novel approach for untargeted screening of sulfonamides (SAs) and metabolites was proposed based on magnetic solid-phase extraction–ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography–tandem high-resolution mass spectrometry (MSPE-UHPLC-HRMS).

A multiclass analytical method to determine pesticides and mycotoxins in beer-related matrices based on the dilute and shoot approach was optimized and validated according to the European guidelines SANTE/12682/2019 and EC/401/2006.

An omnipresent pathogenic bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa PAO1), is easy to contaminate environmental water or foods, causing daily food spoilage and infections. The biofilm-forming ability and bacterial resistance of P. aeruginosa PAO1 make it difficult to be eradicated by traditional bacteriostatic agents. In this work, we designed and synthesized a pyridinium-based pillar[5]arene (PP5), while trimethylammonium-based pillar[5]arene (TP5) was used as a control compound.

Natural products are one of the resources for discovering novel fungicidal leads. As a natural fungicide, osthole was used as a coumarin-based lead compound for the development of novel fungicides. Here, a series of 3,4-dichloroisothiazole-containing 7-hydroxycoumarins were rationally designed, synthesized, and characterized by introducing a bioactive substructure, 3,4-dichloroisothiazole, into the coumarin skeleton.

An increasing number of studies have suggested that PAH contamination in dairy products demands high concern. This study established an efficient determination method for the European Union 15 + 1 PAHs and four PAH derivatives in dairy samples using a QuEChERS method coupled with GC-QqQ-MS. The optimized method obtained a recovery of 63.38–109.17% with a precision of 3.82–15.62%, and the limit of detection and limit of quantification were 0.08–0.78 and 0.27–2.59 μg/kg, respectively.

The current approaches remain insufficient for measuring chicken egg spoilage or present analytical limitations. This study aimed to complement the existing analyses and identify novel markers using liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry-based foodomics strategies. In the discovery set, comparative untargeted metabolomics was utilized to identify marker candidates in microbially inoculated chicken eggs.

The carbon–silicon switch strategy has become a key technique for structural optimization of drugs to widen the chemical space, increase drug activity against targeted proteins, and generate novel and patentable lead compounds. Flubeneteram, targeting succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), is a promising fungicide candidate recently developed in China.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a well-recognized endocrine disruptor, and considering its adverse effects its use in infant bottles has been banned in many countries. Growing concern on the use of BPA has led to its replacement with its analogues in numerous applications. Present is the first report determining the occurrence of seven bisphenols (BPs: BPA, BPAF, BPC, BPE, BPFL, BPS, and BPZ) in Indian infant formula.

Both overproduced reactive oxygen species/reactive nitrogen species and hyperglycemic conditions accompany a significant increase in protein glycation and nitration that contribute to the initiation and progression of diabetic complications and neuronal disorders. In this study, 19 compounds, including steroidal saponins, alkaloids, cerebroside, phenolic compounds, sterols, and nucleosides, were isolated from cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var.

Bacillus cereus is a Gram-positive endospore-forming foodborne pathogen that causes lethal food poisoning and significant economic losses, usually through biofilm- and endospore-induced recurrent cross- and postprocessing contamination. Due to the lack of critical inhibitory targets and control strategies, B. cereus biofilm contamination is a problem that urgently needs a solution.

Food authenticity and safety are major public concerns due to the increasing number of food fraud cases. Meat fraud is an economically motivated practice of covertly replacing one type of meat with a cheaper alternative raising health, safety, and ethical concerns for consumers. In this study, we implement the MasSpec Pen technology for rapid and direct meat analysis and authentication.

Oxathiapiprolin is a novel chiral piperidine thiazole isooxazoline fungicide that contains a pair of enantiomers. An effective analytical method was established for the enantioselective detection of oxathiapiprolin in fruit, vegetable, and soil samples using ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry.

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are a type of natural phytotoxin that contaminate food and feed and become an environmental health risk to humans and livestock. PAs exert toxicity that requires metabolic activation by cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A, and case reports showed that fetuses are quite susceptible to PAs toxicity.

Plant diseases result in 20–40% of agricultural loss every year worldwide. Timely detection of plant diseases can effectively prevent the development and spread of diseases and ensure the agricultural yield. High-throughput and rapid methods are in great demand. This review investigates the advanced application of Raman spectroscopy (RS) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) in the detection of plant diseases.

Traditional fresh produce washing systems mainly rely on mechanical forces and usage of chlorine bleach solutions to aid in removal and sanitization of microorganisms attached on surfaces of fresh produce during washing processes. Frequent outbreaks of foodborne diseases from ready-to-eat produce indicate insufficient sanitization of the washing processes.

Nutraceuticals have been gradually accepted as food ingredients that can offer health benefits and provide protection against several diseases. It is widely accepted due to potential nutritional benefits, safety, and therapeutic effects. Most nutraceuticals are vulnerable to the changes in the external environment, which leads to poor physical and chemical stability and absorption. Several researchers have designed various encapsulation technologies to promote the use of nutraceuticals.

Although the colorimetric methods can easily meet the demands of point-of-care and ease-of-use for antibiotic detection, they still face many challenges in the accuracy and stability of assay. Herein, a facile and stable colorimetric aptasensor is first developed for kanamycin residue detection based on the aptamer-enhanced peroxidase-mimicking activity of layered WS2 nanosheets.

Development of simple, sensitive, and reliable fluorescence sensors for monitoring the residue, distribution, and variation of organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) in agricultural crops is highly urgent but remains challenging, which is ascribed to deprivation of an ideal fluorophore and ingenious detection strategy.

Nowadays, a lot of pesticides have been used in the agriculture field due to the global demand for food production. Carbofuran (CF) is the most commonly used carbamate compound that is responsible for the highest toxicity to humans compared to any other pesticide used in agricultural settings. Thus, rapid, portable, and low-cost sensors are needed for the detection of CF in the environment and food samples.

Pesticide residues are a food safety concern. A good detection method is critical for rapid and accurate determination of pesticide metabolites in crops and studying metabolism. The pretreatment methods have mainly been ultrasonic extraction–solid-phase extraction and QuEChERS, while detection methods have been radio-chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance, and mass spectrometry.

Legume proteins are widely used as food ingredients, but only some (soybean, lupin, and peanut) must be declared under consumer safety regulations to protect allergy sufferers. It is not yet mandatory to declare pea proteins as allergens even though they are predicted to be allergenic based on cross-reactivity in sensitized people.

Triglyceride (TG) is a class of neutral lipids, which functions as an energy storage depot and is important for cellular growth, metabolism, and function. The composition and content of TG molecular species are crucial factors for nutritional aspects in food chemistry and are directly associated with several diseases, including atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, stroke, etc.

Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) are responsible for frequent food poisoning outbreaks worldwide. Specific identification of SEs is crucial for confirmation of food poisoning, tracking of the incriminated foods or food ingredients, and removal from the food chain. Here, we report on a new food testing protocol addressing the challenge of low abundance of SEs in contaminated food and high sequence heterogeneity.

Prions cause transmissible and inevitably fatal neurological diseases in agriculturally important animals, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy in domestic cattle, scrapie in sheep and goats, and chronic wasting disease in cervids. Because animals are largely asymptomatic throughout the course of the disease, early detection of prion disease is important. Hamsters were peripherally (ip) inoculated with hamster-adapted (Sc237) prions.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) with fast and intuitive property has been extensively utilized in the field of food safety. Here, we demonstrated a novel noble metal–polymer hybrid film as a SERS substrate for food fungicide analysis. Benefiting from its transparency and flexibility, poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) film was chosen as a versatile supporting matrix to grow gold nanobushes (Au NBs) through a seed-mediated process.