Research Publications (Food Safety)

Food chain contamination by soil lead (Pb), beginning with Pb uptake by leafy vegetables, is a threat to food safety and poses a potential risk to human health.

Environmental quality and food safety is threatened by contamination of lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) heavy metals in agricultural soils. Therefore, it is necessary to develop effective techniques for remediation of such soils. In this study, we prepared iron-modified biochar (Fe-BC) which combines the unique characteristics of pristine biochar (BC) and iron.

Arsenic (As) contamination in agricultural soils has become a great threat to the sustainable development of agriculture and food safety. Although a lot of approaches have been proposed for dealing with soil As contamination, they are not practical in crop production due to high cost, time-taking, or operational complexity. The rapid development of nanotechnology appears to provide a novel solution to soil As contamination.

Due to the biomagnifying effect in the food chains, heavy metals will cause serious harm to the food produced in paddy soil, and then threaten human health. The remediation of soil heavy metals by the addition of amendments is a common method. However, the combination of the two amendments has been less studied and its effect is unknown.

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of 0.5% and 1% alkaline, clay mineral and phosphorus amendments, as well as 2% and 5% organic amendments, on lead (Pb) soil bioavailability and Pb absorption by the low-Pb accumulator kumquat (Citrus japonica Thunb.) ‘Cuipi’ in two typical Pb-contaminated soils, Jiyuan and Yangshuo, from northern and southern China, respectively.

by Alan Barrett, Leslie Brown

The input of heavy metals in agricultural systems depresses the soil quality and compromises the food safety owing to crop contamination. Metals also affect the structure, morphology, function, and activity of microorganisms in soils and substrates. Heavy metals can inhibit basic processes of microbial metabolism such as respiration.

Norovirus contamination of oysters is the lead cause of non-bacterial gastroenteritis and a significant food safety concern for the oyster industry. Here, norovirus reduction from Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas), contaminated in the marine environment, was studied in laboratory depuration trials and in two commercial settings.