Determination of acrylamide levels in selected commercial and traditional foods in Syria

Purpose: To determine acrylamide (AA) levels in different brands of commercial and traditional foodstuffs available in Syria by ultra-performance liquid  chromatography-mass spectrometery (UPLCMS).Methods: A total of 63 samples were analyzed. Food samples were defatted by hexane and then extracted with methanol 98 % in a vortex mixer. Thereafter, Carrez I and Carrez II were added to precipitate proteins from the co-extractives and then centrifuged to obtain a clear aqueous extract that was evaporated to dryness. The extract was dissolved in 1 mL of water, eluted through a preconditioned Oasis HLB cartridge and then filtered. The filtrate was analyzed by UPLC-MS/MS to determine AA content.Results: Among the commercial foods tested, the highest acrylamide quantity was found in potato products (396 ± 3.59 – 1844 ± 5.29 μg kg−1) and the lowest in corn products (183 ± 2.64 – 366 ± 4.58 μg kg−1). This was followed by biscuits (57 ± 2.64 – 1433 ± 2.51 μg kg−1), breakfast cereals (121 ± 8.73 – 245 ± 3.60 μg kg−1), bread (119 ± 1.73 – 263 ± 3.60 μg kg−1) and then coffee (113 ± 2.64 - 64 ± 3.05 μg kg−1). Regarding traditional foods, the highest level of AA was found in AL- Mshabak (481 ± 2.08 μg kg−1) and AL-Awamat (421 ± 2.64 μg kg−1) followed by AL-Namora (282 ± 4.35 μg kg−1) and AL-Kenafa (242 ± 2.64 μg kg−1). It was also observed that the lowest amount of AA was in fried bread (230 μg kg−1), AL-Fatayer (192 ± 3.51 μg kg−1) and AL-Baqlawa (172 ± 4.35 μg kg−1) while Eid Aqras (130 ± 4.58 μg kg−1) and AL-Brazeq (167 ± 3.78 μg kg−1) contained the least amount of AA.Conclusion: The results indicate that the highest levels of AA are found in the most commonly consumed foods. There was significant difference (p < 0.05) in AA levels among different food items and within different brands of the same product.Keywords: Acrylamide, Commercial foods, Traditional foods, Syrian food,  Contaminants, UPLCMS/M

Factors Influencing Food Safety Education Practices among Obstetricians

Healthcare providers (HCPs) are responsible for educating pregnant women about food safety issues in to prevent infectious diseases; however, few HCPs provide their pregnant women with such information. This study aimed to identify food safety education practices, attitudes and barriers among obstetricians and determine the factors affecting education practices. In this cross-sectional study, 238 obstetricians completed a self-administered questionnaire. Medians with interquartile ranges, frequency, crosstabs test, Mann–Whitney U test, Kruska–Wallis H test, Dunn–Bonferroni post hoc method, and multiple regression were used for data analysis. The study found that obstetricians provide pregnant women with a low amount of food safety information (2.5 ± 0.42, and the top three barriers reported were lack of time (Mdn = 3, IQR = 1), lack of knowledge (Mdn = 3, IQR = 2), and heavy workload (Mdn = 3, IQR = 2). Furthermore, only a few obstetricians were interested in taking food safety education courses (30.2%) and exploring pregnant women’s education needs (39.5%). Factors influencing education practices were total experience, lack of knowledge, and lack of time. Obstetricians should be more aware of the need to educate pregnant women about food safety issues. Understanding the influencing factors determined in this study will contribute to the development of an effective education plan to reinforce doctors’ food safety education competency