Raw poultry meatballs with soya flour: Shelf life and nutritional value

Poultry meat is a valuable source of protein for human consumption. It plays an important role in countries with poor ungulate meat production, including the Republic of Kazakhstan. The intake of fibre by the Kazakh population also remains low, while the intake of saturated fatty acids is excessive. Therefore, it is recommended to combine meat with plant products, e.g. soya flour. In the present research, we developed and evaluated a new meatball product containing different amounts of soya flour. The meatballs proved to be a semi-finished high-protein product. They also demonstrated a good fatty acid and mineral profile. The product with 30% of soya flour showed the best results: 27% of protein, low content of saturated fatty acid, and shelf life of 48 h. To extend the shelf life of the meatballs under refrigerator conditions, new disinfection methods should be developed.S

Food and omics: unraveling the role of food in breast cancer development

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide and the most common cause of cancer death for women. Its plasticity and variability suggest a multifactorial origin, with powerful influence of environmental factors. Current scientific evidence pinpoints food and specific nutrients as crucial factors in breast tumor development. More precisely, dietary components can actively participate in the suppression and/or progression of cancer by introducing modifications into the epigenetic landscapes of cancer. Food not only can target oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes and modify their methylation levels, but they also can influence histone chemical modifications, non-coding RNA pathways and microbiota metabolism. Breast cancer is currently treated with surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and/or therapies targeting estrogen receptor (ER) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). However, the holistic omics study of the association between diet and breast health opens an interesting alternative for future breast cancer prevention and therapyS

Nuevo método de análisis de residuos de oxolínico y flumequina utilizando la detección de la fluorescencia nativa inducida por láser acoplada en el ultravioleta cercano acoplada al HPLC: comparación con la lámpara de xenon convencional

A new high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method is described for the determination of oxolinic acid and flumequine, with ultraviolet laser-induced fluorescence detection (UV-LIFD). Near-UV excitation at 325 nm was obtained by using an He/Cd laser. Data obtained using UV-LIFD and conventional fluorimetry (Xenon flash, lexc 325/ lem 365) are compared under the same chromatographic conditions, connecting in series both detectors, in terms of linearity, reproducibility and repeatability. The HPLC separation is carried out on a Synergi MAX-RP column with water–acetonitrile (2:1, v/v) adjusted at pH 2.5, with formic acid, as mobile phase and completed in less than 9 min. The detection limits of oxolinic acid and flumequine at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 were 0.43 pg and 0.76 pg on column with UV-LIFD detection, making this method considerably more sensitive than traditional fluorescence detector (16.15 pg and 14.17 pg) having some obvious advantagesEn este trabajo proponemos un nuevo método de cromatografía líquida de alta eficacia para el análisis de ácido oxolínico y flumequina con detección por fluorescencia inducida por Láser. La excitación ultravioleta cercana a 325 nm se obtiene usando un laser HE/Cd. Los datos obtenidos usando esta excitación se compararon con los obtenidos por fluorescencia normal (Xenon flash, lexc 325/lem 365) en las mismas condiciones cromatográficas, conectando en serie los dos detectores, en términos de linearidad, reproducibilidad y repetibilidad. La separación por HPLC se llevó a cabo con una columna Synergi MAX-RP con una fase móvil agua/acetonitrilo (2:1, V/V) ajustada a pH 2.5 con ácido fórmico, completándose en menos de 9 min. Los límites de detección, para una señal/ruido de 3, fueron 0.43 pg y 0.76 pg en columna para oxolínico y flumequina respectivamente, haciendo este método considerablemente más sensible que el tradicional detector por fluorescencia (16.15 pg y 14.17 pg), lo que tiene ventajas obviasXesús Feás acknowledges a scholarship within the program ‘‘Formación de Personal Investigador’’ from Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Spain, and Ana Carreira for technical collaborationS

Magnetic molecularly imprinted stirring bar for isolation of patulin using grafting technique

The 19th International Electronic Conference on Synthetic Organic Chemistry session Polymer and Supramolecular ChemistryMycotoxins are low-molecular-weight natural products with great structural diversity produced as secondary metabolites by fungi. One of the principal toxic fungal metabolites is patulin (PAT), produced by over 30 genera of mold including species as Penicillium expansum or Penicillium griseofulvum, and normally related to vegetable-based products and fruit, mainly apple. These mold grow easily in damaged fruit or in derived-product as juices if storage conditions are deficient. Some of the most serious effects of PAT ingestion are agitation, convulsions, edema, ulceration intestinal, inflammation and vomiting. Thus, European Regulation 1881/2006 established a maximum content of 10 ppb in infant fruit juices, 50 ppb for fruit juices in adults and 25 ppb in fruit-derived products. Nowadays, the official analytical method for food adopted by AOAC International is HPLC with UV detection, using clean-up with ethyl acetate and sodium carbonate. However, the diverse drawbacks of this method (poor stability of PAT under alkaline extraction, poor resolution between PAT and co-extracted hydroxymethylfurfural) have originated interest in alternative options, such as LC methods coupled to mass spectrometry. In the last years, purification with molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) started to be used, and are becoming promising materials for extracting different analytes present in food. Mycotoxins are too toxic or too expensive to be used as template molecules in MIP preparation. Template “bleeding” may be an additional problem, especially when dealing with very low detection levels. In the present work, a rapid and selective method based on magnetic molecularly imprinted stir-bar (MMIB) extraction has been developed for the isolation of PAT. A structural analogue, 2-oxindole, was used as dummy template. The polymer was grafted to the silanized glass surface of the stir ba

Design of a molecularly imprinted stir-bar for isolation of patulin in apple and LC-MS/MS detection

Mycotoxins are a very diverse group of natural products produced as secondary metabolites by fungi. Patulin is produced by mold species normally related to vegetable-based products and fruit, mainly apple. Its ingestion may result in agitation, convulsions, edema, intestinal ulceration, inflammation, vomiting, and even immune, neurological or gastrointestinal disorders. For this reason, the European Commission Regulation (EC) 1881/2006 established a maximum content for patulin of 10 ppb in infant fruit juice, 50 ppb for fruit juice for adults and 25 ppb in fruit-derived products. In this work, a rapid and selective method based on magnetic molecularly imprinted stir-bar (MMISB) extraction has been developed for the isolation of patulin, using 2-oxindole as a dummy template. The final extraction protocol consisted of simply pouring in, stirring and pouring out samples and solvents from a beaker with the MMISB acting inside. The magnetic device provided satisfactory recoveries of patulin (60%–70%) in apple samples. The successful MMISB approach has been combined with high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) to determine patulin.This research was supported by the project EM 2012/153 from Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenacion Universitaria, Xunta de GaliciaS

Development of a novel molecularly imprinted stir-bar for isolation of aflatoxins

The 19th International Electronic Conference on Synthetic Organic Chemistry session Polymer and Supramolecular ChemistryMycotoxins are natural substances produced as secondary metabolites by a wide variety of different species of filamentous fungi. One of the most important groups in terms of occurrence and toxicity, is the group of aflatoxins (AFs). The major members of this group are aflatoxin B1, B2, G1, G2, M1 and M2. Exposure to AFs can cause chronic and acute toxic effects or death, as they can be carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic and immunosuppressive. AFB1 is considered as the strongest carcinogen of natural origin and it is normally predominant in crops as well as in food products. Aflatoxin M1 is a major metabolite of aflatoxin B1 in humans and animals and it may be present in milk from animals fed with contaminated feed. Although the toxicity of M1 is about ten times lower than B1, it is known for its hepatotoxic and carcinogenic effects. Solid phase extraction (SPE) or the clean-up with organic solvents or immunoaffinity columns (IAC) have been frequently applied in the analysis of mycotoxins from cereals and/or milk. IAC in combination with HPLC are increasingly used as reference method due to their high selectivity and good elimination of matrix interferences. However, the cost of analysis is usually high. In recent years, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) have been become very popular and promising materials for extracting different analytes. AFs are too toxic to be used in MIP preparation and template bleeding may be an additional problem, especially when dealing with very low levels. For this reason, a dummy template was preferred for MIP synthesis. A rapid and selective extraction method based on magnetic MIP (MMIP) has been developed for the isolation of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2, M1) using a combination of imprinted polymer and magnetite. The successful MMIP stirring “cake” (used as a stir-bar) has been combined with HPLC-MS/MS for the determination of AFM1 in milk powder (infant formulas) to demonstrate its applicability to real sample

Milk Microbiota: A Source of Antimicrobial-Producing Bacteria with Potential Application in Food Safety

Antimicrobial and biocide resistance is a major public health problem today. Therefore, one of the main scientific challenges nowadays is the search for alternatives to these substances. One of these potential alternatives are the bacteriocins. Microbiota are a potential source of bacteriocin-producing bacteria that need to be studied. In this study, a total of 40 samples of human milk and 10 samples of cow milk were collected from healthy individuals and stored at −20 °C until use. Colonies isolated from these samples that showed antimicrobial activity against Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus in the overlaid assays were selected. Well diffusion assays were carried out with the cell-free supernatant (CFS) from these colonies neutralized to pH and inhibition zones were recorded. The activity against eight common bacterial pathogens was evaluated. A total of 32 colonies with potential antimicrobial activity were isolated. The neutralized CFS of 10 strains showed antimicrobial activity against at least one pathogen tested in the well diffusion assays. Eight of the 10 CFS inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus. These CFS also showed activity against Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus agalactiae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa , L. monocytogenes, Clostridium perfringens and Clostridioides difficile. The next steps of the research will be 16s rRNA sequencing to identify the species of isolates and mass spectrometry to determine the antimicrobial product produced by isolation. Finally, this study demonstrated that milk microbiota are a potential source of new producing bacteriocin bacteria that can be used in the formulation of new food productsS

LC-MS as a tool to overcome the limitations of self-reported dietary assessments in the determination of wine intake

The nutritional assessment of individuals is usually performed using highly subjective data collecting tools such as food frequency questionnaires, dietary recalls and food records. However, people are not always capable of recalling all foods (and ingredients) consumed, and in some cases, the intake of specific foods is intentionally omitted. Even though wine is considered positive for cardiovascular status, and is an essential part of Mediterranean culture, individuals may not always report its consumption accurately due to the existence of social preconceptions about alcoholic beverages. In this study, the presence of free resveratrol has been determined in human plasma from 25 Spanish volunteers using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS). This phenolic compound proved to be useful as a dietary biomarker for wine intake in a known population, and the results were compared with those obtained by self-reported dietary assessments. However, certain limitations must also be taken into account such as inter-individual variations and the type of wine consumed. The LC-MS method was validated for trans-resveratrol determination in human plasma, with an LOD (limit of detection) of 50 ng·mL−1 and an LOQ (limit of quantification) of 150 ng·mL−1, respectively.S

Short chain fatty acids commonly produced by gut microbiota influence salmonella enterica motility, biofilm formation, and gene expression

Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are commonly produced by healthy gut microbiota and they have a protective role against enteric pathogens. SCFAs also have direct antimicrobial activity against bacterial pathogens by di usion across the bacterial membrane and reduction of intracellular pH. Due to this antimicrobial activity, SCFAs have promising applications in human health and food safety. In this study, the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of four SCFAs (acetic acid, butyric acid, propionic acid, and valeric acid) in Salmonella strains isolated from poultry were determined. The e ect of subinhibitory concentrations of SCFAs in Salmonella biofilm formation, motility, and gene expression was also evaluated. Butyric acid, propionic acid, and valeric acid showed a MIC of 3750 g/mL in all strains tested, while the MIC of acetic acid was between 1875 and 3750 g/mL. Subinhibitory concentrations of SCFAs significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the motility of all Salmonella strains, especially in the presence of acetic acid. Biofilm formation was also significantly (p < 0.05) lower in the presence of SCFAs in some of the Salmonella strains. Salmonella strain. Salmonella Typhimurium T7 showed significant (p < 0.05) upregulation of important virulence genes, such as invA and hilA, especially in the presence of butyric acid. Therefore, SCFAs are promising substances for the inhibition of the growth of foodborne pathogens. However, it is important to avoid the use of subinhibitory concentrations that could increase the virulence of foodborne pathogen Salmonella.S

Tracing (r)bST in cattle: Liquid-based options for extraction and separation

Growth hormone (GH) or somatotropin (ST) is a species-specific polypeptide hormone produced in the pituitary gland of vertebrates. When administered exogenously to dairy cattle, it has galactopoietic effects and is capable of increasing the milk yield. Recombinant bST enabled large-scale applications in farms, enhancing significantly milk production. While it is banned in the European Union (EU), several countries permit the trade and use of recombinant somatotropins in animal husbandry. In this context, effective analytical methods are needed for residue control to avoid an illegal use of rbST but also to prevent fraudulent labeling in some cases. The present review includes studies published in the last 5 years (from 2012 to 2017) to monitor rbST in bovine animals, using liquid-based applications. It is then intended to serve as a practical guide to help those laboratories interested in developing analytical methods to detect rbST use and abuseMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad (España). Programa Estatal de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación Orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad (proyecto AGL2014-58881-R)S