Worldwide food recall patterns over an eleven month period: A country perspective.

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Following the World Health Organization Forum in November 2007, the Beijing Declaration recognized the importance of food safety along with the rights of all individuals to a safe and adequate diet. The aim of this study is to retrospectively analyze the patterns in food alert and recall by countries to identify the principal hazard generators and gatekeepers of food safety in the eleven months leading up to the Declaration.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The food recall data set was collected by the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC, UK) over the period from January to November 2007. Statistics were computed with the focus reporting patterns by the 117 countries. The complexity of the recorded interrelations was depicted as a network constructed from structural properties contained in the data. The analysed network properties included degrees, weighted degrees, modularity and <it>k</it>-core decomposition. Network analyses of the reports, based on 'country making report' (<it>detector</it>) and 'country reported on' (<it>transgressor</it>), revealed that the network is organized around a dominant core.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ten countries were reported for sixty per cent of all faulty products marketed, with the top 5 countries having received between 100 to 281 reports. Further analysis of the dominant core revealed that out of the top five transgressors three made no reports (in the order China > Turkey > Iran). The top ten detectors account for three quarters of reports with three > 300 (Italy: 406, Germany: 340, United Kingdom: 322).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Of the 117 countries studied, the vast majority of food reports are made by 10 countries, with EU countries predominating. The majority of the faulty foodstuffs originate in ten countries with four major producers making no reports. This pattern is very distant from that proposed by the Beijing Declaration which urges all countries to take responsibility for the provision of safe and adequate diets for their nationals.</p

Heavy metal ions in wines: meta-analysis of target hazard quotients reveal health risks

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Metal ions such as iron and copper are among the key nutrients that must be provided by dietary sources. Numerous foodstuffs have been evaluated for their contributions to the recommended daily allowance both to guide for satisfactory intake and also to prevent over exposure. In the case of heavy metal ions, the focus is often on exposure to potentially toxic levels of ions such as lead and mercury. The aim of this study is to determine target hazard quotients (THQ) from literature reports giving empirical levels of metal ions in table wines using the reference upper safe limit value. Contributions to the THQ value were calculated for seven metal ions along with total values for each wine.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The THQ values were determined as ranges from previously reported ranges of metal ion concentrations and were frequently concerningly high. Apart from the wines selected from Italy, Brazil and Argentina, all other wines exhibited THQ values significantly greater than one indicating levels of risk. The levels of vanadium, copper and manganese had the highest impact on THQ measures. Typical potential maximum THQ values ranged from 50 to 200 with Hungarian and Slovakian wines reaching 300. THQ values for a sample of red and white wines were high for both having values ranging from 30 to 80 for females based on a 250 mL glass per day.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The THQ values calculated are concerning in that they are mainly above the safe level of THQ<1. It is notable that in the absence of upper safe limits, THQ values cannot be calculated for most metal ions, suggesting that further unaccountable risks are associated with intake of these wines.</p

Development of a Bead-Based Multiplex Genotyping Method for Diagnostic Characterization of HPV Infection

The accurate genotyping of human papillomavirus (HPV) is clinically important because the oncogenic potential of HPV is dependent on specific genotypes. Here, we described the development of a bead-based multiplex HPV genotyping (MPG) method which is able to detect 20 types of HPV (15 high-risk HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 53, 56, 58, 59, 66, 68 and 5 low-risk HPV types 6, 11, 40, 55, 70) and evaluated its accuracy with sequencing. A total of 890 clinical samples were studied. Among these samples, 484 were HPV positive and 406 were HPV negative by consensus primer (PGMY09/11) directed PCR. The genotyping of 484 HPV positive samples was carried out by the bead-based MPG method. The accuracy was 93.5% (95% CI, 91.0–96.0), 80.1% (95% CI, 72.3–87.9) for single and multiple infections, respectively, while a complete type mismatch was observed only in one sample. The MPG method indiscriminately detected dysplasia of several cytological grades including 71.8% (95% CI, 61.5–82.3) of ASCUS (atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance) and more specific for high grade lesions. For women with HSIL (high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion) and SCC diagnosis, 32 women showed a PPV (positive predictive value) of 77.3% (95% CI, 64.8–89.8). Among women >40 years of age, 22 women with histological cervical cancer lesions showed a PPV of 88% (95% CI, 75.3–100). Of the highest risk HPV types including HPV-16, 18 and 31 positive women of the same age groups, 34 women with histological cervical cancer lesions showed a PPV of 77.3% (95% CI, 65.0–89.6). Taken together, the bead-based MPG method could successfully detect high-grade lesions and high-risk HPV types with a high degree of accuracy in clinical samples