First dice your dill – new methods and techniques in sample handling

This book is dedicated to celebrate the 60th birthday of Professor Rainer Huopalahti. Professor Rainer “Repe” Huopalahti has had, and in fact is still enjoying a distinguished career in the analysis of food and food related flavor compounds. One will find it hard to make any progress in this particular field without a valid and innovative sample handling technique and this is a field in which Professor Huopalahti has made great contributions. The title and the front cover of this book honors Professor Huopahti’s early steps in science. His PhD thesis which was published on 1985 is entitled “Composition and content of aroma compounds in the dill herb, Anethum graveolens L., affected by different factors”. At that time, the thesis introduced new technology being applied to sample handling and analysis of flavoring compounds of dill. Sample handling is an essential task that in just about every analysis. If one is working with minor compounds in a sample or trying to detect trace levels of the analytes, one of the aims of sample handling may be to increase the sensitivity of the analytical method. On the other hand, if one is working with a challenging matrix such as the kind found in biological samples, one of the aims is to increase the selectivity. However, quite often the aim is to increase both the selectivity and the sensitivity. This book provides good and representative examples about the necessity of valid sample handling and the role of the sample handling in the analytical method. The contributors of the book are leading Finnish scientists on the field of organic instrumental analytical chemistry. Some of them are also Repe’ s personal friends and former students from the University of Turku, Department of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry. Importantly, the authors all know Repe in one way or another and are well aware of his achievements on the field of analytical chemistry. The editorial team had a great time during the planning phase and during the “hard work editorial phase” of the book. For example, we came up with many ideas on how to publish the book. After many long discussions, we decided to have a limited edition as an “old school hard cover book” – and to acknowledge more modern ways of disseminating knowledge by publishing an internet version of the book on the webpages of the University of Turku. Downloading the book from the webpage for personal use is free of charge. We believe and hope that the book will be read with great interest by scientists working in the fascinating field of organic instrumental analytical chemistry. We decided to publish our book in English for two main reasons. First, we believe that in the near future, more and more teaching in Finnish Universities will be delivered in English. To facilitate this process and encourage students to develop good language skills, it was decided to be published the book in English. Secondly, we believe that the book will also interest scientists outside Finland – particularly in the other member states of the European Union. The editorial team thanks all the authors for their willingness to contribute to this book – and to adhere to the very strict schedule. We also want to thank the various individuals and enterprises who financially supported the book project. Without that support, it would not have been possible to publish the hardcover book.Siirretty Doriast

Slow pyrolysis liquid in reducing NH3 emissions from cattle slurry-Impacts on plant growth and soil organisms

A substantial percentage of manure nitrogen (N) can be lost as gaseous ammonia (NH3) during storage and field spreading. Lowering slurry pH is a simple and accepted method for preserving its N. Efficiency of slow pyrolysis liquid (PL) produced from birch (Betula sp.) as an acidifying agent, and its ability to reduce NH3 emissions following surface application of cattle slurry, was studied in a field experiment. Untreated slurry (US) and slurries acidified with PL and sulfuric acid (SA) were applied to the second harvest of a grass ley. Immediate NH3 emissions, grass biomass, N-yield and possible toxic impacts on soil nematodes and enchytraeids were examined. Furthermore, the effects on soil respiration, nitrogen dynamics and seed germination were studied in subsequent laboratory experiments. In the field, over one third of the water-extractable ammonium-N (NH4-N) applied was lost through NH3 volatilization from US. SA and PL acidified slurries reduced NH3-N emission rate equally from 3.4 to (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Peer reviewe

The intake of inorganic arsenic from long grain rice and rice-based baby food in Finland : Low safety margin warrants follow up

AbstractWe evaluated total and inorganic arsenic levels in long grain rice and rice based baby foods on Finnish market. Inorganic arsenic was analysed with an HPLC–ICP-MS system. The total arsenic concentration was determined with an ICP-MS method. In this study, the inorganic arsenic levels in long grain rice varied from 0.09 to 0.28mg/kg (n=8) and the total arsenic levels from 0.11 to 0.65mg/kg. There was a good correlation between the total and inorganic arsenic levels in long grain rice at a confidence level of 95%. The total arsenic levels of rice-based baby foods were in the range 0.02 – 0.29mg/kg (n=10), however, the level of inorganic arsenic could only be quantitated in four samples, on average they were 0.11mg/kg. Our estimation of inorganic arsenic intake from long grain rice and rice-based baby food in Finland indicate that in every age group the intake is close to the lowest BMDL0.1 value 0.3μg/kg bw/day set by EFSA. According to our data, the intake of inorganic arsenic should be more extensively evaluated

Oulujoen–Iijoen vesienhoitoalueen vesienhoitosuunnitelma vuosille 2022–2027 : Osa 1: Vesienhoitoaluekohtaiset tiedot

Vesienhoitosuunnitelmaan on koottu tiedot vesien tilasta sekä vesien tilan parantamiseksi ja ylläpitämiseksi tarvittavista toimenpiteistä Oulujoen–Iijoen vesienhoitoalueella. Luokiteltujen virtavesien yhteen lasketusta pituudesta 64 % ja järvien pinta-alasta 94 % vastaa erinomaisen tai hyvän ekologisen tilan kriteerejä. Rannikkovesien tilaluokat ovat laajalti heikentyneet edelliseen luokitteluun verrattuna. Pinta-alasta alle viidennes on hyvässä ekologisessa tilassa. Pintavesien ekologista tilaa heikentää yleisesti rehevöityminen ja liettyminen. Kuormitusta syntyy maan kuivauksesta ja muokkaamisesta, mutta myös pistemäisellä kuormituksella on vaikutusta. Muita paineita ovat hydrologiset ja morfologiset muutokset, rannikon tuntumassa happamoittavien aineiden kuormitus ja varsinkin Kuusamon alueella vesirutto. Yksikään pintavesimuodostumista ei ole kemialliselta tilaltaan hyvä. Tämä johtuu kaikkialla esiintyvien bromattujen difenyylieettereiden ympäristölaatunormin ylityksestä, Oulujoen vesistössä ja sen eteläpuoleisissa vesistöissä myös maaperään vuosikymmenten aikana kertyneestä elohopeasta. Kaikkien pohjavesimuodostumien kemiallinen ja määrällinen tila on hyvä. Vesienhoitoalueella on tunnistettu 35 riski-pohjavesialuetta ja 44 selvityskohteesta tarvitaan lisää tietoa. Rehevyyteen liittyviä parantamistarpeita on koko vesienhoitoalueella painottuen kuitenkin sen eteläisiin ja läntisiin osiin. Vesienhoitosuunnitelmassa esitettävillä toimenpiteillä vähennetään rehevöitymisen lisäksi vesiympäristölle vaarallisten ja haitallisten aineiden esiintymistä, happamuuskuormitusta sekä vesistöjen rakenteessa ja hydrologiassa tapahtuneiden muutosten vaikutuksia. Tarkemmat, vesistökohtaiset tiedot toimenpiteistä ja niiden kohdentumisesta löytyvät vesienhoitoalueen toimenpideohjelmasta. Esitettyjen toimenpiteiden kokonaiskustannukset ovat noin 160 miljoonaa euroa. Tästä noin 40 miljoonaa euroa on muun lainsäädännön perusteella toteutettavien ja 120 miljoonaa euroa vesienhoidon täydentävien toimenpiteiden osuus. Arviolta 25 järveä, 29 jokea ja yksi rannikkovesimuodostuma eivät toimenpiteistä huolimatta tule saavuttamaan hyvää ekologista tilaa vielä vuonna 2027. Vesien tila on kuitenkin laajalti kohentumassa vesienhoitotoimenpiteiden toteutuksen myötä

Towards a Harmonised Total Diet Study Approach: a guidance document:joint guidance of EFSA, FAO and WHO

A Total Diet Study (TDS) can be a complementary approach to traditional monitoring and surveillance programs, which instead of focusing on compliance is designed to provide a solid basis for calculating population dietary exposure and assessing potential impact on public health. A TDS includes the selection of foods based on food consumption data to represent a large portion of a typical diet, their preparation to food as consumed and the subsequent pooling of related foods before analysis. There is already a wealth of international TDS data available, but to better enable comparisons it is important that methods are harmonised to the extent possible. The Working Group of experts provides a definition of the TDS approach highlighting its inherent value; it gives guidance for a harmonised methodology starting from the TDS planning to the collection of analytical results, exposure assessment calculation and communication of TDS results; and it proposes a general approach to facilitate the use of TDS information at international level. A TDS can be used for screening purposes or as a more refined exposure assessment tool. It provides background concentration and exposure levels of chemical substances in a range of representative foods prepared for consumption, while monitoring and surveillance programs can better capture highly contaminated individual food items. Their complementarities would allow the identification of the relative importance of individual sources of chemical substances from the whole diet. In conclusion, a TDS is considered to be a good complement to existing food monitoring or surveillance programs to estimate population dietary exposure to beneficial and harmful chemical substances across the entire diet. Harmonising the TDS methodology will enhance the value of these programs by improving the comparability at international level