The acrylamide content of our foods

It has been known since 2002 [5] that during the heat treatment production of foods that contain both carbohydrates and amino acids, acrylamide is also formed among the transformation products in a Maillard-type reaction, depending on the chemical composition of the raw materials and the temperature used in the technology. According to the literature, acrylamide may initiate carcinogenic processes in the human body. In the paper, the Maillard reaction and the process of acrylamide formation is outlined. The biochemical significance of acrylamide is also discussed, as well as its toxic and carcinogenic effects on the human body. In 2017, manufacturers’ measures aimed at decreasing acrylamide levels in heat treated, mainly baked, foods, as well as mandatory laboratory testing were regulated by a European Union Commission decree, and maxi-mum permissible acrylamide levels in the foods in question were also set. The regulation to be applied from 11. April 2018. [9] In this connection, some laboratory test methods available in the literature will be described, including one that is based on a non-chroma-tographic principle. Prior to the publication of the EU Commission decree, between 2006 and November 2017, the acrylamide contents of 250 drinking water samples, 715 potato chip samples and 67 other food samples (for a total of 1033 samples) were tested at the request of our partners. The limit of quantification (LOQ) of our analytical tests was 1.0 µg/L for drinking waters and 10 µg/kg for solid foods. Primarily the aim of this manuscript is to refer about investigation of solid food products, therefore the details of gas chromatographic analysis of drinking water samples will be only sketched as a brief completing information. It should be noted that, during the period in question, there were no legal limit values in the EU for acrylamide for solid food products

Nitrát- és nitrit-vegyületek jelentősége az élelmiszerekben = Nitrate and nitrite compounds in several food products

E dolgozatban néhány, fontosnak ítélhető adatot foglaltam össze vázlatosan és ismeretet élelmiszereink nitrit- és nitrát-tartalmáról és azok toxikológiai jellemzőiről. A nitrát-redukció révén keletkező nitritek és a nitritek aminokkal lezajló reakciójából keletkező termékek – a nitrózaminok – élelmiszerbiztonsági jelentőségét is érintettük. Rámutattunk, hogy a jelenleg rendelkezésre álló szakirodalmi források szerint élelmiszerbiztonsági szempontból nem a nitrátok, hanem a belőlük a metabolizmus útján képződő, fentebb említett termékek az aggályosak. Beszéltünk arról is, hogy az emberi szervezetbe nemcsak endogén, hanem exogén eredetű nitrózaminok is bejutnak, főként a füstöléssel kezelt élelmiszerek révén. Bemutattam néhány, 2007-ből származó, az élelmiszereket előállító és forgalmazó szervezetek által önkéntesen elvégeztetett magán laboratóriumi vizsgálati eredményt is. A laboratóriumi eredmények tanúsága szerint a vizsgált különböző élelmiszercsoportnál a nitrátok kb. 76%, a nitritek közel 95%-ban voltak kimutathatóak. Az élelmiszerek típusa és a vonatkozó részletes rendeleti előírások alapján a kifogásolható minták aránya csak 7,7 és 15% között ingadozott. A nitrátokra vonatkozó vizsgálati eredmények átfogó értékelésénél, húsipari termékeknél itt önkényesen a >300, növényi élelmiszereknél a >2000 mg/kg mennyiségeket vettük alapul, ezért a fenti százalékos adatok csak tájékoztató jellegűeknek tekinthetőek. A rendelkezésre álló irodalmi források alapján becsülve jelenlegi táplálkozási szokásaink szerint a napi bevitel élelmiszerekkel 0,1 – 1,0 µg nitrózamin, ami nem jelent közvetlen veszélyt, de nem árt csökkenteni a bevitel arányát: • Húsfeldolgozásnál a nitrit- és nitrát-adagolást korlátozni kell, de a botulizmus veszélye miatt egyelőre nem hagyhatók el; • Antioxidáns hatású adalékok használatával csökkenthető a nitrózaminok kártékony hatása (aszkorbinsav, tokoferolok, kén-dioxid); • A zöldségfélék nitrát-tartalmának mérséklése a műtrágyázás szabályozásával. The nitrogen in the atmosphere goes into the soul via several physical and chemical processes where take place different other chemical reactions. The anorganic nitrogen compounds get into the foodstuffs basically via three ways: 1. From naturally sources, from the consumable plants; 2. Artificially, by the fertilisation with nitrogen-containing compounds, certainly transferring by the plants; 3. Artificially, using nitrogen containing, mainly by the meat industrial products and several cheeses; It is well known for long time ago, if the meat is exposed by wood smoke, or it is salted, or dried decreasing its water content, the storage life of product could be elongated. The last two methods decrease not only the physical water content, but reduce the water activity available for the microbiological processes. Using these conservation methods, the bacon, and later the sausage become day-by-day foodstuffs. The English name of “sausage” means several salting technique from the Latin “salus – salted” word. Using the curing may be to keep down the dangerous bacteria Clostridium botulinum effectively, which is the causative agent of so called “sausage poisoning”. The method of curing is an old treatment. The curing salt mixes containing 1-2% nitrite and 0,5% nitrate, have delivered effective protection – mainly in the case of sausages – against the anaerobic bacteria, namely the Clostridium botulini, while the curing salt mixes themselves functioned as a cyto-poisoning agents. The nitrites which are the microbiological metabolites of nitrates, are strong oxidative agents. So the usage of nitrate containing curing media delays the disintegration of oxy-haemoglobin, while the reduction of nitrates to nitrite. Accordingly the nitrate curing in the case of meat industrial products give an advantageous influence to the optical character of them. The basic material of the curing mix is the kitchen salt (sodium chlorine), which is mixed with 1-2% sodium or potassium nitrate, or 0,5% sodium or potassium nitrite. In the curing salt mix the NaCl is the water distraction agent, the nitrates and nitrites have bacteria killing capability. The legal amount of these compounds, are limited as the predictions of Hungarian Codex Alimentarius (MÉ 1- 2/95/2). In the Hungarian practice the legal limits are between the 50 and 300 mg/kg depending on the type of the product. The nitrates itself do not mean as a danger source for the human. Their harmful effect comes from the metabolism to nitrites and to nitrosamines. These processes take place during the making of dishes, under storage, or at the digestion of the foods in the intestine system. The majority of the amount of NO3 depletes from the gut of healthy human, but the arising nitrite coming from the remaining part of nitrate compounds may cause approx 10% loss of haemoglobin causing methemoglobinemia. The figure 4th shows the reduction process of nitrates. The secondary amines (sometimes the primer and tertiary amines too) with the nitrites gives stabile N-nitroso-derivative (Figure 5th). Between them the dimethyl-nitrosamine is considerable to the most poisoning compound. The nitrosamines are strong poisons, they are carcinogens, already at less concentrations too. The lethal dose of nitrosamines by the data of Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee On Food Additives (JECFA) in indirect way of nitrates and nitrites are the next: NO3 = 0 – 3,7 mg/bwkg, lethal dose: 8 – 15 g/person NO2 = 0 – 0,07 mg/bwkg, lethal dose: 0,18 – 2,5 g/person Into the human organism may get into not only endogen but external origin nitrosamines too, mainly by the fumigated food stuffs. That is the reason why it is advised, to avoid the human organism from the loading of endogen and external nitrosamine, if it is possible. In the paper the nitrite and nitrate levels of several samples were illustrated analysed by the laboratories of WESSLING Hungary Ltd Budapest

Különböző víz- és élelmiszerminták arzéntartalmának vizsgálati eredményei = Results of the arsenic content analysis of different water and food samples

Az emberiség fejlődése során az utóbbi néhány száz évben hihetetlen technikai és tudományos fejlődésen ment keresztül. Az iparosítás a kémiai anyagok egyre nagyobb arányú használata soha nem látott fizikai és kémiai terhelést rótt az ember élőhelyére. E terhelés a környezet, s egyben a vízadó környezeti elemek növekvő szennyezését eredményezte, így az emberiség az élelmiszerek fogyasztásával számos olyan vegyület, elem toxikus hatásával kell számolnia, amely az egészségét veszélyeztetheti. Az ipari tevékenység okozta szennyeződéseken felül természetes forrásokból is kerülhet nemkívánatos anyag az élelmiszerláncba. Ilyen az ivóvízzel és a szilárd élelmiszerekkel a szervezetünkbe jutó elem az arzén, amely szervetlen és szerves vegyületekhez kötött formában van jelen környezetünkben. Dolgozatomban arra keresem a választ, hogy ismerve az arzénnek az ember egészségére gyakorolt káros hatásait, indokoltnak látszik-e az Európai Unió által előírt radikális határérték változtatás, amely az ivóvizek még megengedhető arzéntartalmát 50 pg/L-ről 10 pg/L-re módosította. A WESSLING Hungary Kft. Élelmiszerbiztonsági Üzletága laboratóriumainak mérési eredményei szerint, illetve az áttanulmányozott egyéb adatok tanúsága alapján nagy valószínűséggel állítható, hogy Magyarországon az ivóvizekben a 2013 év végéig érvényben lévő 50 pg/L maximálisan megengedett határérték mellett nem kellett a magyar populációt érintő, az arzén toxikus hatásának következtében előálló egészségkárosodástól tartani. A rendelkezésemre álló szakirodalmi anyagok között egy frissen megjelent dolgozatra bukkantam, amely részletesen foglalkozik a magyar emberek arzén-terhelésének forrásaival és annak mértékével. A szerzők megállapításai szintén azt a véleményt támasztják alá, ami szerint a hazai arzénterhelés - bár nem elhanyagolható - várhatóan nem fog észlelhető egészségromlást okozni a Magyarország polgárainál. During its development, mankind has experienced incredible technical and scientific development over the last several hundred years. A physical and chemical burden never before seen has been imposed on the living environment of people by industrialization and the ever increasing use of chemicals. This burden resulted in the increasing contamination of the environment, including aquiferous environmental elements, and so mankind has to consider, when consuming food, the toxic effects of many compounds that can harm one’s health. In addition to contamination caused by industrial activities, undesirable substances can enter the food chain from natural sources as well. One of these elements, entering our bodies with drinking water and solid foods, is arsenic which is present in our environment bound in both organic and inorganic compounds. In this paper, the answer is sought to the question whether, knowing the harmful effects of arsenic on people’s health, the radical change in limit value by the European Union which modified the allowable arsenic content of drinking water from 50 pg/L to 10 pg/L seems justified. According to the measurement results of the laboratory of the Food Safety Business Unit of WESSLING Hungary Kft., and also based on all other data studied, it can be stated with high certainty that with the maximum allowed value of 50 pg/L that was in effect for dinking waters in Hungary until the end of 2013, the Hungarian population did not have to be afraid of health damages caused by the toxic effect of arsenic. Among the literature material available to me, I found a recently published paper, dealing in detail with the sources and extent of the arsenic load of Hungarian people. Conclusions of the authors also support the opinion that the domestic arsenic load, although not negligible, is not expected to cause observable health deterioration for the citizens of Hungary

Oxidative potential and chemical composition of PM2.5 in office buildings across Europe - The OFFICAIR study

In the frame of the OFFICAIR project, indoor and outdoor PM2.5 samples were collected in office buildings across Europe in two sampling campaigns (summer and winter). The ability of the particles to deplete physiologically relevant antioxidants (ascorbic acid (AA), reduced glutathione (GSH)) in a synthetic respiratory tract lining fluid, i.e., oxidative potential (OP), was assessed. Furthermore, the link between particulate OP and the concentration of the PM constituents was investigated.The mean indoor PM2.5 mass concentration values were substantially lower than the related outdoor values with a mean indoor/outdoor PM2.5 mass concentration ratio of 0.62 and 0.61 for the summer and winter campaigns respectively. The OP of PM2.5 varied markedly across Europe with the highest outdoor OPAA m-3 and OPGSH m-3 (% antioxidant depletion/m3 air) values obtained for Hungary, while PM2.5 collected in Finland exhibited the lowest values. Seasonal variation could be observed for both indoor and outdoor OPAA m-3 and OPGSH m-3 with higher mean values during winter. The indoor/outdoor OPAA m-3 and OPGSH m-3 ratios were less than one with 4 and 17 exceptions out of the 40 cases respectively. These results indicate that indoor air is generally less oxidatively challenging than outdoors. Correlation analysis revealed that trace elements play an important role in determining OP, in particular, the Cu content. Indoor air chemistry might affect OP since weaker correlations were obtained for indoor PM2.5. Our findings also suggest that office workers may be exposed to health relevant PM constituents to a different extent within the same building

UNDERSTANDING INTERNAL CONNECTIONS OF MUSIC FESTIVALS’ EXPERIENCE DIMENSIONS

Purpose – For Generation Z (born after 1995) tourism during the summer usually means visiting festivals (especially music festivals) or seeking for extraordinary experiences. For them, the classical tourist attractions are not satisfying and interesting anymore. The aim of the paper is to examine experience factors based on models from the literature review and understand the internal connections among the experience dimensions in the case of music festivals in Hungary. Design / Methodology / Approach – For testing the suggested model based on the literature review and previous researches, a quantitative primary research was conducted. A structured questionnaire was used focusing on five factors of experience economy in case of Hungarian music festivals. The data was collected by an online survey via LimeSurvey, and PLS-SEM path analysis was used to interpret the acquired data. Findings – As a result of the quantitative research significant connection appear among the five experience factors in the field of festivals like other previous researches suggested in other fields. Education, entertainment and escapism experience can be built on aesthetics and economic value – the fifth experience factor – can be built on these four factors. Originality of the research – Knowing how experience factors are based on each other and how they can influence each other is an important factor for festival managers to create an optimal and balanced mix of experience for visitors. By achieving this memorable experience and long lasting memories of the event can be reached

Smart City: Studying Smartphone Application Functions with City Marketing Goals Based on Consumer Behavior of Generation Z in Hungary

Many cities in Hungary have an application specially developed for smartphones that try to satisfy both the needs of tourists and local residents. These "products" are based on different objectives of city marketing and destination marketing: their goal is to make shorter or longer stays more comfortable, provide faster and more personalized information, help consumers to turn their offline experiences into online experience sharing and to provide a platform for two-way communication between local and touristic consumers. In addition to the marketing literature review related to smartphones and local tourism experiences, this paper presents the results of a quantitative questionnaire focusing on the needs of Generation Z concerning application functions. Based on the quantitative results, the members of Generation Z are classified into three main groups with the k-means cluster analysis. Among the groups, there are significant differences between the functional requirements of city marketing applications, and according to the size of the groups three main application types and two main ways of software development can be distinguished. The results also show that there are four main group of functions and connected to the different clusters application functions appear together in the needs of consumers. However, the analysis and comparison of the related data together show also that there are only small differences concerning demographic and device-usage variables between the groups defined by the k-means cluster analysis, and this requires more research methods to be conducted in the future based on the results of this exploratory survey research

Egyesült polgárok – széthúzó elvek?

Ez az írás egy amerikai alkotmányjogi kérdést dolgoz fel – magyar közönségnek. A tárgyalt kérdés Európában és Magyarországon csak korlátozottan jelenik meg az alkotmány-jogi gondolkodásban.1 A kampányköltések szólásszabadság vizsgálatáról van szó. Vallom azonban, hogy ez a döntés is a szólásszabadságról folyó, szerencsére kifogyhatatlan közvita része, amely érveivel a magyar diskurzust is gazdagíthatja