Foodstuffs implicated

Commercial products usually do not pose health threats to their consumers. However, botulism cases acquired after consumption of commercially prepared canned foods have been reported. In the U.S., 62 outbreaks occurred in the years 1899 to 1973 (Lynt et al., 1975). Only 7% of outbreaks reported between 1950 and 1996 were linked to commercially processed foods (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1998). The implicated foodstuffs included chopped garlic in soy oil stored in glass bottles at room temperature (Louis et al., 1988), sliced roasted eggplant in oil, yogurt with hazelnuts, stuffed lotus rhizome, bottled caviar, and canned peanuts (Chou et al., 1988 D Argenio et al., 1995). 

Kannan, K., Tanabe, S., Ramesh, A., Subramanian, A., Tatsukawa, R., 1992. Persistent organochlorine residues in foodstuffs from India, implications on human dietary exposure. J. Agric. Food Chem. 40, 518-524. 

As a result of the very wide chemical interest which the Maillard reaction has attracted since the early years of this century, and of its diverse commercial and biological implications, a vast amount of work thereon has been published. In this article, the chemical aspects of the reaction between simple amino acids and mono- and di-saccharides will be surveyed the reaction with peptides and proteins will be discussed only when it contributes to our understanding of the mode of interaction between simple amino acids and sugars. The significance of the reaction in the preservation of various foodstuffs has now been reviewed many times2 9 and continues to be the subject of much investigation.10 16 The reaction is also... 

Implications for Human Nutrition. The human studies cited have examined the effect of zinc on copper uptake, and evidence suggests that Zn/Cu ratios of greater than 10 1 can produce a nutritional impact. The source of the discrepancies among the three metabolic studies reviewed is not immediately evident. One possibility would be a different susceptibility to copper malabsorption at different ages. Another might have to do with the actual Zn/Cu ratios in those meals which provided the bulk of the daily Intake of the two minerals or with their chemical forms. Studies in which all of the copper and zinc are derived from natural foodstuffs would complement the foregoing human studies in this area. 

Reduced transition metal complexes are traditionally implicated as the initiators for the autoxidation of fats, lipids, and foodstuffs. However, whether this involves direct activation of O2 or of reduced dioxygen (02 -, H00% and HOOH) is unclear. Reduced metal plus HOOH yields HO via Fenton chemistry and probably is the pathway for initiation of autoxidation in many systems. Although there has been an expectation that one or more of the intermediates from the autoxidation of reduced transition metals (equation 112) can act as the initiator for the autoxidation of organic substrates, direct experimental evidence has not been presented. 

Brand loyalty is the preference of a consumer for a particular brand of the same foodstuff, but this has implications as described in SCOOP (Report EUR 17528EN). The exposure for a brand loyal and non-loyal consumer could vary significantly if there were, for example, a different food additive present in one brand compared to another, for example, present in biscuit X but not Y or Z. Do brand loyal biscuit X consumers eat biscuit X at the same level as brand loyal biscuit Y consumers eat biscuit Y and do the aggregated (non-brand loyal and brand loyal) biscuit consumers (biscuits X, Y and Z) eat biscuits at the same levels as the brand loyal consumers of biscuits X and Y If the additive is only present in say biscuit X, then the aggregated biscuit consumption would under-estimate the exposure to the additive for the brand loyal consumer who only ate biscuit X, but would over-estimate the exposure for the consumer who only ate biscuit Y, but would be most representative... 

This reaction has many implications for foodstuffs. For example, aroma components possessing a carbonyl group become involatile and do not contribute anymore to the overall flavor. Other nucleophilic reactions include the cleavage of S-S bonds in proteins and addition to C=C bonds of a,(l-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. Control of nonenzymatic browning is based on this latter reaction (McWeeny et al., 1974). A key intermediate of the Maillard reaction, i.e., 3,4-deoxyhexulos-3-ene, is efficiently blocked by a fast reaction with sulfite, leading to formation of 3,4-dideoxy-4-sulfohexosulose, which is much less reactive and in which sulfite is irreversibly bound. 

The assoeiation of fungi with mammalian diseases came to the fore in 1960 with the diseovery of the aflatoxins (1.36). The death of turkeys from liver damage having been fed on groundnuts eontaminated with Aspergillus flavus led to the isolation of the highly carcinogenic aflatoxins. These developments are discussed in Chapter 9. It led to the awareness of the potential human health hazards from microbial metabolites and the implications of the presence of other mycotoxins in foodstuffs such as patulin in apple juice and the tri-chothecenes on corn. The development of analytical methods for the detection of mycotoxins has become an important aspect of food science. 

Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are formed by pyrosynthesis during the combustion of organic matter and have widespread occurrence in the environment. PAHs are found as trace pollutants in soil, air particulate matter, water, tobacco tar, coal tar, used engine oil, and foodstuffs such as barbequed meat. Many PAHs are carcinogenic in experimental animals (e.g., benzo(a)pyrene) and are implicated as causative agents in human cancers. Analytical techniques include HPLC and GC. Advantages of HPLC are the ability to resolve isomeric PAHs, and the selective and sensitive quantitation by UV and fluorescence detection. U.S. EPA methods for PAH are 550.1,610, and 8310. 

Clinicians are often inclined to implicate specific dietary habits in the onset of diabetes. However, it appears that none of the ordinary foodstuffs—carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids— has such a specific effect, and overindulgence per se facilitates the onset of diabetes. The total caloric intake is more important in triggering diabetes than any specific type of food. 

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