Peanut detection

TABLE 4.18 Recovery, repeatability, and reproducibility for peanut detection"... 

Eatty acids from commercial fats and oils, such as peanut oil, are extracted with methanolic NaOH and made volatile by derivatizing with a solution of methanol/BE3. Separations are carried out using a capillary 5% phenylmethyl silicone column with MS detection. By searching the associated spectral library students are able to identify the fatty acids present in their sample. Quantitative analysis is by external standards. 

To confirm the validity of DNA extracted from plants for the PCR and for specific detection of peanuts. 

Watanabe, T., Akiyama, H., Yamakawa, H., lijima, K., Yamazaki, F., Matsumoto, T., Futo, S., Arakawa, F., Watai, M., and Maitani, T. (2006). A specific qualitative detection method for peanut (Arachis hypogaea) in foods using polymerase chain reaction. /. Food Biochem. 30, 215-233. 

By the nature of the process by which olive oil is extracted from the olive, the oil is susceptible to contamination. The high price associated with olive oil of the highest purity— extra virgin olive oil — also leads to falsification by unscrupulous vendors who blend with less costly oils such as com, peanut, and soybean oil. Various analytical techniques have been devised to authenticate the purity of olive oil by detecting certain oil components. 

Extremely stringent lower limits were reported by Rank (29) in 1968. A spectroscopic detection of the Lyman a(2 p - 1 s) emission line of the quarkonium atom (u-quark plus electron) at 2733 A was expected to be able to show less than 3 108 positive quarks, to be compared with 1010 lithium atoms detected by 2 p - 2 s emission at 6708 A. With certain assumptions (the reader is referred to the original article), less than one quark was found per 1018 nucleons in sea water and 1017 nucleons in seaweed, plankton and oysters. Classical oil-drop experiments (with four kinds of oil light mineral, soya-bean, peanut and cod-liver) were interpreted as less than one quark per 1020 nucleons. Whereas a recent value (18) for deep ocean sediments was below 10 21 per nucleon, much more severe limits were reported (30) in 1966 for sea water (quark/nucleon ratio below 3 10-29) and air (below 5 10-27) with certain assumptions about concentration before entrance in the mass spectrometer. At the same time, the ratio was shown to be below 10 17 for a meteorite. Cook etal. (31) attempted to concentrate quarks by ion-exchange columns in aqueous solution, assuming a position of elution between Na+ and Li+. As discussed in the next section, cations with charge + 2/3 may be more similar to Cs+. Anyhow, values below 10 23 for the quark to nucleon ratio were found for several rocks (e.g., volcanic lava) and minerals. It is clear that if such values below a quark per gramme are accurate, we have a very hard time to find the object but it needs a considerably sophisticated technique to be certain that available quarks are not lost before detection. 

Dibromoethane was detected in samples of peanut butter and whiskey at a mean concentration of 7 ng/g (range 2-11 ng/g). Historical foodstuff residue levels have been reviewed by EPA (1983). 

Polar methylene chloride-soluble residues. Polar methylene chloride-soluble residues were found In most of the plant tissues treated with [ C]PCNB (Figure 14). These products were only Identified In peanut IT). The polar methylene chloride-soluble metabolites from peanut, S-(PCP)Cys, S-(PCP)ThloAcetate, and S-(PCP)ThloLactate, were probably produced from S-(PCP)GSH by the pathway shown In Figure 15. Intact peanut plants treated with S-[( C)PCP]Cys and harvested 20 days later yielded S-(( C)-PCP]ThloAcetate In T.3% yield however, S-(( C)PCP]ThloLactate was not detected. An S-substltuted 2-thloacetlc acid metabolite has also been reported In the metabolism of EPTC In the rat ( 1 ). 

Therefore, a similar pathway appears to operate in certain mammals. When S-(PCP)ThioAcetate was introduced into peanut plants, pentachlorothioanlsole was not formed. However, other metabolites were detected, possibly glucose and amino acid conjugates similar to those reported for 2,4-D (17). 

Chen, R. S., Tsay, J. G., Huang, Y. F., and Chiou, R. Y. Y. (2002). Polymerase chain reaction-mediated characterization of molds belonging to the Aspergillus flavus group and detection of Aspergillus parasiticus in peanut kernels by a multiplex polymerase chain reaction. /. Food Prot. 65, 840-844. 

Oxazoles have been found in relatively few cooked foods, although over 30 have been reported in coffee and cocoa, and 9 in cooked meat. Oxazolines have been found in cooked meat and roast peanuts, but not to any extent in other foods. 2,4,5-Trimethyl-3-oxazoline has been regularly detected in cooked meat [26], and when it was first identified in boiled beef [27] it was thought that the compound possessed the characteristic meat aroma however, on synthesis it was shown to have a woody, musty, green flavour with a threshold value of 1 mg/kg [28]. Other 3-oxazolines have nutty, sweet or vegetable-like aromas and the oxazoles also appear to be green and vegetable-like [28]. The contribution of these compounds to the overall aroma of heated foods is probably not as important as the closely related thiazoles and thiazolines. 

As mentioned above, this unique method can be used to detect and identify volatile contaminants in food materials. As shown in chromatogram A in Figure 5, raw peanuts that had been in a cardboard box in the laboratory yielded relatively large... 

Changes in soluble proteins of peanut flour caused by proteolytic enzyme digestion as detected by gel electrophoresis... 

Aflatoxins are potent carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic metabolites produced by molds. The major food affected with aflatoxins are corn, peanuts, rice, cottonseeds, dried fruit and milk from ingestion (103). The US action standards established by FDA are 20 pg/Kg for foods consumed by humans and 0.5 pg/kg for milk. In the case of animal feed, the levels are from 100 to 300 pg/kg. Therefore, assays capable of detecting at these levels have to be developed, (see Table 1 (104,105)). Detection of aflatoxins entails conjugation of these small molecules with carrier proteins like bovine serum albumin to produce antibodies (20). A number of commercial kits for aflatoxins are available (see sections on kits and immunoaflinity purification). 

Catechin and the proanthocyanidin prodelphinidin B3 are, respectively, the major monomeric and dimeric flavan-3-ols found in barley and malt where prodelphinidin B3 is the main contributor for the radical scavenging activity [Dvorakova et al., 2007], Proanthocyanidins have also been detected in nuts. Hazelnuts (Corylus avellana) and pecans (Carya illinoensis) are particularly rich in proanthocyanidins containing ca. 5 g kg, whereas almonds (Prunus dulcis) and pistachios (Pistachio vera) contain 1.8-2.4 mg kg 1, walnuts (Juglans spp.) ca. 0.67 g kg, roasted peanuts (Arachis hypgaea) 0.16 g kg, and cashews (Anarcardium occidentale) 0.09 g kg 1 [Crozier et al., 2006c]. Dark chocolate derived from the roasted seeds of cocoa (Theobroma cacao) is also a rich source of procyanidins [Gu et al., 2004], Monomeric flavan-3-ols and the proanthocyanidin B2, B5 dimers, and Q trimer are found in fresh cocoa beans (Fig. 1.13). Flavan-3-ols have also been detected in mint... 

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