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Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) that are plant toxin naturally produced for protection against herbivores in some plant families. They are associated with the potential hepatotoxic and carcinogenic diseases serious hepatic disease in humans and animals. As the concern of human health risk posed by exposure to PAs has been gradually increased, precise and reliable analysis is required for monitoring PAs. The present study developed a new and simple pretreatment using 50% MeOH (methanol) for quantification analysis of the PAs contained with high content in the herbal medicines. Another pretreatment method using cation-ion exchange solid-phase extraction (MCX-SPE) was employed for determining most of the PAs that are not contained in the herbal medicines. That is, the proposed LC–MS/MS method coupled with MCX-SPE extraction and 50% MeOH extraction method was developed. And to evaluate the reliability of its application for Farfarae Flos and Lithospermi Radix, a validation study was conducted. In addition, monitory study was performed with ten samples in each herbal medicine. As a result, the proposed method had good linearity with r2 ≥ 0.997. Also, the recoveries indicated to be in the ranges of 70.4–118.0% for the Farfarae Flos, 70.2–119.7% for the Lithospermi Radix. In two herbal medicines, the intra-day precision was revealed to satisfy the reference criteria in most of the PAs. In monitoring results, most of the PAs were not contained in two herbal medicines, whereas a part of PAs revealed to have high concentration in Farfarae Flos and Lithospermi Radix. The proposed method is considered as a simple and reliable method to quantify 28 PAs present in two herbal medicines. Especially, the simple MeOH extraction method seems to be available for quantification analysis of certain PAs in herbal medicines with high content.

Two synthetic cannabinoid analogues were detected using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)–diode array detector, and gas chromatography–time-of-flight-mass spectrometry during the inspection of illegal products in an airmail package. The analogues were separated by semi-preparative HPLC, and their structures were determined by performing liquid chromatography–high-resolution-mass spectrometry, infrared analysis, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Compound 1 was MDMB(N)-Bz-F, which has been reported previously. Compound 2 was elucidated as adamantan-1-yl 1-pentyl-1H-indazole-3-carboxylate (APINAC), in which the amide group of APINACA was replaced with an ester group. Because there has been no chemical or pharmacological data about this compound until now, this is the first report of its detection in illegal products.

Recently, the number of the cases in which weight loss products have been sold with illegal adulterants has increased, as awareness of the problems of obesity grows. In this study, we developed simultaneous analysis methods to rapidly and accurately identify ingredients illegally mixed with foods and dietary supplements. Twenty-three anti-obesity drugs in foods and dietary supplements were determined by developed and validated UPLC and LC-MS/MS methods. The UPLC method were validated for the LOD and LOQ in the ranges 0.05-3.0 and 0.2-10.0 μg/mL, respectively. The determination coefficient was over 0.999, precision was6.2 %, and the accuracy was 80.8-103.9 %. The mean recoveries ranged from 80.3 to 109.3 % and RSD of stability was less than 2.1 %. The determination of the 23 anti-obesity drugs was accomplished by electrospray ionization LC-MS/MS using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). The LODs and LOQs were in the ranges 0.03-7.5 and 0.09-30.0 ng/mL, respectively. The LC-MS/MS method was validated for linearity (r(2) 0.99), precision (RSD 10.7 %), accuracy (94.1-109.1 %), recovery (80.5-113.5 %), and the RSD of stability was7.8 %. Using the newly developed and validated method, 193 samples were tested, and 55 were found to be adulterated.

South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has been developing programs for the inspection and accreditation of food sanitation inspection institutions. Food sanitation inspection institutions such as MFDS regional offices, the Research Institute of Public Health and Environment and authorized private service providers in South Korea must participate in proficiency testing (PT) programs to comply with the Food Sanitation Act and MFDS Notification No. 2012-112. As the PT provider, the MFDS annually plans various microbiological and chemical PT programs for foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products in accordance with ISO/IEC 17043. The aim of this project was to evaluate the performance of microbiological PT programs to ensure the quality of their routine test results. The test materials used were freeze-dried BioBalls from BTF Pty Ltd. Homogeneity and stability were investigated to assess the adequacy of the selected test materials. This project also contains data from inter-laboratory comparisons organized by MFDS in 2011 and 2012. More than 50 laboratories attended the PT program and submitted their results. Laboratory results were rated with z-scores according to the international standard ISO 13528. The results from 2011 and 2012 revealed that all participating laboratories had similar levels of proficiency. Most of the participants received a rating of “Satisfactory.” Moreover, the percentage of participants who received a rating of “Unsatisfactory” decreased from 3.5 % in 2011 to 2.0 % in 2012.

In order to rapidly screen for the virulence factor that produces pathogenic Escherichia coli in food, we have developed multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. The multiplex PCR assays detect 4 pathogenic genes of enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), and enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC). This allows for the generation of specific fragments 150, 179, 218, 401, 465, 584, and 881 bp for VT1, ST, LT, 16S rRNA, inV, VT2, and eaeA genes, respectively. The detection limit of 3 log CFU/mL for eaeA, LT, VT1, VT2, 4 log CFU/mL for inV, 6 log CFU/mL for ST by single PCR, while 5 log CFU/mL for VT1, VT2, 6 log CFU/mL for eaeA, LT, 7 log CFU/mL for ST, inV by multiplex PCR. This optimized detection method of pathogenic E. coli can be used as supportive data to revise the microbiological analytical manuals for the Korean Food Code.

A new compound, miroestrol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, was isolated from the roots of Pueraria mirifica (white kwao krua). The structure of the compound was established on the basis of NMR, ESI-MS, and IR spectroscopic data.