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Purpose: This study aims to systematically review the health risk assessment of the concentration of heavy metals in Pistacia species globally. Design/methodology/approach: The authors systematically searched PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus and Google Scholar to identify all articles published between 1 January 2002 and 20 August 2022. A total of 33 studies met the authors' inclusion criteria, and their data were extracted. Additionally, the potential risk to human health was assessed by calculating the target hazard quotient and hazard index for both child and adult consumers. Findings: The estimated daily intake for heavy metals in the included studies ranged from 9.72 × 10–9 to 7.35 (mg/day) in the following order: zinc (Zn) > mercury (Hg) > iron (Fe) > lead (Pb) > copper (Cu) > aluminum (Al) > nickel (Ni) > chromium (Cr) > manganese (Mn) > cadmium (Cd) > arsenic (As) > selenium (Se) > cobalt (Co). Among the studies that investigated heavy metals in Pistacia species around the world, the non-carcinogenic risk for all species of Pistacia was determined to be less than 1, except for Pb and Hg in Pistacia lentiscus. Originality/value: The soil near the industrial area contained excessive amounts of heavy metals, which led to the transfer of heavy metals to plants. Owing to the insufficiency of the number of studies that examined heavy metals in Pistacia species, further monitoring and investigations were recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contamination of food and water with radioactive substances is a serious health problem. There are several methods to detect and measure radioactive materials, some of which have been developed in recent years. This paper aims to discuss the methods of detecting and measuring radioactive substances in food and water. The principles and the advantages and disadvantages of each method have been discussed. The results showed that some of these methods, such as spectrometry γ-ray high-purity germanium, portable radon gas surveyor SILENA, RAD7, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, have a higher sensitivity for detection and measurement. The spectrometry γ-ray high-purity germanium method has attracted more attention than other methods because it can measure a wide range of radionuclides with high resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, food contamination is a worldwide issue at all levels of food production and a serious threat to the quality and safety of animal feed and human food. There are various physical, chemical, and biological methods for the reduction of contaminants in the food industry. Considering the increasing demand for more natural and less heavily processed foods, biological approaches have been gaining more attention in recent years. In addition, biological strategies demonstrated special advantages including high efficiency, less energy consumption, and less environmental damage. Biosorption is an efficient and reliable method that adsorbs and converts contaminants including heavy metals, pesticides, and fungal toxins into compounds with less, or no toxicity. In this paper, we review the variety of kefir beverage functions against food contaminants. Moreover, we emphasise the need for further research on the application of kefir beverages for different contaminants in various types of foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]