Search

Antibiotic residues in milk are a serious health and technological problem in dairy processes. This study aims to verify the absence of administered antimicrobials after therapeutic treatments, taking into consideration the withdrawal period, and to evaluate the reliability of screening tests under field conditions after confirmatory HPLC-HRMS (High Performance Liquid Chromatography-High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry) Orbitrap analysis. Moreover, the presence of expected or non-targeted metabolites was investigated using the new Compound Discoverer approach. The presence of antimicrobial drugs was shown in 29% of the samples, and also sometimes their metabolites (for enrofloxacin and lincomycin), despite the fact that samples were collected at the seventh milking. Moreover, in 9% of the samples, undeclared treatments were revealed due to the presence of both parent drugs and metabolites. Lastly, the putative identification of two new enrofloxacin metabolites, ENRO-N-methylacetamide and ENRO-ornithine, was proposed. In the light of this evidence, it must be borne in mind that metabolites, some of which are pharmacologically active, may also pose a risk to consumers and for the entire processing of milk in the cheese industries.

The present study aimed at measuring the levels of legacy and emerging contaminants in fillet samples from four demersal fish caught in two fishing sites from Southern Norway, in order to assess possible implications for food safety. Levels of organochlorine compounds (OCs), organophosphate pesticides (OPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybromodiphenyl ethers (PBDE), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in fillet from Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), European plaice (Pleuronectes platessa), lemon sole (Microstomus kitt), and European flounder (Platichthys flesus) specimens. A negligible contamination by all the investigated chemicals was noted in both the fishing sites, as very low levels of OCs, PCBs, and PFASs were noted in a limited number of individuals for each species. Considering the levels of contaminants measured in fillets of the four demersal fish species, negligible risk for human health for Norwegian consumers can be supposed.

Fipronil and Amitraz are broadly used insecticides for the treatment or prevention for animal health, indoor pest control, and commercial crop protection. As the use of Fipronil or Amitraz on food-producing animals was not allowed by the EU legislation, the Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) values of Fipronil and Amitraz were set at the detection limit of 5 ng mL-1 and 10 ng mL-1, respectively. According to the database of Rapid alert system for food and feed (RASFF), after the Belgian authority reported Fipronil residues in chicken eggs in 2017, there were 719 follow-up reports from 34 countries. Fipronil and Amitraz are included in the Italian National Residue Program so it is necessary to develop a selective, sensitive, specific and rapid method. Three extraction methods were evaluated on fresh egg blank samples to determine the presence of Fipronil, as well as its metabolites and Amitraz. In the solvent-salt method the sample was added by water, NaCl and formic acetonitrile, followed by hexane to remove potential fat. In the Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS) method the sample was extracted by Superl® Que Citrate powder and acetonitrile, followed by Superl® PSA powder. In the water-associated QuEChERS method the sample was mixed with water and acetonitrile, followed by Superl® Que Citrate powder, then the supernatant was collected and mixed with CaCl2. The analyses of the extracts were performed with high performance liquid chromatography coupled to Q-Exactive Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometer (LC-HRMS). Furthermore, Thompson (2000) mentioned that the Coefficient of variation (CV) is acceptable if it is lower than 22%. Based on the obtained recovery values (72 to 113%) and CV (1.67 to 14.69%), the water-associated QuEChERS method was selected because the recoveries rates obtained with the other methods were lower than 70%. Calibration curves exhibited correlation values ranging from 0.9653 to 0.9999(Figure 1); the limits of detection ranged from 0.08 to 1.21 ng mL-1, and the limits of quantification were from 0.28 to 4.04 ng mL-1. The preliminary results fulfilled the European criteria for the validation of the analytical methods. Further analyses have been performed to evaluate the repeatability and reproducibility., International Journal of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety, Vol 5, No 1s (2018)

In the past decades, milk has been considered a mere supplier of nutrients, although its importance was considered paramount for the development and growth of newborns, a number of aspects regarding the biological functions of milk are still unknown. Several positive functional properties of milk derive from fatty acids (FA), mainly unsaturated fatty acids (UFA), either monounsaturated (MUFA) or polyunsaturated (PUFA) fatty acids. In particular, UFAs are considered functional components of food because of their positive effects on disease prevention (FAO, 2010; Connor W.E. ,2000; Wijendran V., 2004). The objective of this study was to characterize the fatty acid profile, the desaturase index and the atherogenic index in milk of local Italian bovine breeds (Cabannina, Varzese and Valdostana) and in a cosmopolitan breed (Holstein Friesian) during the first period of lactation. A total number of 129 cows have been enrolled (Friesian n=30, Cabannina n=30, Varzese n=30, Valdostana n=39) from three dairy farms with similar management and feeding conditions. Animals were chosen in order to have three classes of lactation stage: milk collections were carried out starting from 40±10 days (group A), 70±10 days (group B), and 130±10 days (group C). Milk samples have been analyzed by gas chromatography to obtain the fatty acid profile, on the basis of these results, the Desaturase and Atherogenic Indices were calculated. A number of differences between breeds have been found, in particular local breeds showed an higher percentages of UFA, MUFA, PUFA, and a higher UFA/SFA ratio, as well as lower desaturase indices (related to C14, C16 and C18) and atherogenic index, when compared to Friesian cows. The results can add further information aiming to re-evaluate an almost lost local treasure in Northern Italy., International Journal of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety, V. 4, N. 1s (2017)

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a large class of fluorinated aliphatic chemical of anthropogenic origin with high chemical stability even at high temperatures and in presence of alkalis, strong acids or oxidizing agents (Lau et al. 2004). All these characteristics make them no biodegradable and very persistent in the environment, associated with adverse health risks (Eriksen et al. 2010). Food, especially fish and other seafood, is considered the main source of exposure to PFASs (EFSA 2012). In this preliminary study we developed and validated a sensitive, selective and specific method by LC-HRMS Orbitrap to monitor the presence of 16 PFASs in eel (Anguilla Anguilla) samples. The clean-up of the lyophilized samples consisted of a previous extraction step with acetonitrile to precipitate also proteins, followed by a purification step through Oasis® WAX SPE (Weak Anionic Exchange Solid Phase Extraction) cartridges. The method applied to 45 farmed eel samples from Lake Garda showed the presence of several PFASs, up to 10 in the same eel, in the order of ng/g (Fig.1). The results provided a representative situation of the PFASs contamination level of the lake, lower than those of others European countries (Hoff et al. 2005, Kwadijk et al. 2010)., International Journal of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety, V. 4, N. 1s (2017)

The beneficial effects on human health of seafood are well known. However, seafood is a major source of exposition for consumers of most of the contaminants due to human activities such as breeding, industries, mining and agriculture: the overall level in biota, therefore seafood and particularly molluscs, dramatically increased over this last two centuries. This study evaluates the presence of Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Arsenic, Nickel and Chromium in mussels from the Italian mussel culture plants, and estimate the risk that Italian consumer undergoes eating these molluscs. Mussels where collected at the wholesale fish market of Milan, the most important wholesale Italian fish market. The molluscs belonged to the 37 FAO marine area (corresponding to Mediterranean Sea), particularly from FAO 37.2.1 Ligury, 37.2.2. North Adriatic, middle Adriatic, Puglia, 37.2.3 Lazio and Sardinia, and were collected from July 2016 to February 2017. (FIG1). Analyses were carried out through inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 3050B method. The sample concentrations were below the Maximum Levels (ML) given by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 for Cadmium, Lead and Mercury, except one sample from south Adriatic sea, that showed Mercury concentration of 0.528 mg kg-1. Arsenic, Nickel and Chromium ML are not stated by EU. Arsenic concentration ranged from 2.05 to 13.35 mg kg-1, with the highest values found in Italian molluscs, Nickel concentration ranged from 0.00 to 3.98 mg kg-1. Chromium was found only in 5 of 30 sample analysed with a maximum concentration of 0.590 g kg-1. The tolerable intakes recommended by EFSA and on EU maximum levels, indicate that Italian mussels do not pose a risk consumers., International Journal of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety, V. 4, N. 1s (2017)