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Mycotoxins and heavy metals are contaminants that affect harvests, animal and human health and produce economic losses. The article aims to present the occurrence of mycotoxin deoxynivalenol and heavy metals (lead, copper, arsenic, chromium, nickel, zinc, manganese, and cadmium) contamination in common wheat in Romania in the extremely dry year 2015. The samples taken from localities characterized by deoxynivalenol contamination in 2012 - 2014, were analyzed through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) methods and the gained data were evaluated by SPSS. Wheat exceeded the maximum limits for deoxynivalenol and lead in the northwestern, western and central regions (46-48 °N, 21-25 °E; acidic soils; humid to subhumid climate); the heavy metals concentrations had the order Mn > Zn > Cu > Ni > Cr > Pb > As > Cd. Deoxynivalenol was only correlated with copper, but there were significant and very significant correlations between heavy metals with toxic and carcinogenic potential (lead, arsenic, chromium, nickel, and copper). Contamination with deoxynivalenol and heavy metals in common wheat was low in the extremely dry year 2015, but it was high in soils, air, waters and plants in the extremely rainy years as: 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2016. Gained data are useful because they showed that extreme weather events and climate change affect heavy metal pollution in the environment and also Fusarium spp. and deoxynivalenol contamination in cereals, therefore agro-food safety and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of seasoning and aromatic plants plays an important role in the food industry due to bioactive compounds which improve the taste of food and can influence digestion and metabolism. Contamination of these plants with heavy metals, mycotoxins, polycyclic carbohydrate residues and pesticides, may occur during both cultivation and conditioning. The aim of this review was the investigation of the levels of heavy metals in some aromatic plants and seasonings from different countries. The content of these heavy metals and trace elements was tested through different methods. By comparing the data from more than 50 papers available on WoS, Springer, SCOPUS, CAB Abstracts, the results showed that the content of heavy metals in some spices exceeds the permitted limit and poses a risk to human health. In case of trace metals, these contribute to the proper functioning of the body, but if exceeding the tolerable daily intake, they become toxic and pose a risk to human health. After ingestion, heavy metals can bioaccumulate into the body and produce adverse effects on human health, as neurotoxicity, disorders of cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, renal and reproductive system, hepatotoxicity, immunotoxicity, but also carcinogenesis through generation of free radicals. Spices and aromatic plants may contain high amounts of heavy metals and trace elements, therefore their accumulation in the human body may pose a risk to human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in bakery products is growing from day to day due to the nutritional quality of these products. Biscuits are the most versatile snack in the food industry, occupying a notable position due to their attractive characteristics. The aim of this paper is to review available literature for conducting a comparative study of the heavy metals and trace elements concentrations found in the composition of several types of biscuits, from different areas of the world. Biscuits are preferred by children and can be given as expressions of love from friends or family. They are nutritious, cheap, and convenient products, having different forms and being produced by combining flour, sugars, oils or vegetable fats and proteins. By comparing the data from more than 50 papers available on WoS, Springer, SCOPUS and CAB Abstracts we found that potential environmental contaminants with effects on human health can occur in biscuits in the technological flow, but also from the raw materials used to obtain them. The main source of biscuits contamination is represented by the flour. Contamination may occur with metals such as cadmium, lead, zinc, chromium, copper, manganese, iron can be due to the fertilizers and pesticides used in wheat cultivation. In recent decades the effects that these contaminants have had on the quality of crops have threatened food security, which can disrupt metabolism once they reach inside the human body. The metals and trace elements are present, in generally, at low concentration in biscuits sample, except for some metals in some type of biscuits, in different studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) are ubiquitous chemical compounds in the environment due to contamination of air, water, or soil. They are primarily sourced from fossil fuel combustion, mining and smelting, electroplating, dyes and pigments, agricultural treatments, and plastic and metallic industries. These chemical contaminants can produce various adverse effects when they enter the human body and can also affect crops and aquatic ecosystems. To address these issues, researchers are developing various techniques, including ion exchange, membrane filtration, photocatalysis, electrochemical methods, bioadsorption, and combinations of these processes, to reduce the levels of these contaminants, especially from wastewater. Among these methods, bioadsorption has gained much attention due to its high efficiency, low cost, and abundance of adsorbent materials. Agricultural byproducts used as biosorbents include rice husk and bran, citrus peel, banana peel, coconut husk, sugarcane bagasse, soybean hulls, walnut and almond shells, coconut fiber, barley straws, and many others. Biosorption capacity can be described using adsorption kinetic models such as Elovich, Ritchie's, and pseudo-second-order models, as well as different adsorption isotherm models such as Freundlich, Langmuir, Temkin isotherm, and BET models. Both conventional processes and adsorption models are influenced by parameters such as pH, agitation speed, contact time, particle size, concentration of the adsorbent material, initial concentration of the contaminant, and the type of modifying agent used. This review paper aims to examine the low-cost adsorbents and their removal efficiency and bioadsorption capacity for different PTEs present in wastewater, and their potential as decontamination methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food can come into contact with several materials and articles before being consumed during production, processing, storage, preparation and serving. Plastic is the most widely used packaging material globally. Overall migration represents the total amount of non-volatile substances that can migrate from a food packaging material into food. It can be determined gravimetrically by exposing the item to a food simulant for a specified and appropriate length of time. The aim of the research was to evaluate the overall migration phenomenon for several food contact materials according to the conditions specified in Regulation (EU) no. 10/2011 [6]. Simulants A (10% ethanol), B (3% acetic acid), C (10% ethanol), D1 (ethanol 50%) and D2 (olive oil) were used to quantify overall migration from the following plastic food contact materials: polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), medium-density polyethylene (MDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) using 4 different testing conditions: OM1 (10 days at 20 °C), OM2 (10 days at 40 °C), OM3 (2 hours at 70 °C) and OM4 (1 hour at 100 0C). Migration testing is represented by the measurement of the overall migration by a gravimetric determination of all chemical substances that migrate to the simulant. SR EN 1186-2003 standards were used for the analysis of overall migration (parts 1, 2, 3, 7 and 9). Interpretation and analysis of the data was made using SPSS Statistics Data Editor Program. The variability was determined with ANOVA method. The overall migration studies using food simulants mentioned above shows that the migration rate was very low, far below the allowed limit (10 mg/ dm2). ANOVA one-way analysis indicates significant differences between the means for average migration related to product type, simulants and extraction conditions (Ϭ < 0.05). At high temperature the overall migration is increasing. The same is when the extraction time is higher. The overall migration limit is a measure for the inertness of the material. All tested materials can be used as food packaging materials given that conditions used for testing cover most of the conditions used in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]