Status quo and future research challenges on organic food quality determination with focus on laboratory methods

Organic food quality determination needs multi‐dimensional evaluation tools. The main focus is on the authentication as an analytical verification of the certification process. New fingerprinting approaches such as ultra‐performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, direct analysis in real time–high‐resolution mass spectrometry as well as crystallization with and without the presence of additives seem to be promising methods in terms of time of analysis and detecting organic system‐related parameters. For further methodological development, a system approach is recommended, which also takes into account food structure aspects. Furthermore, the authentication of processed organic samples needs more consciousness, hence most of organic food is complex and processed. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry     

The Irish organic food market: shortfalls, opportunities and the need for research

In 2009 the Irish organic food market was forecasted to grow from €120 m to €239 m by 2013; however, recent figures set its value at just €90 m. An estimated 70% of this market is imported. Surveys of Irish consumers reveal that 66% of consumers prefer to buy local produce and most organic consumers are buying organic at supermarkets. This evidence reveals that Irish producers must trade at supermarkets, and promote ‘local produce’ to ensure their produce reach the majority of buyers. Seventy‐eight % of organic rejecters state price and 21% state unawareness of the benefits as reasons for not buying organic. Many Irish consumers are buying organic food on the perceived belief that it is healthier, safer and tastes better; however, a review of studies on organic versus conventional foods in terms of health benefits, safety and sensory quality has shown that existing data is limited in scope and fails to show a clear trend. The review concludes with the need for a comprehensive study of a range of organic and conventional foods available to the Irish consumer in order to determine if differences in organic cultivation result in statistically significant differences in health linked compounds and sensory quality. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

International perspectives on food safety and regulations – a need for harmonized regulations: perspectives in China

Food safety is a major livelihood issue and a priority concern in China. Since the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China was issued in 2009, the food safety control system has been strengthened through, inter alia, the Food Safety Risk Surveillance System, the Food Safety Risk Assessment System and the Food Safety Standards System. In accordance with the Food Safety Law and regulations for implementation, the Ministry of Health released the ‘Twelfth Five‐year Plan’ of Food Safety Standards. The existing 5000 food‐related standards will be integrated. Notwithstanding, the supervision system in China needs to be further improved and strengthened. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry     

当前我国围绕食品安全内涵及相关立法的研究热点--兼论食品安全、食品卫生、食品质量之间关系的研究

介绍国内外关于食品安全概念的不同定义和当前我国围绕食品安全概念及内涵的各种认识,论述了食品安全、食品卫生、食品质量三者之间的关系,指出了确立食品安全法律概念的长远的重大意义。     

国内外有机食品的发展现状及前景

介绍了有机食品的概念和标准,综述了国内外有机食品最近的发展现状,并展望了有机食品的发展前景。另外,还指出我国发展有机食品的有利条件,对我国现阶段发展有机食品生产提出了几点建议。     

Assessing health in agriculture – towards a common research framework for soils,plants, animals,humans and ecosystems

In agriculture and food systems, health‐related research includes a vast diversity of topics. Nutritional, toxicological, pharmacological, epidemiological, behavioural, sociological, economic and political methods are used to study health in the five domains of soils, plants, livestock, humans and ecosystems. An idea developed in the early founding days of organic agriculture stated that the health of all domains is one and indivisible. Here we show that recent research reveals the existence and complex nature of such health links among domains. However, studies of health aspects in agriculture are often separated by disciplinary boundaries. This restrains the understanding of health in agricultural systems. Therefore we explore the opportunities and limitations of bringing perspectives together from the different domains. We review current approaches to define and assess health in agricultural contexts, comparing the state of the art of commonly used approaches and bringing together the presently disconnected debates in soil science, plant science, veterinary science and human medicine. Based on a qualitative literature analysis, we suggest that many health criteria fall into two paradigms: (1) the Growth Paradigm, where terms are primarily oriented towards continued growth; (2) the Boundary Paradigm, where terms focus on maintaining or coming back to a status quo, recognising system boundaries. Scientific health assessments in agricultural and food systems need to be explicit in terms of their position on the continuum between Growth Paradigm and Boundary Paradigm. Finally, we identify areas and concepts for a future direction of health assessment and research in agricultural and food systems. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry     

Chemical residues,food additives and natural toxicants in food – the cocktail effect

Food might contain residues of agricultural chemicals (e.g. pesticides), additives (e.g. colourants) and/or natural toxins (e.g. solanine in potatoes) which present health risks to consumers. The risks of such residues, additives and natural toxins are generally low (i.e. acceptable) when considered in isolation. However, an average meal is likely to contain a cocktail of residues, additives and/or natural toxins that might have additive or synergistic effects. This review explores potential cocktail effects with reference to two case examples, organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) and xenoestrogens, and concludes that we should extend our thinking to encompass interactions between residues, additives and natural toxins when assessing food risk.     

Healthy food is nutritious,but organic food is healthy because it is pure: The negotiation of healthy food choices by Danish consumers of organic food

There is increasing demand for organic food products throughout the Western world. Health concerns have frequently been found to be the main motivation of consumers purchasing organic products, but the literature on consumer preferences and behavior is less clear about what ‘health’ means to consumers of these products, and because of this it remains unclear what exactly drives consumers to choose organic products. This article investigates health from the perspective of consumers, and analyzes negotiations of, and justifications behind, their consumption preferences. The analysis is based on a focus group study conducted in Denmark in 2016. Three different understandings of health can be found when consumers explain their preferences for organic products: Health as purity; Health as pleasure, and a Holistic perspective on health. The first two are familiar from the literature on food. The third, which reflects principles behind organic agriculture, is less documented in the context of consumption. Health as purity was the dominant understanding of health used by the participants when explaining why they purchased organic food products. When participants discussed healthy eating in general, detached from a specific context, most employed a purely nutritional perspective as a definitive argument in supporting claims about healthy eating. The paper’s findings have implications for future research on organic consumption. They also have practical implications for organic food producers and manufacturers.     

CRISPR-Cas-based detection for food safety problems: Current status,challenges, and opportunities

Food safety is one of the biggest public issues occurring around the world. Microbiological, chemical, and physical hazards can lead to food safety issues, which may occur at all stages of the supply chain. In order to tackle food safety issues and safeguard consumer health, rapid, accurate, specific, and field-deployable detection methods meeting diverse requirements are one of the imperative measures for food safety assurance. CRISPR-Cas system, a newly emerging technology, has been successfully repurposed in biosensing and has demonstrated huge potential to establish conceptually novel detection methods with high sensitivity and specificity. This review focuses on CRISPR-Cas–based detection and its current status and huge potential specifically for food safety inspection. We firstly illustrate the pending problems in food safety and summarize the popular detection methods. We then describe the potential applications of CRISPR-Cas–based detection in food safety inspection. Finally, the challenges and futuristic opportunities are proposed and discussed. Generally speaking, the current food safety detection methods are still unsatisfactory in some ways such as being time-consuming, displaying unmet sensitivity and specificity standards, and there is a comparative paucity of multiplexed testing and POCT. Recent studies have shown that CRISPR-Cas–based biosensing is an innovative and fast-expanding technology, which could make up for the shortcomings of the existing methods or even replace them. To sum up, the implementation of CRISPR-Cas and the integration of CRISPR-Cas with other techniques is promising and desirable, which is expected to provide “customized” and “smart” detection methods for food safety inspection in the coming future.     

The Irish dairy industry – Recent history and strategy,current state and future challenges

This study explores drivers and resulting changes in the structure and technical efficiency of Irish dairy farms from 2005 to 2018 (covering pre‐ and post‐milk quotas) during which milk production increased by 54%. Over this period, farm structure changed dramatically (fourfold increase in farmers milking >100 cows) and farmers improved technical efficiency and profitability and reduced the greenhouse gas emission intensity of milk produced. The impact of the adoption of key technologies at farm level and the contribution of strategic direction nationally (the Irish Government's Food Harvest 2020 Strategy) influencing this development are explored as are future sector challenges.     

The future of functional food: Emerging technologies application on prebiotics,probiotics and postbiotics

This review was the first to gather literature about the effect of emerging technologies on probiotic, prebiotic, and postbiotic products. Applying emerging technologies to probiotic products can increase probiotic survival and improve probiotic properties (cholesterol attachment, adhesion to Caco-2 cells, increase angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities, and decrease systolic blood pressure). Furthermore, it can optimize the fermentation process, produce or maintain compounds of interest (bacteriocin, oligosaccharides, peptides, phenolic compounds, flavonoids), improve bioactivity (vitamin, aglycones, calcium), and sensory characteristics. Applying emerging technologies to prebiotic products did not result in prebiotic degradation. Still, it contributed to higher concentrations of bioactive compounds (citric and ascorbic acids, anthocyanin, polyphenols, flavonoids) and health properties (antioxidant activity and inhibition of ACE, α-amylase, and α-glucosidase). Emerging technologies may also be applied to obtain postbiotics with increased health effects. In this way, current studies suggest that emerging food processing technologies enhance the efficiency of probiotics and prebiotics in food. The information provided may help food industries to choose a more suitable technology to process their products and provide a basis for the most used process parameters. Furthermore, the current gaps are discussed. Emerging technologies may be used to process food products resulting in increased probiotic functionality, prebiotic stability, and higher concentrations of bioactive compounds. In addition, they can be used to obtain postbiotic products with improved health effects compared to the conventional heat treatment.     

我国有机食品的现状及发展趋势

介绍了有机食品的特点及对人与自然和谐发展的作用,并概述了我国有机食品的发展现状及趋势.     

食品辐照对食品品质的影响及其安全性

简要综述食品辐照对食品营养品质的影响。低剂量辐照食品对食品糖粉、蛋白质、脂肪和维生素没有影响,适当的剂量辐照食品可以降解食品中农药残留,减轻食品过敏,杀死有害微生物,提高食品品质。因此辐照食品也是安全的。     

HS-GC/MS method development and exposure assessment of volatile organic compounds from food packaging into food simulants

ABSTRACT

A simultaneous headspace-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (HS-GC/MS) method was developed and validated to determine the migration of 12 volatile organic compounds (methanol, acetone, methylethylketone, ethylacetate, isopropylalcohol, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, cumene, propylbenzene, and styrene) from food contact materials into food simulants (water, 4% acetic acid, 50% ethanol, and n-heptane). The limits of detection and quantification were 0.007–0.201 mg L^?1 and 0.023–0.668 mg L^?1, respectively. The method was applied to 205 samples of paper/paperboard, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate. The estimated daily intake (EDI) was calculated using the migration results. Exposure assessments were carried out to compare the EDI to the tolerable daily intake (TDI); the results indicated that the EDI of styrene represented only a small percentage (8.0%) of the TDI. This analytical method will be a useful tool to examine levels of various volatile compounds migrating from food packaging to food simulants using HS-GC/MS method.     

统一功能食品标准促进功能食品研究与开发(二)--建立原材料生产、产品标注和质量认证体系

介绍了原材料生产标准的建立和功能食品的规范化。     

食品中持久性有机污染物现状及对策研究

当前,生态环境持续恶化问题已经引起国际社会的高度重视,从全球范围内看,环境污染问题的加剧,给人类的身体健康带来了极大的威胁,在此背景下,各国政府针对环境污染对人类身体健康所带来的危害与影响问题加大了研究力度,并以专门机构与部门的设置为进一步解决环境问题探寻出路。而持久性有机污染物(POPs)在农药中的运用,使得农产品农药污染问题加剧,并引起了社会的高度重视。本文就食品中持久性有机污染物的现状进行调查与评价,阐述了持久性有机污染的特征,分析了食品中持久性有机污染物的来源与危害,并针对食品中POPs污染现状进行了分析,最后为如何实现对POPs污染物的有效防治提出了对策。     

The influence of oxygen and organic hydrogen acceotors on glycolytic dioxide production in Brettanomyces anomalus

The yeast Brettanomyces anomalus showed the Custers effect in that under strictly anaerobic conditions, in the presence of glucose, CO₂ production was negligble. CO₂ production was stimulated by mixing anaerobic cell suspensions with an aerated glucose solution in astopped-flow cell. Glycolytic CO₂ production continued even after oxygen exhaustion. Studies using an open reaction vessel showed that the rate of glycolytic CO₂ production could be increased to a maximum level by exposing the anaerobic cell suspension to brief pulses of O₂. A cell suspension CO₂ at a maximal rate demonstrated the Pasteur effect on switching the mobile gas to a mixture conatining oxygen (5.05 KPa). In contrast to glycolytic CO₂ production in vivo nicotinamide pool responded rapidly to changes in oxygen concentration. The addition of acetaldehyde, acetone, or 3-hydroxy-butan-2-one led to a temprorary production of CO₂ at an initial rate depending on the concentration of substance added according to the Michaelis–Menten equation. The maximal rates were equal with all three substances, whereas tha apparent K_m values were different. The total amount of CO₂ produced was 22-fold greater than the amount of acetaldehyde added. Added organic hydrogen acceptors modulated the intracellular reedox balance of B. anomalus under conditions. These results are discussed in relation to the current hypothesis of the Custers effect.     

开放性食品科研实验室管理改革的探讨

实施开放性实验教学对于培养具有创新素质的应用型人才具有重要的现实意义,开放性食品科研实验是一种以学生为主体的全新开放型的实验教学模式,作为食品传统实验教学的有效补充,有利于激发学生的积极性,培养学生的创新意识,实践证明：食品实验教学改革,有利于提高学生动手能力和创新能力。     

纳他霉素(Natamycin)的特性、应用及生产和研究状况

介绍了纳他霉素作为新一代天然生物防腐剂的特性、作用机理、安全性。在应用方面,纳他霉素以具有用量低、pH值使用范围广、热稳定性及防腐效果好等优点在食品工业中呈现出广阔的应用前景。详述了当前纳他霉素的生产及研究状况。     

Organic food processing: a framework for concept,starting definitions and evaluation

In 2007 EU Regulation (EC) 834/2007 introduced principles and criteria for organic food processing. These regulations have been analysed and discussed in several scientific publications and research project reports. Recently, organic food quality was described by principles, aspects and criteria. These principles from organic agriculture were verified and adapted for organic food processing. Different levels for evaluation were suggested. In another document, underlying paradigms and consumer perception of organic food were reviewed against functional food, resulting in identifying integral product identity as the underlying paradigm and a holistic quality view connected to naturalness as consumers' perception of organic food quality. In a European study, the quality concept was applied to the organic food chain, resulting in a problem, namely that clear principles and related criteria were missing to evaluate processing methods. Therefore the goal of this paper is to describe and discuss the topic of organic food processing to make it operational. A conceptual background for organic food processing is given by verifying the underlying paradigms and principles of organic farming and organic food as well as on organic processing. The proposed definition connects organic processing to related systems such as minimal, sustainable and careful, gentle processing, and describes clear principles and related criteria. Based on food examples, such as milk with different heat treatments, the concept and definitions were verified. Organic processing can be defined by clear paradigms and principles and evaluated according criteria from a multidimensional approach. Further work has to be done on developing indicators and parameters for assessment of organic food quality. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry