Qualitative determination of carbon black in food products

Carbon black (C.I. 77266) is an insoluble pigment produced by the partial combustion of hydrocarbons. The pigment is known by several synonyms, including vegetable carbon, lamp black and carbon ash, that correspond to the raw materials and methods used for its production. Vegetable carbon (E153) is permitted for use in colouring food in the European Union. The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has not approved the use of any type of carbon black for colouring food, although the agency batch certifies the pigment as D&C Black No. 2 for use in colouring certain cosmetics. Since carbon black (as vegetable carbon) may be present in food products offered for import into the United States, the USFDA's district laboratories need a qualitative analytical method for determining its presence. We have developed an extraction method for this purpose. A sample is broken down and dissolved with nitric acid. The resulting solution is filtered and treated with hydrochloric acid to dissolve any black iron oxide also present as a colour additive. A black residue remaining on the filter paper indicates the presence of carbon black in the food. We confirmed the presence of carbon black in residues from several standards and food products using Raman spectroscopy. The limit of detection for this method is 0.0001%.     

Qualitative identification of permitted and non-permitted colour additives in food products

Colour additives are dyes, pigments or other substances that can impart colour when added or applied to food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, or the human body. The substances must be pre-approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) and listed in Title 21 of the US Code of Federal Regulations before they may be used in products marketed in the United States. Some also are required to be batch certified by the USFDA prior to their use. Both domestic and imported products sold in interstate commerce fall under USFDA jurisdiction, and the USFDA's district laboratories use a combination of analytical methods for identifying or confirming the presence of potentially violative colour additives. We have developed a qualitative method for identifying 17 certifiable, certification exempt, and non-permitted colour additives in various food products. The method involves extracting the colour additives from a product and isolating them from non-coloured components with a C(18) Sep-Pak cartridge. The colour additives are then separated and identified by liquid chromatography (LC) with photodiode array detection, using an Xterra RP18 column and gradient elution with aqueous ammonium acetate and methanol. Limits of detection (LODs) ranged from 0.02 to 1.49 mg/l. This qualititative LC method supplements the visible spectrophotometric and thin-layer chromatography methods currently used by the USFDA's district laboratories and is less time-consuming and requires less solvent compared to the other methods. The extraction step in the new LC method is a simple and an efficient process that can be used for most food types.     

Mechanisms of hydrogen peroxide decomposition in soils

The rates and mechanisms of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) decomposition were examined in a series of soil suspensions at H2O2 concentrations comparable to those found in rainwaters. The formation of hydroxyl radical (OH) as a possible decomposition intermediate was investigated using a new, highly sensitive method. In surface soils with higher organic matter or manganese content, H2O2 usually decayed rapidly, with disproportionation to water and dioxygen dominating the decomposition, whereas the formation of the hydroxyl radical (OH) represented <10% of the total H2O2 decomposed. In contrast, for soils with lower organic matter content, H2O2 usually decayed much more slowly, but OH was a major product of the H2O2 decomposed. The decomposition was principally associated with soil particles, not the soil supernatant. Different sterilization techniques indicated that decomposition of H2O2 was at least partly due to biological activity. Because the loss of H2O2 can largely be accommodated by the production of O2 and OH within these soils, our results suggest that disproportionation through a catalase-type mechanism and the production of OH through a Haber-Weiss mechanism represent the principal routes through which H2O2 is lost.     

Integrated Routing and Storage for Messaging Applications in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

This paper is motivated by the observation that traditional ad hoc routing protocols are not an adequate solution for messaging applications (e.g., e-mail) in mobile ad hoc networks. Routing in ad hoc mobile networks is challenging mainly because of node mobility – the more rapid the rate of movement, the greater the fraction of bad routes and undelivered messages. For applications that can tolerate delays beyond conventional forwarding delays, we advocate a relay-based approach to be used in conjunction with traditional ad hoc routing protocols. This approach takes advantage of node mobility to disseminate messages to mobile nodes. The result is the Mobile Relay Protocol (MRP), which integrates message routing and storage in the network; the basic idea is that if a route to a destination is unavailable, a node performs a controlled local broadcast (a relay) to its immediate neighbors. In a network with sufficient mobility – precisely the situation when conventional routes are likely to be non-existent or broken – it is quite likely that one of the relay nodes to which the packet has been relayed will encounter a node that has a valid, short (conventional) route to the eventual destination, thereby increasing the likelihood that the message will be successfully delivered. Our simulation results under a variety of node movement models demonstrate that this idea can work well for applications that prefer reliability over latency.