International legislation on trace elements as contaminants in food: a review

Environmental contaminants such as trace elements may be present in all foods. Foods, raw materials and ingredients for food production are to an increasing extent traded across borders. Hence, there is a need for international legislation on trace elements as contaminants in food. In 1961, the FAO and WHO established the Codex Alimentarius to elaborate international food legislation. Contaminants in food are handled by the Codex Committee for Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC). The Codex Alimentarius system for developing legislation concerning trace elements as contaminants in food is based upon the Codex General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food (GSCTF). By October 2001, the principles for setting maximum limits (MLs) for contaminants in food are agreed, and work is in progress on MLs for trace elements such as lead and cadmium in the various food categories. The status for the proposals is presented and discussed. The EU Regulation 466/2001 of 8 March 2001 sets MLs for lead and cadmium in various foods. This regulation will apply from 5 April 2002. The EU regulation is more detailed but similar to the Codex draft standards for lead and cadmium in food. In future, legislators and administrators in the Codex and EU and analytical chemists will discuss how to use more and better analytical data as risk-management tools to protect public health. Trace elements' speciation is an important aspect of this discussion.     

Production and structural features of a water-soluble polysaccharide from a mutant strain of Agrobacterium sp.

We have developed a mutant strain derived from Agrobacterium sp. ATCC 31750, which produces a water-soluble polysaccharide having potential utility to the food, feed, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. A high concentration of product (15 g/L) is obtained by 48 h cultivation of the mutant strain under optimized fermentation conditions. The water-soluble polysaccharide obtained from cultures of the mutant strain beta82 has Glc:Man:Gal in approximate molar ratios of 5.8:6.7:1.0. The molecular weight of the polysaccharide was determined to be approximately 1000 kDa by HPSEC analysis. Linkage analysis contained 3-Glcp, 3-Manp, terminal Glcp and terminal Manp, as well as a small proportion of 3- and 3,4-Galp, and 4,6-Manp residues. Based on analyses using FT-IR and ¹³C NMR spectrometers, most glycosidic bonds joining these sugar residues are of the α-type, and acetyl groups are apparently attached to the polymer chain at random.     

Validation of a Method of Determination of Apparent Diffusivity Versus Composition in Solids

A method is presented for computing the values of apparent diffusivity in solids with respect to the concentration of the diffusing substance (water or sodium chloride). This method does not require any assumption upon the mathematical relationship between diffusivity and concentration. It can be applied to experimental measurements of local concentration versus position within the solid (profiles) with relatively few measurements (circa 10) and a mathematical smoothing of the experimental data by using an artificial neural network model. The method was first validated on simulated data obtained by using a constant diffusivity value and on experimental profiles when the relation between diffusivity and concentration was given. It was then applied to original experimental moisture profiles obtained by putting gelatin gels with different initial moisture contents into contact for up to 14 days. The method was also successfully applied to five sets of experimental moisture and sodium chloride profiles taken from the literature and obtained from different food products. Apparent diffusivities calculated by our method were found in agreement with those obtained by authors using different numerical methods to compute the diffusivity values.     

Hierarchical production control for a flow shop with dynamic setup changes and random machine breakdowns

In this paper, we study a manufacturing system consisting of two machines separated by two intermediate buffers, and capable of producing two different products. Each product requires a constant processing time on each of the machines. Each machine requires a constant non-negligible setup change time from one product to the other. The demand rate for each product is considered to be piecewise constant. Each machine undergoes failure and repair. The time-to-failure and time-to-repair are exponentially distributed random variables. The setup change and processing operations are resumable. We model our system as a continuous time, continuous flow process. An optimal control problem is formulated for the system to minimize the total expected discounted cost over an infinite horizon. To determine the optimal control policy structure, a discrete version of the problem is solved numerically using a dynamic programming formulation with a piecewise linear penalty function. A real-time control algorithm is then developed with the objective of maintaining low work-in-process inventory and keeping the production close to the demand. The algorithm uses a hierarchical control structure to generate the loading times for each product on each machine in real time and to respond to random disruptions in the system. The system is simulated using this algorithm to study its performance. The performance of the algorithm is also compared to alternative policies.     

The use of natural essential oils as antimicrobial solutions in paper packaging. Part II

We have assessed the antimicrobial, vapor-phase activity of the following natural essential oils (EOs) when used in paraffin-based “active coatings” for paper packaging materials intended to come into contact with foods: clove (Sygzium aromaticum), cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum), and oregano (Origanum vulgare) EOs, and cinnamaldehyde-enriched cinnamon EO. To our knowledge, this is the first time that such an approach has been presented for consideration by the scientific community.     

Stickiness, Functionality, and Microstructure of Food Powders

Three major aspects of food powder are described and discussed. Stickiness is one issue that can cause production and product handling difficulties. Stickiness has been interpreted in a number of ways and thus measured differently. Functionality of the primary (single) particles or agglomerated powders is of practical interest to the consumers. The desired quality will have to be matched or exceeded by the powder manufacturers. Finally, microstructure provides a key linkage between the production and the functionality. Its formation has impacts on both the stickiness and functionality.     

Drying of Probiotics: Optimization of Formulation and Process to Enhance Storage Survival

This work describes how probiotic bacteria can be dried at low temperature in two steps, combining spray drying and vacuum drying, in order to enhance their survival during storage. A sufficient number of dried probiotics survived storage for more than 3 months at 30°C, if an appropriate combination of protein and carbohydrate was selected as carrier and storage conditions were maintained optimal. The use of soy protein and maltodextrin or skim milk and arabic gum resulted in the best survival rates of probiotics during storage. No evident difference was found between different spray dryer configurations, although a cocurrent flow was preferred.     

中国油田堵水技术综述

本文论述了我国油田堵水技术的发展及其在油田开发中的作用,总结和阐述了油井化学堵水技术和注水井吸水剖面调整技术的原理和效益,指明了实践证实的有成效的工艺方法和堵水技术发展方向。     

Thermal Generation of Residual Stress Fields for Purpose of Distortion Minimization

Thermal treatments of steel components with the goal of hardening often result in distortion by releasing the residual stresses which were brought into the specimen during the preceding processing steps. The goal of the presented work is the minimization of this distortion. By generating definite residual stress fields and investigating the resulting distortion, the distortion mechanism can be observed in detail. A flexible and reproducible way to generate such residual stress fields inside a specimen is by means of local thermal treatment with a laser beam. Computer simulations as well as experiments were carried out using an idealized tooth of a gearwheel (finger sample) as a model system. The deformation of the samples due to the laser heat treatment and the stress fields generated inside the samples were determined with respect to different process parameters.