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Tainted milk scandal: Chinese probe unmasks high-tech adulteration with melamine
... "Researchers say the adulteration was nothing short of a wholesale re-engineering of milk. Weeks ago, investigators established that workers at Sanlu and at a number of milkcollection depots were diluting milk with water; they added melamine to dupe a test for determining crude protein content" (Xin & Stone, 2008). It is this crude protein testing that is at the root of the problem with melamine adulteration in milk products. ...
... Milk, he notes, is only 3.0% to 3.4% protein. Chen says a dean of a school of food science told him that it would take a university team 3 months to develop this kind of concoction (Xin & Stone, 2008). Compared to the UN standard of 1 mg/kg the amount of protein found in the milk this is nothing short of staggering. ...
... Several milk collecting companies were using the same premix, so someone with technical skill had to be training them (Xin & Stone, 2008). ...
Milk is one of the most important food products for children’s growth and overall health. Melamine (2,4,6-triazine-1,3,5-triamino) is an organic compound used in the manufacture of pesticides, plastics, sanitizers, and disinfectants. Melamine when added to milk increases the overall amount of nitrogen in the milk thus fooling common tests for protein content. Melamine is also extremely harmful when ingested, especially for young children. Sanlu, one of China's largest dairy producers, diluted their milk products with water and added then added melamine to fool the protein tests. Consumption of milk containing melamine in amounts greater than 1 mg/kg can cause kidney failure, bladder cancer and death. Testing milk using the LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS methods can reveal melamine contamination. Further actions that can be implemented to reduce milk adulteration include product traceability, corporate transparency, 100% product testing procedures and consistent enforcement of the law. 2008 Krisis Produk Susu ChinaAbstrak. Susu merupakan salah satu produk pangan yang paling penting untuk pertumbuhan anak-anak dan kesehatan. Melamin (2,4,6-triazina-1,3,5-triamino) adalah senyawa organik yang digunakan dalam pembuatan pestisida, plastik, pembersih, dan disinfektan. Melamin ketika ditambahkan ke susu meningkatkan jumlah keseluruhan nitrogen dalam susu sehingga mengelabui tes umum untuk kandungan protein. Melamin juga sangat berbahaya bila tertelan, terutama untuk anak-anak. Sanlu, salah satu produsen susu terbesar di China, mengencerkan produk susu mereka dengan air dan menambahkan melamin untuk mengelabui tes protein. Konsumsi susu yang mengandung melamin dalam jumlah yang lebih besar dari 1 mg/kg dapat menyebabkan gagal ginjal, kanker kandung kemih dan kematian. Pengujian susu menggunakan LC-MS/MS dan metode GC-MS/MS dapat mengungkapkan kontaminasi melamin. Tindakan lebih lanjut yang dapat diterapkan untuk mengurangi pemalsuan susu antara lain penelusuran produk, transparansi perusahaan, 100% prosedur pengujian produk dan penegakan hukum yang konsisten.
... In China, "big head disease" scandal was reported in 2004. Infants were fed an unhealthy formula of milk that caused rapid weight loss from their bodies and head swelling thus called as "big head disease" (Xin and Stone 2008). It is a case of acute malnutrition, in which the consumer appears to be thin because of lack of flesh and prominence of more bony structures all over the body, comparative to the skull. ...
... Basically, the companies made bogus milk formula that contained almost negligible nutrients where protein almost counts for 1% that was not enough to fulfill the needs of children. A lot of children died because of this formula especially from the poor families that did not have enough knowledge regarding nutrition etc. (Xin and Stone 2008). Naturally PH of milk ranges from 6.4-6.8. ...
Milk is a vital source of nutrients that are required for the proper growth, development, and functioning of the human body. Its adulteration is a global issue, mainly concerned in developing countries. Unfortunately, mixing milk with many toxic agents leads to various health issues in the consumers. Most of the time safety level and quality are hardly maintained. Milk adulteration is multi chain process which starts from animal owner, milk man, rural collection centers and finally to mega processing units. The main reason for the adulteration is to get maximum profit without taking in account the health of people due to poverty, lack of education and lack of law enforcement from basic to higher level. In this review, different adulterants added to the milk and the different emerging health issues due to the improper use of these adulterants have been discussed. Adulterants can be detected both qualitatively and quantitatively. These techniques are usually classified based on adulterants, as mostly used adulterants are detected by qualitative techniques and the limited major adulterants are detected by quantitative methods. This is need of time to create awareness among the community for timely stoppage of such immoral practices to avoid the alarming health issues. This review article would be helpful in creating awareness about the commonly used milk adulterants, their effects on human and animal health and the possible available ways for their detection particularly in the developing countries.
... In China, "big head disease" scandal was reported in 2004. Infants were fed an unhealthy formula of milk that caused rapid weight loss from their bodies and head swelling thus called as "big head disease" (Xin and Stone 2008). It is a case of acute malnutrition, in which the consumer appears to be thin because of lack of flesh and prominence of more bony structures all over the body, comparative to the skull. ...
... Basically, the companies made bogus milk formula that contained almost negligible nutrients where protein almost counts for 1% that was not enough to fulfill the needs of children. A lot of children died because of this formula especially from the poor families that did not have enough knowledge regarding nutrition etc. (Xin and Stone 2008). Naturally PH of milk ranges from 6.4-6.8. ...
Milk is a vital source of nutrients that are required for the proper growth, development, and functioning of the human body. Its adulteration is a global issue, mainly concerned in developing countries. Unfortunately, mixing milk with many toxic agents leads to various health issues in the consumers. Most of the time safety level and quality are hardly maintained. Milk adulteration is multi chain process which starts from animal owner, milk man, rural collection centers and finally to mega processing units. The main reason for the adulteration is to get maximum profit without taking in account the health of people due to poverty, lack of education and lack of law enforcement
from basic to higher level. In this review, different adulterants added to the milk and the different emerging health issues due to the improper use of these adulterants have been discussed. Adulterants can be detected both qualitatively and quantitatively. These techniques are usually classified based on adulterants, as mostly used adulterants are detected by qualitative techniques and the limited major adulterants are detected by quantitative methods. This is need of time to create awareness among the community for timely stoppage of such immoral practices to avoid the alarming health issues. This review article would be helpful in creating awareness about the
commonly used milk adulterants, their effects on human and animal health and the possible available ways for their detection particularly in the developing countries.
... Melamine, a chemical widely used in the production of many daily products, emerged as a public health concern when it was discovered added to pet foods in 2007 (Brown et al., 2007;Dobson et al., 2008) and to infant formula in 2008 (Xin and Stone, 2008;Chan et al., 2008). In both instances, melamine caused acute adverse renal outcomes, at times resulting in the death of pets and children worldwide (Ingelfinger, 2008). ...
... This excretion rate suggests that kidneys have easy contact with this chemical. During the 2008 toxic milk scandal, melamine was discovered to be added in high dosages to powdered milk formulas that induced acute nephrotoxicity in children (Xin and Stone, 2008;Chan et al., 2008). After that event, a series of epidemiological studies also linked long-term environmental low-dose melamine exposure to risk of adverse kidney outcomes, including the urolithiasis and deterioration of kidney function in adults (Wu et al., 2010;Liu et al., 2011;Tsai et al., 2019). ...
Melamine contamination has remained pervasive in the environment even after the 2008 toxic milk scandal. Exposure to chronic low dosages of melamine is known to induce renal tubular damage, increasing the risk of stone formation and early kidney injury. This damage may come about via increased oxidative stress, but no studies of this possibility have been performed in humans. We conducted two human studies in 80 workers from melamine tableware factories (melamine workers) and 309 adult patients with calcium urolithiasis (stone patients) to evaluate the relationships between urinary melamine levels and two urinary biomarkers of oxidative stress, 8-oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and malondialdehyde (MDA). Both human studies showed urinary melamine levels to be significantly and positively correlated with urinary 8-OHdG and MDA, indicating melamine exposure can increase oxidative stress. Additionally, we used structure equation modeling to evaluate relative contribution of type of melamine-induced oxidative stress on renal tubular injury and found that MDA mediated 36%-53% of the total effect of melamine on a biomarker of renal tubular injury, N-Acetyl-β-D Glucosaminidase (NAG). In conclusion, our findings suggest exposure to low-dose melamine can increase oxidative stress and increase the risk of early damage to kidneys in humans.
... World Health Organization (WHO) stated that the human tolerable daily melamine dose is 0.2 mg per kilogram of body weight whereas, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended dose is 2.5 part per million in food and one part per million for infant formula (Ingelfinger, 2008). Melamine contaminated milk products results in infants and children urinary system calculi (Ingelfinger, 2008;Lam et al., 2008;Xin and Stone, 2008). Above recommended dose, toxicity and renal calculus formation increase with melamine dose increase (Lam et al., 2008). ...
... Regarding the postmortem (PM) changes, urinary bladder and ureters showed distention with white crystals that might be ascribe to melamine crystals deposition on the urinary system. This observation was consistent with Xin and Stone (2008). Available suggestion about susceptibility of hepatocytes to damage during oxidative stress and the proven antioxidants beneficial effect was reported by Dias et al. (2005) and Gumieniczek (2005). ...
Melamine is considered as one of urea derivatives. Recently it is added to feed stuffs for industrial purposes (falsely elevate its protein contents), however addition of melamine resulted in marked oxidative stress and toxic effect on different body organs, especially the nephrotoxicity and urolithiasis. Therefore, this work is designed to explore the beneficial effect of bee’s honey to alleviate the harmful effect induced by melamine toxicity and to show the histological changes on male albino rats. In this work seven animal groups (five rats for each), group 1; negative control, while groups 2, 4, 6 received melamine-formaldehyde orally at dose 0.9, 90, 9000 ppm, respectively while groups 3, 5, 7 received the same melamine dose beside bee’s honey (dose of 2.5 gm/kg body weight (B. w) for 45 days. Results declared that melamine treated rats showed marked oxidative, biochemical, hematological changes as well as pathological alterations in vital assets especially liver and urinary system. As distension of the urinary bladder, crystals deposition and stone formation were detected with variable degrees in all groups treated only with melamine. Microscopically, various pathological changes in kidneys, liver, lung, heart and intestine were also demonstrated. The severity of these changes varied from mild to severe changes depending upon the dose of melamine. Interestingly, rats treated with melamine plus the bee’s honey showed mild changes in comparison to the only melamine treated rats. These findings assured that, marked antioxidant and ameliorative effect of bee’s honey successfully reduced the noxious effect of melamine on different body organs.
... Under the influence of climate change, the contradiction between the supply and demand of river water resources has become increasingly prominent, especially in the area of ecological environment water demand (Xin et al., 2008;Chen et al., 2014). To ease the contradiction between human and ecological environment water use and to achieve a balance between water supply and demand, the concept of ecological baseflow has risen at this historic moment (Yan et al., 2007). ...
River ecological baseflow is key to river ecosystem health and stability and has become particularly important with global climate change aggravation. By considering the Niya River Basin in Xinjiang, based on meteorological data from 1958 to 2021 and hydrological data from 1978 to 2018, the Tennant method was determined to be the best basin ecological baseflow calculation method, the M–K test was used to analyze the abrupt ecological baseflow and climate change characteristics, and the ecological baseflow regression response and sensitivity coefficient models concerning climate change were established. The results showed that 75% of the ecological baseflow in the Niya River Basin ranged from 15 to 31 m3•s−1 in 1978–2018, the average annual temperature increased by 1.6°C at a 0.22°C•(10a)−1 rate, and the annual precipitation increased by 6.3 mm at a 0.98 mm•(10a)−1 rate. The prediction accuracy of the regression model was good, R 2 exceeded 0.7, the ecological baseflow response to climate change lagged, and precipitation greatly impacted ecological baseflow. The basin sensitivity coefficient showed a decreasing trend from upstream to downstream, with the annual maximum value in 2010, the minimum value in 1984, the monthly maximum value in April and the monthly minimum value in November. Based on the climate change trend and the social water use of the basin, the ecological baseflow protection targets and measures were proposed according to the season and the hydrological period for actual water resource management and scheduling of the river in this and similar regions.
... For example, the increase in pesticide use in large crops is already causing serious environmental and public health impacts (World Health Organization 2006;Langley and Mort 2012;Rani et al. 2021). Improperly tampering with livestock products may put consumers' lives in danger (Xin and Stone 2008;Cavin et al. 2018), and industry investment in processed foods has been linked to the incidence of obesity, diabetes, celiac disease, and heart disease (Canella et al. 2014;Anand et al. 2015; Aguayo-Patrón and Calderón de la Barca 2017). Although for a long time environmental conditions and inadequate storage of food products have been ignored, today it is already clear that these conducts are responsible for the increasing presence of mycotoxins (Marroquín-Cardona et al. 2014). ...
Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin produced by species of filamentous fungi widely found as a contaminant in food and with high toxic potential. Studies have shown that this toxin causes kidney and liver damage; however, data on the central nervous system effects of exposure to OTA are still scarce. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effects of exposure to OTA on behavioral and neurochemical parameters in adult zebrafish. The animals were treated with different doses of OTA (1.38, 2.77, and 5.53 mg/kg) with intraperitoneal injections and submitted to behavioral evaluations in the open tank and social interaction tests. Subsequently, they were euthanized, and the brains were used to assess markers associated with oxidative status. In the open tank test, OTA altered distance traveled, absolute turn angle, mean speed, and freezing time. However, no significant effects were observed in the social interaction test. Moreover, OTA also increased glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), and glutathione reductase (GR) levels and decreased non-protein thiols (NPSH) levels in the zebrafish brain. This study showed that OTA can affect behavior and neurochemical levels in zebrafish.
... The history of milk adulteration can be traced to 1850 when in New York about 8000 children were killed by the Swill milk scandal [1]. Later, it became a serious concern when in China 2 of 29 infant milk products were adulterated with melamine [2]. The adulteration is made for economic reasons; however, it affects public health [3]. ...
Conventional food supply chains are centralized in nature and possess challenges pertaining to a single point of failure, product irregularities, quality compromises, and loss of data. Numerous cases of food fraud, contamination, and adulteration are daily reported from multiple parts of India, suggesting the absolute need for an upgraded decentralized supply chain model. A country such as India, where its biggest strength is its demographic dividend, cannot afford to malnutrition a large population of its children by allowing them to consume contaminated and adulterated dairy products. In view of the gravity of the situation, we propose a blockchain-enabled supply chain platform for the dairy industry. With respect to the supply chain platform, the dairy products of choice include milk, cheese, and butter. Blockchain is one of the fastest growing technologies having widespread acceptance across multiple industry verticals. Blockchain possesses the power to transform traditional supply chains into decentralized, robust, transparent, tamper proof, and sustainable supply chains. The proposed supply chain platform goes beyond the aspect of food traceability and focuses on maintaining the nutritional values of dairy products, identification of adulteration and contamination in dairy products, the increasing economic viability of running a dairy farm, preventing counterfeit dairy products, and enhancing the revenue of the dairy company. The paper collates the mentioned functionalities into four distinct impact dimensions: social, economic, operations, and sustainability. The proposed blockchain-enabled dairy supply chain platform combines the use of smart contracts, quick response code (QR code) technology, and IoT and has the potential to redefine the dairy supply chains on socio-economic, operational, and sustainability parameters.
... In addition to accidental contamination during milk production, processing, packaging and storage, the adulteration of milk (deliberate contamination) is also a big concern affecting product quality and safety, with substantial economic loss (Azad & Ahmed, 2016). The melamine incident occurring in 2008 was a good example to show how adulteration of milk products (infant formula) could bring about devastating outcomes on human health (infant illness and death) (Xin & Stone, 2008). With advances in analytical technologies able to detect chemicals at trace levels, metabolomics has been increasingly used to assess events of contamination and adulteration in milk, with determining alterations in metabolites from these events. ...
Milk and milk products are nutritionally rich and consumed globally. Maintaining nutritional quality and ensuring safety of these products have become one of the major topics in dairy research. Dairy products contain metabolites including key nutritional elements, which are derived from dairy animals and elsewhere (e.g. milk processing, fermentation). Since the level and type of metabolites can vary by diverse factors from farm to table dairy, metabolites may represent the quality of milk and milk products in terms of nutritional value, authenticity, safety, and so on. In this review, we introduce metabolomics as a powerful tool to obtain a comprehensive snapshot of metabolite composition and dynamic changes, and focus on its recent progress and applications in dairy product quality. Factors (pre- and post-harvest effects, contamination, adulteration, etc.) affecting the quality and safety of products are dissected, and examples of related metabolomics works are provided. Potential metabolite indicators and metabolic mechanisms associated with the quality factors of dairy products are presented. With cases of single metabolomics approach, current trends in the integration of metabolomics with other omics techniques (so called multi-omics) in dairy science, as well as future perspectives of metabolomics in the field are also explored and discussed.
... For milk to be sold, unfortunately, the processes behind milk adulteration have become sufficiently sophisticated and widespread that regulatory bodies may find adulteration detection difficult or impossible 16,17 . Focusing on milk adulteration, it is easy to find the maximum residue limits (MRLs) and tolerable daily intake (TDI) for known chemical contaminants, such as melamine 18 , as well as plasticizers, preservatives, and antimicrobials, all of which are of significant concern for their impacts on human health 19,20 and to adulterate or dilute samples down in such a way as to defeat existing testing techniques. ...
This study used desorption electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (DESI-MS) to analyse and detect and classify biomarkers in five different animal and plant sources of milk for the first time. A range of differences in terms of features was observed in the spectra of cow milk, goat milk, camel milk, soya milk, and oat milk. Chemometric modelling was then used to classify the mass spectra data, enabling unique or significant markers for each milk source to be identified. The classification of different milk sources was achieved with a cross-validation percentage rate of 100% through linear discriminate analysis (LDA) with high sensitivity to adulteration (0.1–5% v/v). The DESI-MS results from the milk samples analysed show the methodology to have high classification accuracy, and in the absence of complex sample clean-up which is often associated with authenticity testing, to be a rapid and efficient approach for milk fraud control.
... Currently, the tools used to solve this issue are responsible for creating other problems. For example, the increase of pesticides in large crops is already causing serious environmental and public health impacts (Langley and Mort, 2012;Rani et al., 2021;World Health Organization, 2006); Improperly tampering with livestock products has become a crime that puts consumers' lives in danger (Cavin et al., 2018;Xin and Stone, 2008); Industry investment in processed foods has been linked to the incidence of obesity, diabetes, celiac disease and heart disease (Aguayo-Patrón and Calderón de la Barca, 2017;Anand et al., 2015;Canella et al., 2014). Although for a long time, environmental conditions and inadequate storage of food products have been ignored, today it is already clear that these conducts are responsible for the increasing presence of mycotoxins (Marroquín-Cardona et al., 2014). ...
Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin produced by species of filamentous fungi widely found as a contaminant in food and with high toxic potential. Studies have shown that this toxin cause kidney and liver damage, however, data on the effects of exposure to OTA on the central nervous system are still scarce. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a teleost often used in translational research due to its physiological, genetic, and behavioral homology with mammals, in addition to being useful as an environmental bioindicator. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effects of exposure to OTA on behavioral and neurochemical parameters in adult zebrafish. The animals were treated with different doses of OTA (1.38, 2.77, and 5.53 mg/kg) and submitted to behavioral evaluations in the open tank and social interaction tests. Subsequently, they were euthanized, and the brains were used to assess markers associated with oxidative status. In the open tank test OTA induced changes in distance, absolute turn angle, mean speed, and time-freezing. However, no significant effects were observed in the social interaction test. Moreover, OTA also induced alterations in neurochemical parameters with changes in non-protein thiols (NPSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), and glutathione reductase (GR). This study showed that OTA can affect neurobiological aspects in zebrafish even at low doses.
... Milk and dairy product adulteration came into global concern [1] . Possible reasons behind it may include demand and supply gap, perishable nature of milk, low purchasing capability of customer and lack of suitable detection tests [2] . ...
This study was designed to elaborate the physical and chemical condition
of the milk supplied to the Bahawalpur city. A total of thirty samples were collected
from the various sources and were processed for the determination of physical
condition, chemical composition and adulterations. The results indicated that
the water was added in higher amounts in all the samples. 10% samples from
milk shops were found adulterated with vegetable oil. No samples were found
to adulterate with, starch, urea, formalin, detergent, ammonium sulphate etc.
The chemical composition of the milk samples from milk shops, tea shops and
households were acidity %(0.14 ± 0.02,0.12 ± 018,0.12 ± .016); protein%(2.79
± 0.38,2.68 ± 0.37,2.79 ± 0.36); pH% (6.74 ± .046.72 ± .062,6.70 ± 0.61) ;
Fat%(4.01 ± 0.68,3.13 ± 0.0.87,2.82 ± 0.81) Solid-Not-Fat(7.92 ± 0.82,6.97
± 1.08,6.34 ± 0.98) and total solids (14.2 ± 7.99,10.10 ± 1.88,9.16 ± 1.75)
respectively. The adulteration observed mostly in Milk shop sample, hence
the study clearly brought the fact that milk from all resources had adulterated
samples frequently with addition of water and vegetable oil.
... Food adulteration, which is mainly related to the failure of a food product to meet legal standards, is the result of the change in nature and quality of food with the addition or substitution of a food ingredient with another unspecified ingredient; this scenario poses a serious threat to healthcare, especially in developing countries [408]. An example of food adulteration is the contamination of Chinese infant's milk with the addition of melamine in 2008, and global attention has since been drawn to the continuous analysis of all basic food products, such as milk, dairy products, and meat [409][410][411][412][413][414]. Milk and dairy products, which can easily adulterate, are important for adults and infants as they include key complementary ingredients, such as fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. ...
Abstract
Food intake gives vitality and supplements to support humans and other living organisms. Food safety and contamination problems associated with food hygiene, storage, chemical additives, enzymes, bacteria, and pesticides are crucial issues because of their direct influence on the health of humans and even animals. New monitoring technologies should be developed for potential food safety and significant environmental benefits. To date, the ultrasensing, early detection, and real- and on-time monitoring of vital reactive species, biomolecules, chemicals, and hazardous agents are important in ensuring food quality. With significant advances in the engineering of sensory devices, the progressive development of accurate quantity screening, early explicit monitoring and assessment, and real-time detection analysis can support the standard food quality through the full control of an extraordinary food safety test. Progress in numerous auto-examining appraisals, sensing protocols, and tools of (i) reactive species and chemical additives associated with human metabolism and various nutritional and industrial processes of foods, including ascorbic acid (AA), H2O2, uric acid (UA), and nitrite and sulfite anions; (ii) extremely organic and inorganic hazards such as heavy metals and bisphenol A; and (iii) food adulteration, pesticides, pathogenic microorganisms are a key challenge for food safety concerns. To date, evidence supporting the possibility of transmitting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection through food products is unavailable. However, in a report on an outbreak in mid-June 2020 in China, food contamination with the causative agent of COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, was discovered. Thus, sensory protocol devices for monitoring the SARS-CoV-2 antigen associated with food products is urgently needed for the future perspective progress in health. As such, we provide details in advanced sensor development in the monitoring, analysis, and evaluation sectors for food safety applications. We also report on next-generation nano/microscale wearable sensor devices that can wirelessly provide relevant healthy and safety food information data. This review gives evidence that the powerful engineering of mobile food sensor devices is an ongoing acquisition, offering considerable future avenues to the perspective in-home healthcare of aging individuals.
... Milk and dairy product adulteration came into global concern [1] . Possible reasons behind it may include demand and supply gap, perishable nature of milk, low purchasing capability of customer and lack of suitable detection tests [2] . ...
... The gap between milk demand and supply has given way to an unscrupulous practice known as milk adulteration. Milk adulteration which is the addition of exogenous material to milk has been reported way back in the year 1958 with the Swill Milk Scandal resulting in nearly 8000 infant deaths in New York [2]. From the economic perspective also, milk adulteration has become a regular practice carried undaunted in every niche of the world. ...
Milk adulteration is one of the major global concerns as milk is being consumed as a wholesome dairy product in every part of the world. The fraudulent practice of milk adulteration is on the rise, which is making people apprehensive about the purity and quality of milk. The adulterants such as water, vegetable and animal fat, extraneous proteins and chemical components viz. melamine, urea, formalin, detergents, ammonium sulphate, boric acid, caustic soda, benzoic acid, salicylic acid, hydrogen peroxide and sugars deliberately mixed in milk can be an be harmful to the health of consumers. This necessitates the availability of procedures and technologies that could curb this ill practice of milk adulteration. Over the years, various methods have been developed for the detection of milk adulterants. The chromatographic methods such as HPLC and GC, coupled with mass spectrometry have been used for selective identification as well as detection of different milk adulterants. Immunological techniques such as ELISA and various DNA based procedures like PCR have also been used for the specific detection of some common milk adulterants. Spectroscopic methods, namely FTIR and NIR in association with chemometrics have raised the bar of adulterant detection systems. The equipments such as electronic nose and electronic tongue are some of the fancy procedures used in milk and other food adulterants detection. The biosensors are the detection systems that can be used for rapid and real time detection of milk adulterants. This review brings insight into the biosensor application in milk adulterant detection and also tries to explore the potential of biosensors in identifying some common milk adulterants.
... Food "safety and quality" monitoring is of major public health importance because the growing incidences of food poisoning pose a cumulative threat worldwide, such as the outbreaks of melamine (MEL) contamination of milk and dairy products in China (2008) [15]. MEL a triazine heterocyclic organic compound, is being utilized in the manufacture of fertilizer, flame retardant paint, plywood, plastics, adhesives, and cement [16]. ...
The capability of functional logic operations is highly intriguing, but far from being realized owing to limited recognition element (RE) and complex readout signals, which limit their applications. In this contribution, for a visual colorimetric sensor for melamine (MEL) we described the construction of two- and three-input AND logic gate by exploiting the intrinsic peroxidase (POD)-like activity of CeO2 nanorods (NRs) (~23.04% Ce3+ fraction and aspect ratio (RTEM) of 3.85 ± 0.18) as RE at acidic pH (4.5). Further ATP piloted catalytic tuning of POD-like activity in CeO2 NRs employed for a functional logic gate-controlled MEL sensing at neutral pH (7.4). AND logic circuit operated MEL sensing record colorimetric response time of 15 minutes to produce blue color proportionate to MEL concentration. The fabricated nanozyme (CeO2)-based logic gate sensor probe for MEL at pH 4.5 showed a linear response from 0.004 nM to 1.56 nM with a limit of detection (LOD) of 4 pM; while translation from acidic to neutral pH (at 7.4) sensor exhibited linear response ranging from 0.2 nM to 3.12 nM with a LOD value of 17 pM. Through CeO2 POD-like nanozyme behavior under acidic and neutral pH, the fabricated logic gate sensor showed high affinity for MEL, generating prominent visual output with picomolar sensitivity, good reproducibility, and stability with relative standard deviation (RSD) <1% and 2%, respectively. A feasibility study in real samples (raw milk and milk powder) showed good recoveries with negligible matrix effect, an anti-interference experiment revealed sensor selectivity, highlighting robust sensor practical utility. With the merits of high sensitivity, specificity, low cost, and simplified sample processing, the developed logic-controlled colorimetric MEL sensing platform with appropriate modifications can be recognized as a potent methodology for on-site analysis of various food adulterants and related applications.
... Over the decade since the spectacular eruption of the melamine milk scandal in 2008 (Ingelfinger, 2008;Xin and Stone, 2008;Xiu and Klein, 2010), food safety problems have been a constant topic of public concern in China (Yang, 2013). Consumers are especially worried about the forms of deliberate "faking" and adulteration that made the milk scandal so disturbing (Gong and Jackson, 2012;Liu et al., 2014;Veeck et al., 2015). ...
At a farm-to-table restaurant in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, high-quality food is sourced through direct relationships between restaurant staff and trusted rural suppliers. The restaurant is part of China’s growing food movement, and it shares this core principle of direct purchasing with other movement projects nationwide. At the same time, as the state responds to public anxieties over food safety, it has taken a “transparency” approach, emphasising “traceability” from field to tongue. Although such an approach may seem to follow similar logic to direct purchasing in the food movement, these two ways of pursuing safety are radically distinct. Drawing on evidence from the Hangzhou restaurant’s procurement system and Zhejiang’s “Sunshine Kitchen” food safety policies, I find that state responses to the food safety crisis misrecognise underlying moral-economic problems. By contrast, the restaurant’s farm-to-table purchasing system holds out a compelling model for (re)fashioning forms of moral consensus between growers and eaters of food.
... This fraud should have been detected by routine tests implemented to ensure milk quality. However, these tests were either not carried out properly or ineffective [204,205]. As a result, about 300,000 people were poisoned due to the high concentration of melamine, which caused many infants to develop kidney stones leading to renal failure and death of 6 babies [206]. ...
In recent years, gold nanoparticles have demonstrated excellent enzyme-mimicking activities which resemble those of peroxidase, oxidase, catalase, superoxide dismutase or reductase. This, merged with their ease of synthesis, tunability, biocompatibility and low cost, makes them excellent candidates when compared with biological enzymes for applications in biomedicine or biochemical analyses. Herein, over 200 research papers have been systematically reviewed to present the recent progress on the fundamentals of gold nanozymes and their potential applications. The review reveals that the morphology and surface chemistry of the nanoparticles play an important role in their catalytic properties, as well as external parameters such as pH or temperature. Yet, real applications often require specific biorecognition elements to be immobilized onto the nanozymes, leading to unexpected positive or negative effects on their activity. Thus, rational design of efficient nanozymes remains a challenge of paramount importance. Different implementation paths have already been explored, including the application of peroxidase-like nanozymes for the development of clinical diagnostics or the regulation of oxidative stress within cells via their catalase and superoxide dismutase activities. The review also indicates that it is essential to understand how external parameters may boost or inhibit each of these activities, as more than one of them could coexist. Likewise, further toxicity studies are required to ensure the applicability of gold nanozymes in vivo. Current challenges and future prospects of gold nanozymes are discussed in this review, whose significance can be anticipated in a diverse range of fields beyond biomedicine, such as food safety, environmental analyses or the chemical industry.
... Le risque est élevé que de nouvelles contaminations ou des contaminations inattendues dues à des fraudes, des erreurs, des accidents, ou encore aux changements des conditions climatiques et environnementales quand il s'agit de composés naturels, aient lieu. En effet, l'analyse de routine n'a pas évité le scandale du lait contaminé en Chine en 2008 (Xin and Stone, 2008)., car la mélamine ne figurait pas sur la liste des substances à contrôler à l'époque. En conséquence de l'adultération à la mélamine, près de 300 000 bébés sont tombés malades et 6 sont morts, comme l'a signalé le Ministère chinois de la Santé fin 2008 (Gossner et al., 2009). ...
Face à l’expansion géographique des biotoxines marines, à l’émergence de nouvelles toxines et compte tenu du risque avéré pour la santé humaine, il est essentiel de disposer d’outils suffisamment versatiles et performants pour détecter une gamme, la plus large possible, de toxines connues ou émergentes de manière à garantir la sécurité des consommateurs. Cette thèse s’inscrit dans la démarche de surveillance de la qualité sanitaire des produits de la pêche. Elle a pour finalité de contribuer à l’évolution du dispositif de veille d’émergence par le développement d’une approche non ciblée reposant sur l’utilisation de la spectrométrie de masse haute résolution comme alternative à la pratique controversée du bio-essai sur souris.Les travaux entrepris ont permis dans un premier temps de développer et caractériser une méthode par chromatographie liquide couplée à la spectrométrie de masse haute résolution pour l'analyse ciblée de 32 toxines marines avec une gamme étendue de polarités, utilisant un spectromètre de masse haute résolution. Deux types de séparations chromatographiques, en phase inverse et à interactions hydrophiles, ont été mises en place pour la séparation des toxines lipophiles et hydrophiles. Ensuite une stratégie décrivant les différentes étapes d’une approche non ciblée allant de l’acquisition au traitement des données par des outils chimiométriques a été développée. Le traitement des données acquises en mode non ciblé a été réalisé au moyen de deux types de logiciels différents : une suite logicielle commerciale (Sciex) et un logiciel open source (XCMS). Cette stratégie a été testée avec succès dans le cadre d’une preuve de concept sur des échantillons d’huîtres et de moules supplémentés avec certaines toxines et analysés en aveugle. Elle a ensuite été appliquée sur des échantillons impliqués dans des cas de toxi-infections alimentaires collectives liés à la consommation de violets du genre Microcosmus, selon les deux approches différentes, le suspect screening et l’analyse sans a priori.
... A recent example is China's tainted milk scandal, in which unethical companies used inexpensive melamine to adulterate expensive food products. Other forms of corruption include buying and selling of influential positions [22]. Caihou Xu, who served as vicechairman of the Central Military Commission, used his position to receive bribes that earned him billions of yuan [23]. ...
States are independent territories in which governance is implemented by government agents, because states are complex systems that cannot spontaneously self-govern. However, governments sometimes forget that they are only agents of the state, and attempt to obtain a monopoly on power by controlling elected officials and the operation of the state. History has shown that this approach leads to errors in political development because government agents do not always act in the best interests of the state and its people. Centralized authority is often accompanied by the abuse of power, corruption, poverty, and a loss of human rights. To help countries avoid repeating these tragedies, this paper has proposed a model of institutional evolution in which state institutions can evolve to support peaceful socioeconomic development that benefits both the poor and the wealthy by avoiding institutional lock in. Statesmen must account for the lessons described in this paper to better understand and account for the difference between the state and its government.
... Milk adulteration came into global concern after the outburst of melamine adulteration in infant milk products in China [3]. According to FSSAI [4], food adulteration is an act of reducing the food quality offered for sale either by the addition of cheap substances or by the subtraction of valuable components. ...
Milk is the best and cheapest source of nutrition and hence adulteration in milk is done to gain economic benefit. Formalin has been added illegitimately in order to increase the shelf life of milk. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy coupled with multivariate chemometrics was evaluated as a quick quality monitoring method for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of formalin in cow milk. Spectra of pure and adulterated milk (0.5–5 % v/v) were acquired in the wavenumber range of 4000−400 cm⁻¹ using ATR-FTIR. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed well separated clusters allowing discrimination of pure samples from adulterated samples. Soft Independent Modelling of Class Analogy (SIMCA) approach was applied for the classification of test samples which showed 100 % classification efficiency. Partial least squares (PLS) regression and Principle component regression (PCR) models were established to quantify the level of formalin in milk using normal, 1st derivative and 2nd derivative spectra. PLSR model for normal spectra showed best prediction as compared to PCR with coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.977 for calibration and 0.985 for validation. This method has a sensitivity of 0.5 % level of formalin adulteration.
... In 2007, the melamine and cyanuric acid cocontamination of a wheat gluten ingredient caused pet-food associated renal failure in a number of cats and dogs in the US (Brown et al., 2007;Qin et al., 2013). In 2008, melamine adulteration of infant formula in China caused thousands of cases of renal complications in children, at least six confirmed deaths, and precipitated mass product recalls from multiple countries (MacMahon et al., 2012;Qin et al., 2013;Xin and Stone, 2008). The widespread global attention on the melamine scandal, the increased regulations by government agencies, and the availability of numerous analytical methods have decreased the risk of recurrence of melamine incidents (Draher et al., 2014;MacMahon et al., 2012;Turnipseed et al., 2008;U.S. FDA, 2017a,b,c). ...
A non-targeted detection method using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy combined with chemometric modeling was developed for the rapid screening of commercial milk powder (MP) products as authentic or potentially mixed with known and unknown adulterants. Two benchtop FT-NIR spectrometers and a handheld NIR device were evaluated for model development. The performance of SIMCA classification models was then validated using an independent test set of genuine MP samples and a set of gravimetrically prepared mixtures consisting of MPs spiked with each of eleven potential adulterants. Classification models yielded 100% sensitivities for the benchtop spectrometers. Better specificity, which was influenced by the nature of the adulterant, was obtained for the benchtop FT-NIR instruments than for the handheld NIR device, which suffered from lower spectral resolution and a narrower spectral range. FT-NIR spectroscopy and SIMCA classification models show promise for the rapid screening of commercial MPs for the detection of potential adulteration.
The rise in milk adulteration and contamination, fraud incidents and improper handling necessitates effective traceability systems in the Indian dairy industry. Thus, this review investigates current trends, associated challenges, traceability and its fundamental applications to address food safety and quality issues. The paper covers the evolution of milk adulteration and contamination detection techniques from conventional to emerging. Such information and analytical technologies can improve transparency and safety in the dairy industry by implementing effective traceability systems. This review will explore the challenges and future opportunities associated with the current situation in the Indian dairy industry.
Food safety is a scientific discipline that requires sophisticated handling, production, and storage. Food is common for microbial development; it acts as a source for growth and contamination. The traditional procedures for food analysis are time-consuming and labor-intensive, but optical sensors overcome these constraints. Biosensors have replaced rigorous lab procedures like chromatography and immunoassays with more precise and quick sensing. It offers quick, nondestructive, and cost-effective food adulteration detection. Over the last few decades, the significant spike in interest in developing surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors for the detection and monitoring of pesticides, pathogens, allergens, and other toxic chemicals in foods. This review focuses on fiber-optic SPR (FO-SPR) biosensors for detecting various adulterants in food matrix while also discussing the future perspective and the key challenges encountered by SPR based sensors.
Blockchain technology (BCT) has been proven to have the potential to transform food supply chains (FSCs) based on its potential benefits. BCT promises to improve food supply chain processes. Despite its several benefits, little is known about the factors that drive blockchain adoption within the food supply chain and the impact of blockchain technology on the food supply chain, as empirical evidence is scarce. This study, therefore, explores factors, impacts and challenges of blockchain adoption in the FSC. The study adopts an exploratory qualitative interview approach. The data consist of Twenty-one interviews which were analyzed using thematic analysis techniques in NVivo (v12), resulting in identifying nine factors classified under three broad categories (Technology—complexity, compatibility, cost; Organization—organization size, knowledge; Environment—government support, competitive pressure, standardization, and compliance) as the most significant factors driving blockchain adoption in the FSC. In addition, five impacts were identified (visibility, performance, efficiency, trust, and value creation) to blockchain technology adoption. This study also identifies significant challenges of blockchain technology (interoperability, privacy, infrastructure conditions, and lack of knowledge). Based on the findings, the study developed a conceptual framework for blockchain adoption in food supply chains. The study adds to the corpus of knowledge by illuminating the adoption of blockchain technology and its effects on food supply chains and by giving the industry evidence-based guidance for developing its blockchain plans. The study provides full insights and awareness of blockchain adoption challenges among executives, supply chain organizations, and governmental agencies.
Many hydro-metallurgical methods are developed to recover vanadium, while the ammonium salts precipitation possesses the final step and it has threatened to the environment. The key point is to find a new compound to replace ammonium salts without reducing the vanadium recovery efficiency. Some compounds with -NH2 function group have attracted our attention as they have similar function group with ammonium salts. In this paper, the adsorption of vanadium with melamine is conducted. The results show that high adsorption efficiency can be achieved at a short time and melamine displays great performance on recovery of all concentrations of vanadium. Response surface methodology (RSM) is used to optimize the reaction conditions and order the parameters: reaction temperature > concentration of vanadium > dosage of melamine > reaction time. 99.63% vanadium is adsorbed under optimized conditions: n(melamine)/n(V) = 0.6, reaction time of 60 min, 10 g/L vanadium solution and reaction temperature of 60 ℃. The successful application of melamine in recovery of vanadium provides a new way for utilization of melamine and also a glorious future for -NH2 compounds in recovery heavy metals.
Globalization of the food supply chain (FSCs) has brought significant challenges to the food system, such as fraud, safety, security, and quality issues due to information asymmetry. Globalization also increases the difficulty and complexity of solving these problems to improve FSC efficiency. Blockchain technology (BCT) has proven to have the potential to transform FSC based on its potential benefits. However, studies of BCT adoption in FSC are relatively new and scarce. This study systematically reviews the current state of research that has been done in the space of blockchain and food supply chains. In carrying out the research, a systematic literature review (SLR) was deployed using two prominent databases, Scopus and Business Source Complete (EBSCO), covering articles from 2016 to 2021, and 52 articles were synthesized to identify blockchain enablers, benefits, and barriers. Based on this review, a conceptual framework is developed for blockchain adoption within the food supply chain. The study identified scalability, interoperability, high cost, lack of expertise, and regulations as the most likely barriers to blockchain adoption. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing insights into blockchain adoption in the food supply chain. In addition, it offers evidence-based direction for other industries to build their blockchain strategies.
Milk contains whole nutrients and is consumed by the majority of population in the form of drinking as well as dietary products. Milk adulteration is one of the most common phenomena, this milk adulteration can be over looked in many countries. it shows serious health hazards leading to fatal diseases. Milk adulterants have been reported globally by adding various instances such as adding water, whey proteins, melamine, urea, detergents, starch hydrogen peroxide, boric acid. This paper presents a detailed review of common milk adulterants as well as different methods such as the chromatographic methods such as HPLC and GC coupled with mass spectrometry to detect the adulterants in milk, and immunological techniques such as ELISA and various DNA based procedures like PCR have also been used to detect the adulterants both qualitatively and quantitatively. This study is organized to be an adulterants-based study instead of a techniques-based one, where qualitative detection for most of the common adulterants are enlisted and quantitative detection methods are limited to a few major adulterants of milk. Apart from regular techniques, recent development in these detection techniques has also been reported. Nowadays milk is being adulterated in more sophisticated ways that demand for cutting- edge research for the detection of adulterants. This review intends to contribute towards the common knowledge base regarding possible milk adulterants and their detection techniques.
A collaborative study was undertaken in which five international laboratories participated to determine amino acid fingerprints in 39 authentic nonfat dry milk (NFDM)/skim milk powder (SMP) samples. A rapid method of amino acid analysis involving microwave-assisted hydrolysis followed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (UHPLC-UV) was used for quantitation of amino acids and to calculate their distribution. The performance of this rapid method of analysis was evaluated and was used to determine the amino acid fingerprint of authentic milk powders. The distribution of different amino acids and their predictable upper and lower tolerance limits in authentic NFDM/SMP samples were established as a reference. Amino acid fingerprints of NFDM/SMP were compared with selected proteins and nitrogen rich compounds (proteins from pea, soy, rice, wheat, whey, and fish gelatin) which can be potential economically motivated adulterants (EMA). The amino acid fingerprints of NFDM/SMP were found to be affected by spiking with pea, soy, rice, whey, fish gelatin and arginine among the investigated adulterants but not by wheat protein and melamine. The study results establish an amino acid fingerprint of authentic NFDM/SMP and demonstrate the utility of this method as a tool in verifying the authenticity of milk powders and detecting their adulteration.
A simple and green colorimetric sensing assay strategy for highly efficient determination of melamine has been fabricated, which is based on the redox reaction of gallic acid with Ag⁺. Monodispersed Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) were obtained using gallic acid as a reducing and stabilizing agent. However, the aggregate behavior of AgNPs was observed, while the melamine was present in the reaction medium. As a result, the color of the solution changed from vivid yellow to brown, and the density of the color was quantitatively correlated with the melamine concentration. The aggregation of AgNPs could be attributable to the formation of hydrogen bonds between melamine and gallic acid. The designed sensor exhibited a good detection limit of 0.099 μM (0.012 ppm), which was much lower than the safety limit in China (1.0 ppm) and EU (2.0 ppm). Additionally, the sensing assay displayed good selectivity toward melamine over other coexisting substances. Consequently, the proposed colorimetric sensor was successfully used for the determination of melamine detection in raw milk samples.
It is meaningful and promising to develop a practical sensor toward melamine in dairy products with high sensitivity and selectivity. However, complicated composition and environment in milk necessitate stable luminophore as sensor with excellent photophysical properties. Herein, ultrathin graphitic carbon nitride nanosheet (CNNS) is prepared via successive thermal polymerization and acid exfoliation. The photophysical property of CNNS states its strong ultraviolet absorption and intense blue‐light emission. Noteworthily, the CNNS could act as a chemo‐sensor to detect trace melamine in dairy products. The high stability, eminent sensitivity, powerful selectivity and competitiveness substantiates that this CNNS luminophore is a promising sensor for melamine in dairy products, being of potentially practical value on monitoring milk quality.
Urea is authorised in the European Union (EU) as feed additive for ruminants. Because of its high molecular nitrogen content, it is a substance for potential protein adulteration in non-ruminant feed. The EU defines a spectro-colorimetric method as an official control method for the determination of urea in feed, whereas the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) in the United States recommends an enzymatic method. Discrepancies between results obtained by these different approaches have been reported, especially at low concentrations. Therefore, we developed and validated two methods for urea determination in compound feed, including pet food, and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) over a wide concentration range using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) and compared performance with a commercial enzyme kit. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were found to be 3 and 8 mg kg −1 for LC-MS/MS and 2 and 7 mg kg −1 for HPLC-FLD, respectively. For both methods, the variation coefficients ranged between 1.4% and 7.2% in ruminant feed used as reference material as well as spiked samples of complete feed for chicken, pet food for dogs and cats, as well as yeast. Recovery rates for spiked samples ranged from 86% to 105%. For real samples of complete feed for poultry, wet and dry pet food for cats and dogs and yeast amounts of urea between < LOD and 200 mg kg −1 relative to a feedingstuff with a moisture content of 12% were found. In comparison with the enzyme kit, the newly developed methods proved to be less time-consuming in sample preparation and more stable regarding matrix effects.
Melamine poisoning incidents and potential health risks raise global attention. Recent studies imply that melamine exposure is related to male reproductive dysfunction, however, the underlying mechanisms are unclear. In this study, 32 male Kunming mice were administered with 0, 12.5, 25, and 50 mg/L melamine via drinking water for 13 weeks, respectively. Sperm quality, testicular morphology, and the mRNA expression levels of MAPK family members p38, ERK5, ERK1/2, JNK1/2/3 and their downstream transcription factors GADD153, MAX, MEF2C, CREB, c-Myc, JunD, c-JUN, Sap1a, p53, ATF-2, Elk1, and Nur77 in testes were investigated. The results revealed that low-dose melamine exposure reduced sperm quality, altered the testicular histological structure, and reduced the mRNA expression levels of p38, ERK1/2, MAX and Sap1a in the testes. The p38 and phosphorylated-p38 expressions analysis further suggested that the down-regulated phosphorylation of p38 and downstream transcription factors MAX and Sap1a play key roles in male reproductive dysfunction caused by melamine. Altogether, our study provides a new insight to elucidate the underlying mechanisms by which melamine induces male reproductive toxicity, and to evaluate the health risks of melamine.
We first time compared the synthesis mechanism of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in the marine plant extract (MPE) such as sargassum carpophyllum and spirulina and the terrestrial plant extract (TPE) as for rose petal and longan leaf. Also, the different aggregation behaviors and the color changes of AuNPs in MPE and TPE when they met melamine (Mel) were discussed. In the visual color detection of Mel, the color of AuNPs in MPE rapidly turned blue-gray from wine red encountered Mel, but it was still wine red in the TPE. The size and surface composition of AuNPs in MPE and TPE were analyzed by UV-vis, TEM, FTIR, and XPS. Meanwhile, we further clarified the reason why the AuNPs in TPE can’t colorimetric detection of Mel, despite a lot of hydroxyl groups in biomolecules.
Issues regarding food safety have become a threat to human health in both developed and developing countries. Demand to ensure the safe food supply is increasing day by day. A wide array of molecular detection methods with high sensitivity, specificity, and rapidity are considered as the feasible approaches for the recognition of various foodborne pathogens and toxic chemicals to manage and prevent the health hassles. Old-traditional microbiological detection methods are often time-consuming, less-efficient, and laborious, which makes them inadequate to achieve the requirement of rapid food testing. In order to mitigate this problem, a wide variety of rapid and efficient detection methods such as immunological, nucleic acid, and biosensor-based methods have been emerged out in order to detect, identify, and enumerate various food-borne pathogens. So, this chapter intends to delve into various traditional, advanced, and rapid techniques with regard to their principles, applications, pros, and cons that have been implicated in determining various foodborne pathogens to ensure food safety in the near future.
We herein report the first attempt to engineer an innovative bio-tissue network signal amplifier transduced by a novel natural N-doped carbon material. In order to prevent kidney uric acid (UA) stone disease in advance, based on the excretion of most UA through the kidney, as well as the high nitrogen content in animal tissues, and considering the biocompatibility, a high-N-doped carbon was firstly prepared by in situ carbonization and chemical activation method with the mouse kidney as precursor. The activated mouse kidney transformed carbon (AMKC) had a large specific surface area and network hierarchical pore structure, and played the biological transduction for signal enrichment to vastly increase sensitivity to detect UA, which may be due to the multi-circuitry performance of bio-tissue. Under the optimized conditions, AMKC as a network signal amplifier expressed a linear relationship to UA concentrations from 0.5 to 300 μM, with a high sensitivity of 0.1195 μA μM⁻¹ and a low detection limit of 0.15 μM (3σ). Furthermore, the bio-tissue multi-circuitry signal amplifier exhibited a high selectivity for UA even with interference of other biological inorganic salts and small organic molecules, which has broad application prospects in clinical diagnosis and detection.
Detection of the presence of milk powder in liquid whole milk is challenging due to their similar chemical components. In this study, a sensitive and robust approach has been developed and tested for potential utilization in discriminating adulterated milk from liquid whole milk by analyzing the intact protein and hydrolyzed peptide using ultra‐performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer (UPLC‐QTOF‐MS) fingerprints combined with data fusion. Two different datasets from intact protein and peptide fingerprints were fused to improve the discriminating ability of principle component analysis (PCA). Furthermore, the midlevel data fusion coupled with PCA could completely distinguish liquid whole milk from the milk. The limit of detection of milk powder in liquid whole milk was 0.5% (based on the total protein equivalence). These results suggested that fused data from intact protein and peptide fingerprints created greater synergic effect in detecting milk quality, and the combination of data fusion and PCA analysis could be used for the detection of adulterated milk. A sensitive and robust approach has been developed and tested for potential utilization in discriminating adulterated milk from liquid whole milk by analyzing the intact protein and hydrolyzed peptide using UPLC‐QTOF‐MS fingerprints combined with data fusion. The limit of detection of milk powder in liquid whole milk was 0.5% (based on the total protein equivalence). Results suggested that fused data from intact protein and peptide fingerprints created greater synergic effect in detecting milk quality, and the combination of data fusion and principle component analysis (PCA) analysis could be used for the detection of adulterated milk.
Currently, feed adulteration and contamination with melamine (MEL) are considered one of the serious issues in the aquatic industry. With the limited studies of MEL exposure alone in fish, its adverse impacts on fish cannot be evaluated well. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the effects of MEL containing diets on the immune response, disease resistance to Aeromonas hydrophila, growth performance, chemical composition, immune-related genes expression, and histopathology of both spleen and head kidneys. Also, the efficacy of curcumin (CUR) dietary supplementation to alleviate MEL negative impacts were evaluated. A total of 180 apparently healthy Oreochromis niloticus (O. niloticus) were divided into four groups with three replicates fed the basal diet only, basal diet fortified with 200 mg/kg CUR, basal diet containing 1 % MEL, or a basal diet containing CUR + MEL. The results displayed that MEL significantly reduced growth performance indices and body crude lipid contents. Anemic, leukopenic, lymphocytopenic, heterocytopenic, esonipenic, hypoproteinemic and hypoalbuminic conditions were apparent. Moreover, depleted immune and antioxidant indicators including lysozyme activity, nitric oxide, immunoglobulin M, complement 3, glutathione peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase enzyme activity were recorded. Also, MEL reduced the disease resistance of O. niloticus to bacterial infection. Furthermore, MEL induced downregulation of mRNA levels of interleukin 1β and tumor necrosis factor α in the spleen together with obvious pathological perturbations in both spleen and head kidneys. The CUR addition resulted in a significant enhancement in most indices. These results may conclude that MEL could alter both innate and adaptive immune responses via the negative transcriptional effect on immune-related genes together with the oxidative damage of the immune organs. Furthermore, CUR dietary supplements could be advantageous for mitigating MEL negative impacts, thus offering a favorable aquafeed additive for O. niloticus.
This chapter is an introduction to the application of ambient mass spectrometry techniques (ambient MS) for food and environmental analysis. Ambient MS techniques are considered a powerful tool for direct analysis of samples with minimal or without any sample preparation prior to the mass spectrometric analysis, features that are very attractive for environmental and food laboratories. Beside the two first introduced, desorption electrospray (DESI) and direct analysis in real time (DART), a wide range of new ambient MS techniques have been developed until now. In this chapter, the classification of this group of techniques is discussed based on the intrinsic desorption/ionization mechanisms that take place. Moreover, the main characteristics that differentiate each technique based on both the fundamentals and the physical designs are also presented. Additionally, since minimal sample handling is sometimes required, in this chapter the reasons and strategies regarding sample processing are also included. Finally, the applicability and the method performance of the ambient MS techniques mainly used in environmental and food analysis are presented.
Uric acid crystallization in humans is associated with undesirable medical conditions including the formation of gout deposits and kidney stones. A major contributing factor to uric acid biomineralization, most often as either monosodium urate (MSU) or anhydrous uric acid (UA), is its relatively low solubility in physiologic solutions. Using bidentate and tridentate binding patterns designed to disrupt the binding motifs observed in the major physiologic forms, several heterocycles were identified which (1) significantly delay the time required for visible uric acid crystals to appear and/or (2) yield new 1:1 uric acid cocrystal phases. All five of the new phases obtained exhibited a multi-dentate hydrogen bonding motif between components. Fluorescence assays showed that three of the cocrystals were 3-6 X more soluble than the natural forms. The same competitive-binding approach was then extended to trimethoprim, an FDA-approved drug with the same substructure as the most effective binding agents. Addition of trimethoprim to uric acid solutions significantly delayed the crystallization times and also yielded a new cocrystal form with a solubility greater than MSU. These results serve to illustrate the potential benefits of repurposing exiting pharmaceuticals to treat uric acid diseases.
As a result of the information asymmetry on product quality, there is a risk of unethical suppliers defrauding buyers in a supply chain. Buyers often conduct quality inspection on shipments and frame supply contracts to punish quality fraud. Due to cost concerns, buyers need to estimate the suppliers’ fraud possibilities and choose appropriate testing methods and frequencies. As suppliers’ fraud intentions depend on their cost-benefit analysis, it is possible to analyze suppliers’ fraud intention with appropriate modeling of their profit-seeking behavior. In this research, we are interested in how fraud intention analysis may affect the quality inspection process. It should be noted that quality inspection can be a repeated process, with suppliers and buyers conducting multiple rounds of transactions (including transactions with frauds) and learning about each other during the process. Their supply contracts may also affect suppliers’ profit-seeking attitude. We conduct a laboratory experiment to examine the effect of fraud intention analysis systems on inspection decision making considering the learning and contract effects. We put the experiment in the context of a dairy supply chain as a critical and interesting example application. The experiment shows that if there are no strong punitive terms for fraud in the contract, fraud intention analysis can improve buyers’ decision-making efficiency after controlling the learning effect, in terms of decision time, inspection cost, and correctness of rejecting suppliers’ fraudulent shipments.
Melamine (Mel) is widespread in food and the environment. The effects of Mel on calcium oxalate (CaOx) crystallization and phase transformation were studied in aqueous solution and synthetic urine systems. The mechanism of Mel affecting the crystallization process was analyzed from the perspective of thermodynamics and kinetics. The morphology, structure and composition of CaOx crystals were characterized, ion selective electrode method was used to study the crystallization rate. For the first time, it was found that in synthetic urine, Mel could stabilize thermodynamically unstable calcium oxalate trihydrate (COT) and inhibit its conversion to calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM). Because Mel enriched calcium ions and oxalate on its surface through the dual effects of electrostatic adsorption and hydrogen bonding, increasing the local supersaturation. High supersaturation is conducive to the stability of COT, thus inhibiting the formation of stones. Kinetic analysis showed that Mel could accelerate the crystallization rate of COM in aqueous solution by reducing the average activation energy, thus increasing the risk of stone formation. This discovery allows us to fully utilize the stabilizing effect of Mel on COT to prevent the formation of stones, and to find the treatment of stones by understanding the process of Mel promoting COM crystallization.
The outbreak of infant milk powder poisoning incident in China attracted worldwide attention. The investigations found that the real culprit of this incident was melamine (Mel), which induced the formation of kidney stones. However, little is known about the formation mechanism of infant stones, not to mention the preventive and therapeutic drugs. Here, through thermodynamic and kinetic tests, in vitro simulation and animal experiments, multidisciplinary analysis and verification, we find that the formation of this kidney stone is a rate-controlled nano-scale supramolecular layered assembly process: Mel, uric acid (UA) and a small amount of H2O combine through hydrogen bonds to form a planar network supramolecular structure; the planar structures self-assemble layer-by-layer to form ellipsoidal nanocrystals through π-π stacking interactions, van der Waals force, hydrophilic/hydrophobic interaction, etc.; the small nanocrystals gradually grow and aggregate concentrically to form ellipsoidal Mel-UA stones under the control of matrix. Based on the above process, we screen out effective inhibitor and eliminator for stones, potassium citrate (K3Cit), which works through both hydrogen bonding and alkalinity. This work solved the most challenging conundrum left by the Mel incident, and blazed a trail for the prevention and treatment of the stone disease.
of main observation and conclusion
Melamine (Mel), a contaminant that has received much attention in recent years, has been adulterated into milk powder, causing a large number of infants suffering from kidney stone disease. To study the process and mechanism of calcium phosphate (CaP) stone formation induced by Mel, we simulated the formation process of CaP stones and studied the effect of Mel on crystallization in aqueous and synthetic urine systems, respectively. Ion selective electrode method was used to study the thermodynamic parameters and reaction rate of the crystallization process. It was first discovered that Mel could significantly induce the formation of CaP crystals under weak acidic urine conditions in which CaP cannot be stably present, so it may cause people to produce CaP stones. Thermodynamic parameter and reaction rate analysis indicated that Mel could increase the reaction tendency and accelerate the formation of CaP crystals, which was achieved by two process of electrostatic adsorption and release of calcium ions. This research is expected to provide scientific guidance for the prevention and treatment of Mel‐related stones.
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A non-targeted method for classifying authentic and adulterated skim and nonfat dry milk powders (MP) by solution-state, high-field ¹H NMR spectroscopy and conformity index analysis has been developed. Authentic MP samples from the global market and synthetically-adulterated MP samples involving eight adulterants were used in a pre-validation study. Adulteration was detected at the lowest concentrations (≥ 0.005 – 0.05% w/w) for samples containing nitrogen-rich, small molecules (melamine and dicyandiamide). For urea, a milk metabolite, and for sucrose and maltodextrin, the detection thresholds were higher (≥ 0.5% w/w). An NMR peak associated with ammonium sulfate was not observed; however, adulteration was indirectly detected at 5% w/w via matrix effects on milk metabolites. Adulteration by soy protein isolate and whey protein concentrate was not detected even at 5% w/w of spiking, which was attributed in part to poor protein solubility. These results provide a successful proof of concept that ¹H NMR combined with conformity index analysis can support MP authentication and detect adulteration.
Seeking for ultrasensitive and low-cost substrates is highly demandable for practical applications of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technology. In this work, we report an ultrasensitive SERS-active substrate based on wet-chemistry-synthesized vertically-aligned large-area TiO2 nanosheets (NS) decorated by densely packed gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) with sub-5-nm gaps. Via a multi-step successive deposition process, 3D-stacked Au NPs sandwiched by 3 nm SiO2 layer were assembled onto the TiO2 NS, enabling numerous hot spots due to the formation of both ultratiny plasmonic gaps and semiconductor/metal interfaces. Experimental results show that the fabricated substrate displays a detection limit down to 10 fM (10-14 M) without involving any condensation process by using the crystal violet as probe molecules. Control experiments and electromagnetic simulations indicate that the nanogaps defined by the 3 nm spacer are essential for the obtained excellent SERS performance. With its ultrasensitive detection capability, we demonstrate that the fabricated SERS substrate can be used for the trace analysis of melamine in milk.
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