Case 6 Flashcards
Chemical food safety
Deals with all aspects of risks in the food chain, deals with contaminants, additives and their related toxicology. And ensures that these chemicals are not present in toxic levels in food.
Additives
- Added to foods for a specific technological purpose during manufacture or storage and become an integral part of that food
- Can be natural or synthetic
- Example: Preservatives prevent the growth of bacteria
- Have been blamed for inducing hyperactivity in children
Food additives
Additives are substances used for a variety of reasons - such as preservation, colouring, sweetening, etc.- during the preparation of food.
European Union legislation “any substance not normally consumed as a food in itself and not normally used as a characteristic ingredient of food, whether or not it has nutritive value”
Food flavouring
Flavourings are products added to food in order to impart or modify odour and/or taste.
Contaminants
natural or industrial product, found in food involuntarily
Microbial toxins
- Food containing preformed toxins that originate from bacterial growth, fungal growth, or algal growth
- Bacteria: Toxin is absorbed in the bloodstream via the intestine and → Illness results from intoxication rather than infection
- Fungi: Several species are involved in the production of toxic substances during growth on foodstuffs (Mycotoxins)
- Algal toxins: Associated with seafood, most notably molluscan shellfish
Lead
- found in kidneys, liver
- affects nervous system of children when ingested in toxic quantity
- can also lead to hypertension
- either form environmental exposure such as smoking or by eating
• In children: Effects on nervous system → Interfere with transmission of nervous signals around the body → Reduced IQ and coordination problems
• In adults: Hypertension and other blood effects such as anaemia
Arsenic
- Most often an occupational hazard, but can also be ingested with food → Responsible for acute and chronic poisoning
- Toxicity depends on oxidation state and type of complex that it forms with organic molecules in the body
- Chronic effects: Gastroenteritis, nephritis, liver damage
- Considered to be a carcinogen
Mercury
- about food, fish (especially tuna)
- neurotoxic
- nephrotoxic (kidneys)
associated with neural effects and renal damage
Dioxine
- mainly found in animals fat
- thought to lead to cancer based on animal studies
- broccoli is thought to be a protective factor
Nitrate
- saliva converts it in nitrite and can form carcinogenic compounds
- combination of fish with salads
Plant toxins
- Antinutritional factors: Components of plants that interfere with metabolic processes and can lead to deficiencies of key nutrients in the diet
- Generally classified as enzyme inhibitors (polypeptides and proteins that inhibit the activities of digestive enzymes) and mineral binding agents
- A range of natural plant toxins can cause allergic reactions in humans
e.g. glycosides, glycoalkaloids, pyrrolizidine alkaloids, glucosinolates
Process contaminants
Process contaminants are substances that form in food or in food ingredients when they undergo chemical changes during processing. Processing methods include fermentation, smoking, drying, refining and high-temperature cooking
e.g. acrylamide, PAHs, chloropropanols and nitrosamines.
Environemental contaminants
environmental contaminants refers to harmful chemicals present in soil, air and water. These compounds may come directly from human sources such as industrial manufacturing, agricultural run-off and wastewater discharge, or they may originate from natural sources, such as the taste and odor-causing chemicals in water generated by algae and bacteria blooms.
Food contact materials
Food comes into contact with many materials and articles during its production, processing, storage, preparation and serving, before its eventual consumption.
E.g. containers for transporting food, machinery to process food, packaging materials and kitchenware and tableware
naturally occuring contaminants
Naturally occurring contamination comes from substances already in the environment, rather than from chemicals or other hazardous materials used or manufactured by human
Residues
resulting from the use of a chemical compound that improves production but shouldn’t be present in the final product
Pesticides
Used in agriculture to maximize production
- Important to ensure in production that these pesticides do not stay in the final product because it is thought to interfere with neurological pathways of humans for instance
- It is also said that pesticides accumulate in the body on long-term, creating a chronic intoxication/contamination
Veterinary drug residues
- Include bacterial compounds, hormones, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory preparations
- Antibacterial substances increasingly used as growth promoters → Increase feed conversion efficiency, and for prophylaxis and therapy → Prevent outbreaks and diseases
- Veterinary drugs are metabolised in the animal and are excreted in the urine and faeces over time as the detoxification process continues → Residue traces of drugs or their metabolites can be found in major organs, muscles and body fluids
- Excessive use has raised concerns about:
• Development of resistant bacteria
• Risk of allergic reactions in humans to antibacterial residues in food of animal origin
e.g. antibiotics in cows
Acrylamide
- Reactive unsaturated amide that has found several industrial uses
- Occur in variety of fried and baked foods, in particular carbohydrate-rich foods that had been subjected to high-temperature cooking/processing
- Shown to be neurotoxic to humans: Classified as probable human carcinogen
- Formation in foods: Reaction of reducing sugar with asparagine via the Maillard reaction at temperatures above 120°C
- Found in wide range of heat-treated foods: Most prevalent in fried potato products, cereals, bakery wares, and coffee