Heavy metals in meat products from Shandong, China and risk assessment.

In this study 13 heavy metals were analysed in representative livestock meat, poultry meat, livestock offal and poultry offal samples (20 per category) from marketplaces and retail stores in 16 cities in Shandong province, China. The investigated heavy metals were Cu, Cr, V, Ni, As, Se, Sn, Cd, Pb, Sb, Mn, Ba and Hg. Results revealed mean levels of total heavy metals in meat and offal of 1.56 mg/kg and 39.8 mg/kg, respectively. Cu, Cr, Mn, Ni, Se, Ba and Pb were found in all samples (100%), followed by Hg (95.0%), V (91.3%), Sn (73.8%), Cd (51.3%), As (21.3%) and Sb (11.3%). Hazard Quotient (HQ) and Hazard Index (HI) values showed that high meat intake can cause potential health risks. Thus, continuous monitoring of health risks and trends of heavy metals in meat products is needed, both for food safety and consumer's health.

Occurrence of 8 trace elements in Rhizoma Cibotii from China and exposure assessment.

The contamination of trace elements in Chinese edible herbs has attracted worldwide concern over the world. The objective of the present study was to investigate the occurrence and exposure assessment of eight trace elements in Rhizoma Cibotii from China. For this purpose, the method of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was employed to detect the contamination levels of target trace elements in 58 Rhizoma Cibotii samples. The results demonstrated that the trace elements of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb were detected in all analyzed samples; the occurrence frequencies of As, Se, and Cd were 98.3%, 96.6%, and 98.3%, respectively. The highest mean levels were found in Zn (17.32 mg/kg), followed by Pb (8.50 mg/kg) and Cu (3.51 mg/kg). For a further step, one-way ANOVA was used to compare the difference of eight elements levels among groups, and Pearson's correlation analysis was used to explore the correlation between elements in Rhizoma Cibotii. A strong positive correlation between Zn and Cd was observed by Pearson's correlation analysis, which indicated that the possible presence of Cd contamination in Rhizoma Cibotii. Based on the contamination levels, the mean exposure of individual element and the health risks of eight trace elements in Rhizoma Cibotii were estimated by health risk assessment models. The calculated HQ values were less than 1, indicating that the contamination of trace elements in Rhizoma Cibotii did not pose significant health risks to human. In conclusion, the study provided baseline information on the contamination levels of trace elements in Rhizoma Cibotii. Moreover, it is necessary to monitor the trend of trace elements levels in Rhizoma Cibotii, which will be useful for ingredient control and human health protection.

Occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in fried and grilled fish from Shandong China and health risk assessment.

Diet is the main way for the human body to ingest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In this study, the occurrence, dietary exposure, and health risks of 15 PAHs in 31 fried and grilled fish samples were investigated, which were collected from the Shandong Province of China. The results showed that benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) of 5 samples exceeded the European Union (EU) limit value. Naphthalene (NaP) and fluorene (Fle) were present in all samples, and the average concentration of ∑15PAHs was 91.1 µg/kg, with light PAHs dominated. The average contamination level of ∑15PAHs in fried and grilled fish was distributed differently, and there seemed to be more PAH contamination in the grilled samples. The results of the margin of exposure (MOE) suggested that PAH ingestion through fried and grilled fish did not imply significant toxicological concern for consumers in Shandong. The incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) values for the consumption of fried and grilled fish were higher than 1 × 10-6, indicating a potential health risk in the adult population. The study provides baseline health information on PAH intake by residents due to dietary exposure to fried and grilled fish food products, suggesting that health risk monitoring of PAHs in such foods should be continually performed.

Fluoride in tea from Shandong Province, China and exposure assessment.

In this study fluoride in 170 tea samples from Shandong province (China) was determined using a selective ion electrode. The fluoride concentrations ranged from 31.2 to 338 mg/kg with an average of 119 mg/kg. The mean fluoride concentrations were 164, 121, 98.7 and 96.8 mg/kg, which corresponded to Pu'erh tea, green tea, oolong tea and black tea, respectively. Moreover, 4.7% of the analysed samples exceed the legal limit of 200 mg/kg recommended by China. The estimated daily intake of fluoride via drinking tea for an adult was between 0.655 and 1.07 mg/person/day, which were lower than the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake value of 3.5 mg/person/day set by the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China. In future, maintaining a surveillance programme to monitor the trend of fluoride in tea is necessary for food safety and human health.

Occurrence and dietary exposure assessment of multiple mycotoxins in corn-based food products from Shandong, China.

This study was designed to investigate the occurrence and exposure assessment of multiple mycotoxins in corn-based food products from Shandong Province, China. Results demonstrated that the mean level of total mycotoxins in test samples was 197.2 µg/kg. The most frequently found mycotoxins were deoxynivalenol (96.7%) and fumonisin B1 (94.4%), with mean contamination levels of 65.24 and 128.2, respectively. Among these corn-based food products, thin corn pancake had the highest mean contamination (886.7 µg/kg), followed by wotou (143.7 µg/kg), corn cake (135.4 µg/kg) and mantou (63.73 µg/kg). The average exposure values to total fumonisins and deoxynivalenol were 0.05 and 0.02 µg/kg bw/day, which were lower than the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake values of 2 and 1 µg/kg bw/day, respectively, as established by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. In the future strict control and systematic monitoring are needed to secure food safety and human health.

Dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls in marine fish from Shandong, China, and human dietary exposure.

The occurrence and human dietary exposure of 12 dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (DL-PCBs) in 41 marine fish samples from Shandong Province of China were investigated. The DL-PCB congeners were extracted using automated Soxhlet extraction, purified via a composite column clean-up procedure and analysed by gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. DL-PCB congeners were found in all analysed samples, with a mean concentration of 0.887 ng/g ww (wet weight). The TEQ concentrations of DL-PCBs in individual fish samples ranged from 0.011 to 9.214 pg WHO TEQ/g ww. The mean dietary intake for all fish species was 36.5 pg TEQ/kg bw/month, which was lower than the provisional tolerable monthly intake of 70 pg TEQ/kg bw/month set by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. To monitor the trend of DL-PCBs in fish for food safety control, it is necessary to maintain a surveillance programme.

Mycotoxins in wheat flour and intake assessment in Shandong province of China.

In the present study, the occurrence and contamination levels of eight mycotoxins were investigated in wheat flour samples (n = 359) from Shandong Province of China. Samples were determined using a multi-mycotoxin method based on isotope dilution ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The results indicated that the most frequently found mycotoxins were deoxynivalenol (DON) (97.2%), nivalenol (40.4%) and deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside (33.4%), and mean contamination levels in positive samples were 86.7, 3.55 and 3.34 µg kg(-1), respectively. The obtained data were further used to estimate the daily intake of the local population, and indicated that wheat flour consumption contributes little to DON exposure. However, with the aim to keep the contamination levels under control and to establish a more precise evaluation of the mycotoxin burden in Shandong Province, more sample data from different harvest years and seasons are needed in the future.

Quantitative analysis and health risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in edible vegetable oils marketed in Shandong of China.

This work studies on the quantitative analysis and health risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in edible vegetable oils in Shandong, China. The concentrations of 15 PAHs in 242 samples were determined by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection. The results indicated that the mean concentration of 15 PAHs in oil samples was 54.37 µg kg(-1). Low molecular weight PAH compounds were the predominant contamination. Especially, the carcinogenic benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) was detected at a mean concentration of 1.28 µg kg(-1), which was lower than the limit of European Union and China. A preliminary evaluation of human health risk assessment for PAHs was accomplished using BaP toxic equivalency factors and the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR). The ILCR values for children, adolescents, adults, and seniors were all larger than 1 × 10(-6), indicating a high potential carcinogenic risk on the dietary exposed populations.

Fumonisins B1, B2 and B3 in corn products, wheat flour and corn oil marketed in Shandong province of China.

In this study a total of 522 samples were collected from Shandong province of China in 2014 and analysed for the occurrence of fumonisin B1 (FB1), FB2 and FB3 by isotope dilution ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Fumonisins were detected in 98.1% of the corn products, with the average total level of 369.2 µg kg(-1). The individual average values of FB1, FB2 and FB3 in corn products were 268.3, 53.7 and 47.2 µg kg(-1), respectively. The simultaneous occurrence of FB1, FB2 and FB3 was observed in 76.7% of the corn products. Especially, the results demonstrated that the difference in the contamination levels for fumonisins in these three types of corn products was apparent. In addition, 6.2% of the wheat flour samples were contaminated with FB1, with concentrations ranging from 0.3 to 34.6 µg kg(-1). No FB2 or FB3 was detected in wheat flour. In corn oil samples no fumonisins were detected.