Starch branching enzymes as putative determinants of postharvest quality in horticultural crops.

Starch branching enzymes (SBEs) are key determinants of the structure and amount of the starch in plant organs, and as such, they have the capacity to influence plant growth, developmental, and fitness processes, and in addition, the industrial end-use of starch. However, little is known about the role of SBEs in determining starch structure-function relations in economically important horticultural crops such as fruit and leafy greens, many of which accumulate starch transiently. Further, a full understanding of the biological function of these types of starches is lacking. Because of this gap in knowledge, this minireview aims to provide an overview of SBEs in horticultural crops, to investigate the potential role of starch in determining postharvest quality. A systematic examination of SBE sequences in 43 diverse horticultural species, identified SBE1, 2 and 3 isoforms in all species examined except apple, olive, and Brassicaceae, which lacked SBE1, but had a duplicated SBE2. Among our findings after a comprehensive and critical review of published data, was that as apple, banana, and tomato fruits ripens, the ratio of the highly digestible amylopectin component of starch increases relative to the more digestion-resistant amylose fraction, with parallel increases in SBE2 transcription, fruit sugar content, and decreases in starch. It is tempting to speculate that during the ripening of these fruit when starch degradation occurs, there are rearrangements made to the structure of starch possibly via branching enzymes to increase starch digestibility to sugars. We propose that based on the known action of SBEs, and these observations, SBEs may affect produce quality, and shelf-life directly through starch accumulation, and indirectly, by altering sugar availability. Further studies where SBE activity is fine-tuned in these crops, can enrich our understanding of the role of starch across species and may improve horticulture postharvest quality.

Derivation and validation of thresholds of cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury and arsenic for safe rice production in paddy soil.

Cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg) and arsenic (As) are potent toxicants to human health via dietary intake. It is imperative to establish accurate soil thresholds based on soil-plant transfer models and food safety standards for safe agricultural production. This study takes rice genotypes and soil properties into account to derive soil thresholds for five heavy metal(loid)s using the bioconcentration factors (BCF) and species sensitivity distribution (SSD) based on the food safety standard. The BCF generated from two paddy soils was calculated to investigate the sensitivity of heavy metal accumulation in nine rice cultivars in a greenhouse pot experiment. Then, empirical soil-plant transfer models were developed from a middle-sensitivity rice cultivar (Denong 2000, one selected from nine rice) grown in nineteen paddy soils with various soil properties under a proper exogenously metal(loid)s concentration gradient. After normalization, hazardous concentrations from the fifth percentile (HC5) were calculated from the SSD curves, and the derived soil thresholds were obtained from HC5 prediction models that based on the combination of pH and organic carbon (OC) or cation exchange capacity (CEC). The soil Cd threshold derived based on pH and organic carbon (pH < 7.5, OC ≥ 20 g kg-1) was 1.3-fold of those only considering pH, whereas the Pb threshold (pH > 6, CEC ≥ 20 cmolc kg-1) was 3.1 times lower than the current threshold. The derived thresholds for five elements were validated to be reliable through literature data and field experiments. The results suggested that deriving soil heavy metal(loid)s threshold using SSD method and local food safety standards is feasible and also applicable to other crops as well as other regions with potential health risks of toxic elements contamination in agricultural production.

An efficient LSPR method to quantitatively detect dimethoate: Development, characterization and evaluation.

In recent years, there has been growing concern among consumers about pesticide contamination in fruits. Therefore, rapid, reliable, and consistent detection methods for OPPs, especially dimethoate, are crucially needed. The existing quantitative methods for detecting dimethoate are not suitable for rapid measuring system such as the dimethoate samples from two channels. Hence this paper examines the utilization of a dual-channel system for utilize the absorption variations of the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) bands of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were investigate for detection of dimethoate. Under optimized conditions, the relationship between concentrations of dimethoate and absorbance ratios (A(520)/A(640)) was linearly found in the concentration range of 10-100 nM. Result from the experiment shows that both channels exhibit a linear correlation coefficient as high as 0.97 and a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 5.5 nM. This LSPR detection system was characterized by testing the dimethoate in apple samples and the recovery rates were found to be in the range of 85.90% to 107.37%. The proposed dual-channel LSPR system for detecting dimethoate creating a new approach for detecting organophosphate insecticide in agricultural fields. It could lay the foundation for designing a high-throughput analysis of the insecticides using a wavelength division multiplexing switch (WDMS).

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) can be grown safety on human consumption in slight Hg-contaminated soils across China mainland.

Mercury (Hg) exposure poses serious health risks to humans, resulting in extensive investigations examining Hg accumulation, biotransformation and uptake in crops. In this investigation, Hg accumulation in potato tubers due to bioaccumulation processes was determined and bioconcentration factors affecting bioaccumulation were identified using a greenhouse experiment. Our results showed that the percentage of available Hg concentrations from total Hg in soil samples were less than 1.2%, indicating that soils used in our experiment exhibited a high binding strength for Hg, with alkaline soil recording the lowest available Hg/total Hg ratio. Results indicated that soil type and Hg treatment, as well as their interactions, significantly affected Hg accumulation in potato tubers (P < 0.01). Importantly, our results also indicated that potatoes grown in soil with a Hg concentration two times higher than the Chinese Environmental Quality Standard exhibited no obvious toxic effects on humans; Bioconcentration factors (BCF) values (<0.04) suggested that potatoes can be considered as a low Hg accumulating species and suitable for human consumption. Potato yields in acidic soil were lower than those in neutral or alkaline soils, making this medium unsuitable for growth.

A socio-environmental perspective on pesticide use and food production.

Pesticides are part of a large group of organic compounds with different physicochemical characteristics, designed to control and prevent pests in various crops and plantations, improving productivity. This works provides a perspective on pesticide use in current agriculture with the aim of identifying the influence of pesticides on food production and their impact on the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to highlight the importance of determining pesticide residues in food, aiming to ensure food safety, since these compounds can represent risks to human health and the environment. The effects of pesticides on humans range from headaches, nausea and skin and eye irritation to chronic problems such as cancer and neurological disorders, and extend to other non-target organisms such as birds, fish and bees, contaminating water, soil, and plants, as opposed to the benefits of increased production, consequently other measures for pesticide consumption need to be evaluate to ensure human health, food safety and environmental protection. It is important to note that chromatographic techniques and mass spectrometry assist in the determination of pesticide residues and evaluate the quality of the food that reaches the consumer, and together with the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs), established by the legislation of each country, these instrumentation act to control the exposure of population to pesticides. Although the MRL is used as a parameter for food quality, the global differences in pesticide legislation do not guarantee the consumer safety. In this sense, a brief analysis of MRL inefficiency is also present in this paper.

Use of a remediated dredged marine sediment as a substrate for food crop cultivation: Sediment characterization and assessment of fruit safety and quality using strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) as model species of contamination transfer.

A harbour sediment, previously remediated, was tested for soilless strawberry cultivation (Camarosa and Monterey cultivars), as an innovative, cost-effective and environment-friendly approach of sediment management. Sediments were tested as such (TS100) and mixed 1/1 (v/v) with a peat-based commercial substrate (TS50), using the peat-based medium as control (TS0). Substrates were characterized for some physicochemical properties (e.g. density, porosity and water capacity). Minerals (P, Ca, K, Na and Fe), heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Mn, Ni, Cr, Pb and Cd), aliphatic hydrocarbons (C > 12), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans were analysed in substrates and fruits. Sugars and organic acids, including the ascorbic, were also determined in fruits, as quality indicators. Notwithstanding remediation, sediments showed concentrations of Zn (206 mg kg-1), C > 12 (86 mg kg-1) and PAHs (47 mg kg-1) exceeding the limits established by the Italian L.D. 152/2006, regulating the contamination of soil in green areas, thus making its relocation in the environment not permitted as such. No evidence of fruit contamination by Cr, Pb and Cd was highlighted. Moreover, Cu, Zn and Ni fruit concentrations were comparable among treatments. Conversely, Mn showed statistically higher concentrations in TS0 fruits (56-57 mg kg-1) compared to those grown in sediment-based substrates (8-20 mg kg-1). Among organic contaminants, only dioxin-like PCBs were determined in fruits, at toxic equivalent concentrations fourfold lower than the limit established by the European Union. TS100 fruits showed a yield reduction from 40 to 70% for Camarosa and Monterey, but higher sugar and ascorbic acid contents.

Diversity Analysis of Sweet Potato Genetic Resources Using Morphological and Qualitative Traits and Molecular Markers.

The European Union (EU) market for sweet potatoes has increased by 100% over the last five years, and sweet potato cultivation in southern European countries is a new opportunity for the EU to exploit and introduce new genotypes. In view of this demand, the origins of the principal Italian sweet potato clones, compared with a core collection of genotypes from Central and Southern America, were investigated for the first time. This was accomplished by combining a genetic analysis, exploiting 14 hypervariable microsatellite markers, with morphological and chemical measurements based on 16 parameters. From the molecular analyses, Italian accessions were determined to be genetically very similar to the South American germplasm, but they were sub-clustered into two groups. This finding was subsequently confirmed by the morphological and chemical measurements. Moreover, the analysis of the genetic structure of the population suggested that one of the two groups of Italian genotypes may have descended from one of the South American accessions, as predicted on the basis of the shared morphological characteristics and molecular fingerprints. Overall, the combination of two different characterization methods, genetic markers and agronomic traits, was effective in differentiating or clustering the sweet potato genotypes, in agreement with their geographical origin or phenotypic descriptors. This information could be exploited by both breeders and farmers to detect and protect commercial varieties, and hence for traceability purposes.

Orphan crops: their importance and the urgency of improvement.

MAIN CONCLUSION: Due to significant contributions of orphan crops in the economy of the developing world, scientific studies need to be promoted on these little researched but vital crops of smallholder farmers and consumers. Food security is the main challenge in the developing world, particularly in the least developed countries. Orphan crops play a vital role in the food security and livelihood of resource-poor farmers and consumers in these countries. Like major crops, there are members of all food types-cereals, legumes, vegetables and root and tuber crops, that are considered to be orphan crops. Despite their huge importance for present and future agriculture, orphan crops have generally received little attention by the global scientific community. Due to this, they produce inferior yields in terms of both quantity and quality. The major bottlenecks affecting the productivity of these crops are little or no selection of improved genetic traits, extreme environmental conditions and unfavorable policy. However, some orphan crops have recently received the attention of the global and national scientific community where advanced research and development initiatives have been launched. These initiatives which implement a variety of genetic and genomic tools targeted major constraints affecting productivity and/or nutritional quality of orphan crops. In this paper, some of these initiatives are briefly described. Here, I provide key suggestions to relevant stakeholders regarding improvement of orphan crops. Concerted efforts are urgently needed to advance the research and development of both the major and orphan crops so that food security will be achieved and ultimately the livelihood of the population will be improved.

Condições higiênico-sanitárias das unidades de produção de alimentos de um empreendimento econômico solidário / Hygienic-sanitary conditions of food production units of a solid economic undertaking

Objetivou-se verificar as condições higiênico-sanitárias das Unidades de Produção de Alimentos de um Empreendimento Econômico Solidário. Foi aplicada uma lista de verificação em 13 unidades, com base na RDC 275/2002 da ANVISA, no período de julho a setembro de 2018, composta por 163 itens divididos em 5 blocos: edificação e instalações; equipamentos, móveis e utensílios; manipuladores; produção e transporte dos alimentos; e documentação. As unidades do empreendimento foram classificadas no grupo III, por apresentarem percentual de adequação menor que 50,0%. Conclui-se que as unidades apresentaram condições higiênico-sanitárias deficientes, necessitando adequar-se ás Boas Práticas de Fabricação, principalmente no que diz respeito à formação das cooperadas, a fim de garantir a produção segura de alimentos.

Avaliação de Boas Práticas no mercado público municipal de Abreu e Lima - PE / Good practices evaluations in the local public market of Abreu e Lima - PE

Mercados públicos municipais podem ser caracterizados como um ambiente preocupante em relação aos déficits higiênico-sanitários. Nesse estudo tem-se como objetivo avaliar as Boas Práticas aplicadas no mercado municipal de Abreu e Lima – PE. A metodologia utilizada foi observacional e descritiva com aplicação de dois modelos de check-lists baseados na resolução RDC n° 216, de 2004 e na Norma Técnica SESAU N°1 de 2017. Os resultados mostraram baixo índice de adequação em todas as categorias, principalmente no que se refere à higiene e conservação das instalações e higiene de manipuladores nos boxes de hortifrutis, carnes e pescados. Portanto é necessária uma implementação mais eficiente das Boas Práticas e reestruturação das instalações físicas do mercado.

Advocacy for scaling up biofortified crops for improved micronutrient status in Africa: approaches, achievements, challenges and lessons.

Biofortification is an approach used to increase micronutrient content of crops through agronomic practices, conventional or modern biotechnology. Through a plethora of projects, partnerships were formed to advocate for policy changes, and increased investments in research, production and utilisation of biofortified crops. One of such projects is the Building Nutritious Food Baskets project, which has been appraised in order to draw and share successes, challenges and lessons for the improvement of similar future projects to achieve substantial impacts. The paper provides an overview of the role of biofortification in addressing nutritional challenges and highlights the efficacy of biofortified crops in improving micronutrient status. Through advocacy at the African Regional and sub-regional levels, awareness has been created on biofortification among governments, investors, development partners, farmers and consumers. This awareness has resulted in the incorporation of biofortification in some key policies, strategies and investment programmes. Key lessons learnt from regional advocacy are (1) in order to integrate biofortification in regional policies, strategies and programmes, it is important to identify champions from key and strategic regional organisations as they provide information on potential opportunities for influencing policies, (2) having a common advocacy message helps to highlight the role of biofortification in contributing to the prevention of micronutrient problems as well as evidence of impact on nutrition outcome, (3) champions need to be allocated a budget to support their advocacy work and (4) to engender adoption of biofortification, it is important to align biofortification with relevant initiatives as well as ongoing opportunities for advocacy.

Recognition of Consumers' Characteristics of Purchasing Farm Produce with Safety Certificates and Their Influencing Factors.

In order to alleviate the situation that bad money drives out good in the produce market within the context of incomplete information, as well as bridge the gap between demand and product surplus, establishing and improving the safety certification system for farm produce is an urgent need. This paper discusses factors that affect consumers' purchase of pork with safety certificates in the setting of incomplete information. Data from 844 consumers in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, along with a structural equation model, are adopted to study consumers' purchase intention of certified safe pork form. According to our studies, major factors refer to degree of understanding, degree of concern, recognition ability, government publicity, pork's origin information, consumers' educational levels, income levels, and consumers' evaluation of government supervision. Accordingly, suggestions are provided as follows. Above all, enhancing education and training of food safety is conducive to lead consumers' behaviors in a correct way. Next, news media and social public opinions can play a stronger role in guidance and supervision. Thirdly, an upgraded legal system should be accompanied by better policy implementation. Finally, strengthening the origin certification system and promoting a sense of brand are of significance.

Mediterranean Wild Edible Plants: Weeds or "New Functional Crops"?

The Mediterranean basin is a biodiversity hotspot of wild edible species, and their therapeutic and culinary uses have long been documented. Owing to the growing demand for wild edible species, there are increasing concerns about the safety, standardization, quality, and availability of products derived from these species collected in the wild. An efficient cultivation method for the species having promising nutraceutical values is highly desirable. In this backdrop, a hydroponic system could be considered as a reproducible and efficient agronomic practice to maximize yield, and also to selectively stimulate the biosynthesis of targeted metabolites. The aim of this report is to review the phytochemical and toxic compounds of some potentially interesting Mediterranean wild edible species. Herein, after a deep analysis of the literature, information on the main bioactive compounds, and some possibly toxic molecules, from fifteen wild edible species have been compiled. The traditional recipes prepared with these species are also listed. In addition, preliminary data about the performance of some selected species are also reported. In particular, germination tests performed on six selected species revealed that there are differences among the species, but not with crop species. "Domestication" of wild species seems a promising approach for exploiting these "new functional foods".

Implications of new legislation (US FSMA) and guidelines (EC) on the establishment of management systems for agricultural water.

This report summarizes key messages related to agricultural water quality as discussed by an ad hoc panel at the 1st International Symposium of Food Safety in Santiago, Chile. Participating representatives of the academia, industry and government of diverse geographical backgrounds and the audience discussed topics such as (1) implications of the US Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA: www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/FSMA/ucm277706.htm) on the Agricultural Water Quality, (2) comparisons between MPN and CFU in analyzing water quality, (3) alternatives to fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) to be used as indicators to evaluate water quality, and (4) vegetative buffers as an alternative to reduce pathogen loads in agricultural surface waters. Panelists identified the following key messages for each topic discussed that are related to agricultural water quality: (1) the FSMA regulation and the new guidance document elaborated by the EC are highly relevant as they provide a definition of agricultural water and specific criteria for different water uses and circumstances; (2) FSMA supports modification from MPN to CFU; (3) Growers require more alternatives for treatment of agricultural water; (4) Vegetative buffers are a potential practical and feasible alternative for agriculture producers to reduce the pathogen and fecal pollution loads of in their agricultural waters.

Use of computational modeling combined with advanced visualization to develop strategies for the design of crop ideotypes to address food security.

Sustainable crop production is a contributing factor to current and future food security. Innovative technologies are needed to design strategies that will achieve higher crop yields on less land and with fewer resources. Computational modeling coupled with advanced scientific visualization enables researchers to explore and interact with complex agriculture, nutrition, and climate data to predict how crops will respond to untested environments. These virtual observations and predictions can direct the development of crop ideotypes designed to meet future yield and nutritional demands. This review surveys modeling strategies for the development of crop ideotypes and scientific visualization technologies that have led to discoveries in "big data" analysis. Combined modeling and visualization approaches have been used to realistically simulate crops and to guide selection that immediately enhances crop quantity and quality under challenging environmental conditions. This survey of current and developing technologies indicates that integrative modeling and advanced scientific visualization may help overcome challenges in agriculture and nutrition data as large-scale and multidimensional data become available in these fields.

25 years of European Union (EU) quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs across EU Member States.

Consumers are increasingly turning their attention to the quality and origin of products that they consume. European Union (EU) quality schemes are associated with a label, which was introduced to allow consumers to perform an informed choice and to protect producers from unfair practices. This present study provides an overview of the last 25 years of EU quality schemes [Protected Designations of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) and Traditional Specialities Guaranteed (TSG)] on agricultural products and foodstuffs across the 28 EU Member States. According to the results, it was possible to conclude that Southern European countries have the highest number of registered products. The most used EU quality scheme is PGI, followed by PDO. Concerning the analysis of the evolution in the last 25 years, the number of registered products among EU Member States has increased significantly. The fruit, vegetables and cereals (fresh or processed) category is the one that accounts for the highest percentage (26.8%) of registered products, followed by cheeses and meat products (cooked, salted, smoked) categories, with 17.2% and 13.5%, respectively. Further investigations should address consumer preferences, knowledge and attitudes, especially Northern European countries with a lower number of registered products. Moreover, the investigation and registration of products should be encouraged among all EU Member States to allow the maintenance of important elements of the history, culture and heritage of the local areas, regions and countries. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Food and Feed Safety of Genetically Engineered Food Crops.

The first genetically engineered (GE) food crop (tomato) was introduced in 1995, followed by the successful development and commercial release of maize, soybeans, cotton, canola, potatoes, papaya, alfalfa, squash, and sugar beets with specific new genetic traits. Even though the safety of every new GE crop has been evaluated by various regulatory authorities throughout the world prior to its commercial release, the ongoing public debate about the safety of food and feed derived from GE plants has not abated. Such debates often overshadow an important fact that all crops used as human food or animal feed include varieties that have been developed through conventional breeding and selection over hundreds or thousands of years, or through intentional but random mutagenesis. Developing food crops through such breeding practices result in large-scale genomic changes in the resulting crops, and these genomic changes do not undergo molecular characterization. In contrast, new GE crops are developed using well-characterized DNA fragments and the resulting crops are tested and evaluated with much greater scrutiny. This document reviews the safety data and information of GE crops and foods obtained from them.

Nondestructive quality evaluation of agro-products using acoustic vibration methods-A review.

Quality evaluation of agro-products is quite important because it is the basis for growers, distributers, and consumers. Various novel and emerging nondestructive methods were proposed for quality evaluation of agro-products. The acoustic vibration method is one of the major nondestructive methods for agro-products in pre- and postharvest research and industrial practice. Acoustic vibration characteristics of agro-products can be used for texture evaluation, prediction of optimum eating and harvest ripeness, ripeness classification and defect detection. Generally, there are three parts in the process of acoustic vibration method, including the excitation module, signal acquisition module, and signal-processing module. The impact method and forced method are two excitation methods in the excitation module, and there are contact and noncontact sensors for vibration measurement in the signal acquisition module. Noncontact measurement can meet the requirement of rapid and nondestructive measurement, especially for the on-line detection. However, increasing demand for accurate and cost-effective measurement remains a challenge in the agro-products industry. Comparison of acoustic vibration methods and traditional destructive methods was also discussed, which helps to give a more comprehensive assessment for the acoustic vibration method.

Automated multi-filtration cleanup with nitrogen-enriched activated carbon material as pesticide multi-residue analysis method in representative crop commodities.

An automated multi-filtration cleanup (Auto m-FC) method with nitrogen-enriched activated carbon material based on modified QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) extracts was developed. It was applied to pesticide multi-residue analysis in six representative crop commodities. The automatic device was aimed to improve the cleanup efficiency and reduce manual operation workload in cleanup step. By controlling extracts volume, flow rate and Auto m-FC cycles, the device could finish cleanup process accurately. In this work, nitrogen-enriched activated carbon mixed with alternative sorbents and anhydrous magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) was packed in a column for Auto m-FC and followed by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) detection. This newly developed carbon material showed excellent cleanup performance. It was validated by analyzing 23 pesticides in six representative matrices spiked at two concentration levels of 10 and 100µg/kg. Water addition volume, salts, sorbents, Auto m-FC procedure including the flow rate and the Auto m-FC cycles for each matrix were optimized. Then, three general Auto m-FC methods were introduced to high water content, high oil and starch content, difficult commodities. Spike recoveries were within 82 and 106% and 1-14% RSD for all analytes in the tested matrices. Matrix-matched calibrations were performed with the coefficients of determination over 0.997 between concentration levels of 10 and 1000µg/kg. The developed method was successfully applied to the determination of pesticide residues in market samples.