Mycoestrogen pollution of Italian infant food.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the concentrations of zearalenone and its metabolites in the leading brands of infant formula milks and meat-based infant foods commonly marketed in Italy, and to assess their repercussion in the provisional tolerable daily intakes of these estrogenic mycotoxins. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 185 cow's milk-based infant formulas and 44 samples of meat-based infant foods samples were analyzed. The analysis of mycotoxins was performed by immunoaffinity column clean-up and high-pressure liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. RESULTS: Zearalenone was detected in 17 (9%) milk samples (maximum 0.76 µg/L). The α-zearalenol was detected in 49 (26%) milk samples (maximum 12.91 µg/L). The ß-zearalenol was detected in 53 (28%) milk samples (maximum 73.24 µg/L). The α-zearalanol and ß-zearalanol were not detected in milk samples. Although α-zearalenol was detected in 12 (27%) meat samples (maximum 30.50 µg/kg), only one meat-based sample was contaminated by α-zearalanol (950 µg/kg). Zearalenone, ß-zearalenol, and ß-zearalanol were not detected in meat samples. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows the presence of mycoestrogens in infant (milk-based and meat-based) food, and this is likely to have great implications for subsequent generations, suggesting the need to perform occurrence surveys in this type of food.

Food and pharmaceuticals. Lessons learned from global contaminations with melamine/cyanuric acid and diethylene glycol.

Recently, contamination of pharmaceuticals with diethylene glycol (DEG) and food with melamine and cyanuric acid has demonstrated the impact of globalization on drug and food safety. By examining the details of these outbreaks, some important lessons can be learned. Toxicoses from contaminated food and drugs are often identified only when large numbers of people or animals are affected and numerous deaths result. Populations most at risk are those repeatedly exposed to a single product. Toxicoses may be complex, involving synergism among relatively nontoxic co-contaminants. Although some contamination may occur inadvertently, practices of deliberate contamination of food and drug ingredients may be widespread but escape detection in poorly regulated markets. If this deliberate contamination is motivated by personal financial gain, it is likely to recur and be concealed. The contaminated raw material produced in a poorly regulated market may cross national boundaries and be used in manufacturing processes for numerous products, sometimes in more well-regulated markets. Once in the production chain, contaminated raw materials may be widely disseminated. It is not clear that regulatory organizations have the capacity to identify significant contaminations despite their best efforts. The veterinary and medical communities, in cooperation with regulatory agencies, should develop cooperative programs designed to detect and limit these global outbreaks. Although addressing regional or national outbreaks remains an important role for regulatory agencies, the veterinary and medical communities must develop proactive global approaches to this global problem.

High nutrient intakes--the toxicologist's view.

At sufficiently high intake all substances, including essential nutrients, can be toxic. Toxicity may be described by characteristics of the symptoms (identity, severity and degree of persistence) and by the dose-response relationship (threshold, slope, limit, susceptibility to modulation by other substances and tendency to bioaccumulate). Some nutrient toxicities are deleterious exaggerations of essential functions, whereas others are not. The therapeutic indices for nutrients should be defined as the ratio of the lowest toxic dose to the recommended intake, the ratio of the medians of the effective and the toxic doses commonly used in pharmacology. For infant formulas, a ratio of the lowest toxic concentration to the maximum concentration allowed is an analogous ratio. Nutrients with low therapeutic indices and small physical size of a toxic dose require special caution to avoid excessive intake. Modulation of absorption, metabolism or excretion, as well as the physiological state of the exposed individual, may alter the minimum toxic intake of a nutrient and hence alter the risk of toxicity. Extrapolation to estimate the toxic dose can be made on the basis of body weight, body surface area or food intake. Nutrient minimums and maximums in infant formula are set on a 100-kcal basis and thus are related to heat loss and surface area. Evaluation of vitamin A toxicity cases on a dose per 100-kcal basis suggest that the current maximum in infant formula is appropriate. Extrapolation from toxicity data in adults can be made on the dose per 100-kcal basis to estimate appropriate infant formula maximums for nutrients for which maximums have not been set.