Development of a greener and sustainable method to determine acrylamide in corn products by LC-MS/MS: Evaluation of levels in corn-based products.

Acrylamide (AA) is produced through the reaction between sugars and amino acids present in starchy foods cooked at high temperature. It is classified as probably carcinogenic to humans. In 2019, the European Commission reported a list of foods for monitoring the presence of AA, which includes cereal snacks. This study presents the development and validation of an analytical approach for detecting AA in popcorn and corn-based snacks. It includes solid-liquid extraction and clean-up with dispersive solid phase extraction followed by analysis through liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. The proposed method was characterized in terms of recoveries (84-105%), and precision (< 16.1%). Limits of quantification were 17 and 60 µg kg-1 for corn and popcorn, respectively. Sustainability of the methodology was evaluated using AGREEprep and BAGI, providing values of 0.43 and 65.0, respectively. Twenty-four corn-based products were analyzed, with AA levels from 219 to 418 µg kg-1.

Impact of Combined Processes Involving Ultrasound and Pulsed Electric Fields on ENNs, and OTA Mitigation of an Orange Juice-Milk Based Beverage.

In recent years, several innovative food processing technologies such as ultrasound (USN) and pulsed electric fields (PEF) have emerged in the market, showing a great potential both alone and in combination for the preservation of fresh and processed products. Recently, these technologies have also shown promising applications to reduce mycotoxin levels in food products. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the potential of the combined treatments USN + PEF and PEF + USN on the reduction of Ochratoxin A (OTA) and Enniatins (ENNs) of an orange juice mixed with milk beverage. For this purpose, the beverages were elaborated in the laboratory and individually spiked with mycotoxins at a concentration of 100 µg/L. They were then treated by PEF (30 kV, 500 kJ/Kg) and USN (20 kHz, 100 W, at a maximum power for 30 min). Finally, mycotoxins were extracted using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME), and liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS-IT) was employed to determine them. The results showed promising applications, with reductions up to 50% for OTA and up to 47% for Enniatin B (ENNB) after the PEF + USN treatment combination. Lower reduction rates, up to 37%, were obtained with the USN + PEF combination. In conclusion, the combination of USN and PEF technologies could be a useful tool to reduce mycotoxins in fruit juices mixed with milk.

High Pressure Processing Impact on Emerging Mycotoxins (ENNA, ENNA1, ENNB, ENNB1) Mitigation in Different Juice and Juice-Milk Matrices.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential of high-pressure processing (HPP) (600 MPa during 5 min) on emerging mycotoxins, enniatin A (ENNA), enniatin A1 (ENNA1), enniatin B (ENNB), enniatin B1 (ENNB1) reduction in different juice/milk models, and to compare it with the effect of a traditional thermal treatment (HT) (90 °C during 21 s). For this purpose, different juice models (orange juice, orange juice/milk beverage, strawberry juice, strawberry juice/milk beverage, grape juice and grape juice/milk beverage) were prepared and spiked individually with ENNA, ENNA1, ENNB and ENNB1 at a concentration of 100 µg/L. After HPP and HT treatments, ENNs were extracted from treated samples and controls employing dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction methodology (DLLME) and determined by liquid chromatography coupled to ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS-IT). The results obtained revealed higher reduction percentages (11% to 75.4%) when the samples were treated under HPP technology. Thermal treatment allowed reduction percentages varying from 2.6% to 24.3%, at best, being ENNA1 the only enniatin that was reduced in all juice models. In general, no significant differences (p > 0.05) were observed when the reductions obtained for each enniatin were evaluated according to the kind of juice model, so no matrix effects were observed for most cases. HPP technology can constitute an effective tool in mycotoxins removal from juices.

High Pressure Processing Impact on Alternariol and Aflatoxins of Grape Juice and Fruit Juice-Milk Based Beverages.

High-pressure processing (HPP) has emerged over the last 2 decades as a good alternative to traditional thermal treatment for food safety and shelf-life extension, supplying foods with similar characteristics to those of fresh products. Currently, HPP has also been proposed as a useful tool to reduce food contaminants, such as pesticides and mycotoxins. The aim of the present study is to explore the effect of HPP technology at 600 MPa during 5 min at room temperature on alternariol (AOH) and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) mycotoxins reduction in different juice models. The effect of HPP has also been compared with a thermal treatment performed at 90 °C during 21 s. For this, different juice models, orange juice/milk beverage, strawberry juice/milk beverage and grape juice, were prepared and spiked individually with AOH and AFB1 at a concentration of 100 µg/L. After HPP and thermal treatments, mycotoxins were extracted from treated samples and controls by dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) and determined by HPLC-MS/MS-IT. The results obtained revealed reduction percentages up to 24% for AFB1 and 37% for AOH. Comparing between different juice models, significant differences were observed for AFB1 residues in orange juice/milk versus strawberry juice/milk beverages after HPP treatment. Moreover, HPP resulted as more effective than thermal treatment, being an effective tool to incorporate to food industry in order to reach mycotoxins reductions.