Intentional and Unintentional Contaminants in Food and Feed

by Fadwa Al-Taher, Lauren Jackson, Jonathan DeVries, American Chemical Society, Division of Agricultural and Food Chemistry Staff, American Chemical Society, Meeting Staff

Overview

Assurance of the safety and quality of foods requires the constant vigilance of scientists (and others) in the food supply chain to the potential presence of contaminants. Most frequently, contaminants are naturally incurred, e.g. mycotoxins resulting from mold growth, minerals of concern from soils in which the food is grown, and pathogenic microbes. Scientists worldwide have developed programs and analytical methods to minimize the negative impacts of naturally occurring contaminants on humankind. More insidious perhaps, is the intentional adulteration of foods by addition of non-inherent materials (either as a substitution for an authentic component, or simple addition) for economic gain, i.e. increasing the perceived, and thus the sales value of the food. Often these substitutions do not result in a food safety issue per se (there may be nutrition impact); however, numerous instances have surfaced wherein the economic adulteration resulted in a negative safety impact to the food supply. Melamine is an example of a macroscale adulterant, used to increase the analytically derived protein quantity of a food protein source. In as much as melamine will equate to roughly 400% protein utilizing current analytical technologies used for trade, adding small amounts along with other non-proteinaceous materials can result in an adulterated protein ingredient or product meeting the full certificate of analysis claims. Sudan dyes are an example of a microscale adulterant, added in small quantity to ingredients such as paprika or dried chili peppers to enhance the color, and thus the perceived value of the ingredient. This book defines or highlights some of the issues with natural contamination and economic adulteration and the response of the food community to these issues to minimize negative impacts to the food supply.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780841269798
Publisher:	American Chemical Society
Publication date:	01/19/2010
Series:	ACS SYMPOSIUM Series , #1020
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Fadwa Al-Taher, M.S. is currently a Senior Support Scientist at the National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST) at the Illinois Institute of Technology, a consortium of academia, government and industry members that work together on food safety issues.

Lauren Jackson, Ph.D. is currently a Research Food Technologist at the Food and Drug Administration/National Center for Food Safety and Technology (FDA/NCFST) located in Summit-Argo, IL.

Jonathan W. DeVries , Ph.D is currently a Senior Principal Scientist at General Mills Inc. where he serves as Senior Technical Manager for the Medallion Laboratories division, a division which provides analytical services to the food and other industries.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Overview Chapter
Fadwa Al-Taher
2. U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Program for Chemical
Contaminants in Food
Mike Bolger, Paul South, C. Murray, Lauren Robin, G. Wood, Henry Kim and Nega Beru
3. Microbial contamination of fresh produce
Susanne E. Keller
4. Nanoscale materials in foods: existing and potential sources
Bernadene A. Magnuson
5. Renal toxicity of pet foods contaminated with melamine and related compounds
William H. Tolleson
6. Mycotoxins of concern in imported grains
Dojin Ryu and Lloyd B. Bullerman
7. Effect of heat-processed foods on acrylamide formation
Fadwa Al-Taher
8. Furan in thermally processed foods
Patricia Nyman
9. What chemists need to know about very low levels of chemicals in food
Richard W. Lane
10. Effects of pasteurization on detection and toxicity of the beans from Abrus precatorius
Eric AE. Garber
11. Detection and confirmation of food allergen using mass spectrometric techniques: Characterization of allergens in hazelnut using ESI and MALDI Mass Spectrometry
Dorcas Weber, Gustavo Polenta, Benjamin P.-Y. Lau, and Samuel Benrejeb Godefroy
12. Inactivation of microbial contaminants in fresh produce
Brendan A. Niemira, Bassam Annous, Xuetong Fan, Ching-Hsing Liao, and Joseph Sites
13. CARVER + Shock: Risk Assessment Tool
Phillip Pohl, Eric Lindgren, Cecelia Williams, Malynda Aragon, Jeffrey Daneels, Robert Browitt, Madison Link, Regina Hunter, Don Kautter, Jon Woody, Amy Barringer, Dave Acheson, Cory Bryant, Fred Shank, and Sarah Davis
14. Dealing with intentional and unintentional contaminants in meat and poultry products regulated by the USDA/FSIS
Kerry L. Dearfield and Suzanne Rigby
15. Lead in Food: The Neo-classical contaminant
Michael E. Kashtock
16. Achieving total food protection: Benefits from integrating food safety and food defense programs
David K. Park

Indexes
Author Index
Subject Index