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Advances in the Separation Analysis of Food Constituents, Residues, and...
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Advances in the Separation Analysis of Food Constituents, Residues, and Contaminants

A special issue of Separations (ISSN 2297-8739). This special issue belongs to the section "Analysis of Food and Beverages".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 January 2023) | Viewed by 14325

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Danilo Sciarrone

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Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Biologiche, Farmaceutiche ed Ambientali, Polo Annunziata, University of Messina, viale Annunziata snc, 98168 Messina, Italy
Interests: analytical chemistry; separation science; food analysis; mass spectrometry; GC; fast-GC; LC-GC; multidimensional separation techniques; isotope ratio mass spectrometry; preparative chromatography
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Paola Donato

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Odontoiatriche e delle Immagini Morfologiche e Funzionali, University of Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d'Alcontres n° 31, 98166 Messina, Italy
Interests: liquid chromatography; supercritical fluid chromatography; multidimensional separation techniques; mass spectrometry

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

The increasing globalization of food trade and demand for food resources are posing new challenges to scientists working in the field of food and food-related products. While world’s population growth and dynamics are driving the structural change of economies, the regulatory frameworks are pushed towards the harmonization of food standards and food safety measures. International trade and exchanges have in fact increased food availability worldwide, and this requires accurate analytical methods for food characterization in terms of component profiling, as well as to guarantee food safety, genuineness and traceability.

Thus, the task of food analysis and food control is wide ranging and multi-faceted, encompassing the qualitative and quantitative composition assessment, but also consumer protection and evaluation of conformity to food legislation.

Consumer concerns and government regulations focused on food safety dictate the need for selective and sensitive screening methods to provide reliable quantitative data on several food hazards, including chemical materials, environmental toxins, pesticides, micotoxins, and allergens.

Food authenticity and traceability have also become important subjects in a holistic approach to food testing, and to this concern robust analytical techniques are deemed as essential to trace the origins of food in the global supply chain, establish food authenticity, and combat fraudulent practices. In this complex scenario, sampling and sample preparation may also be a significant challenge due to the low levels of the chemicals and the complex food matrices.

Separation scientists are warmly invited to contribute to this Special Issue of Separations journal devoted to “Advances in the analysis of food constituents, residues, and contaminants”. Your inputs will provide future directions for the research or guidelines for standard tests and benchmarks that can help regulatory agencies. Both original research as well as critical review papers are welcome.

Thank you for your kind consideration.

Prof. Danilo Sciarrone
Prof. Paola Donato
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Separations is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • chromatography
  • contaminants
  • foodomics
  • genuineness
  • mass spectrometry
  • multidimensional separation
  • sample preparation
  • traceability

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1375 KiB  
Article
Fast Triacylglycerol Fingerprinting in Edible Oils by Subcritical Solvent Chromatography
by Tania Maria Grazia Salerno, Marianna Oteri, Paola Arena, Emanuela Trovato, Danilo Sciarrone, Paola Donato and Luigi Mondello
Separations 2023, 10(1), 56; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10010056 - 14 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1789
Abstract
Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) has witnessed a resurge of interest in the last decade, motivated by substantial progress in hardware capabilities and the development of specifically tailored packing materials. Meanwhile, the technique has been transitioning to the use of mobile phases in which [...] Read more.
Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) has witnessed a resurge of interest in the last decade, motivated by substantial progress in hardware capabilities and the development of specifically tailored packing materials. Meanwhile, the technique has been transitioning to the use of mobile phases in which an organic co-solvent is mixed to carbon dioxide under subcritical conditions (subFC). The use of a mobile phase modifier will also affect the selectivity, and extend the range of SFC-amenable compounds, including lipids. In this research, a subFC method was developed for the separation of triacylglycerols (TAGs) in edible oils of vegetable origin, namely borage, corn, hazelnut, olive, palm, peanut, and soybean oil. For all the samples investigated, elution of the TAG species was achieved within 8 min, the only exception being borage oil (14 min run), characterized by TAGs spanning in a wide range of partition number (PN 36–56), as constituted by fatty acids differing for alkyl chain lengths (CN 14–24), and degree of unsaturation (DB 0–9). The coupling to mass spectrometry (MS) detection allowed for the average parameters of fatty acid composition to be derived in the oil TAG constituents. A total of 121 TAGs were identified by subFC-MS, with reduced analysis time and solvent consumption (1.5 mL per analysis) compared to common chromatographic approaches. Key features of the method developed hereby are low toxicity, costs, and environmental impact. Notably, the achieved separations were conducted at room temperature, which is beneficial in terms of column life. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Separation Analysis of Food Constituents, Residues, and Contaminants)
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13 pages, 1628 KiB  
Communication
Isotopic Characterization of Italian Industrial Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Intended for Food Use: A First Exploratory Study
by Marco Calvi, Luana Bontempo, Sarah Pizzini, Lorenzo Cucinotta, Federica Camin and Barbara Stenni
Separations 2022, 9(6), 136; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations9060136 - 29 May 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3501
Abstract
In this study, Italian industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) intended for food use was isotopically characterized for the first time. The stable isotope ratios of five bioelements were analyzed in different parts of the plant (i.e., roots, stems, inflorescences, and seeds) sampled [...] Read more.
In this study, Italian industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) intended for food use was isotopically characterized for the first time. The stable isotope ratios of five bioelements were analyzed in different parts of the plant (i.e., roots, stems, inflorescences, and seeds) sampled in eight different regions of Italy, and in five hemp seed oils. The values of δ2H, δ13C, δ18O, and δ34S differed according to the latitude and, therefore, to the geographical origin of the samples and the climate conditions of plant growth, while the δ15N values allowed us to distinguish between crops grown under conventional and organic fertilization. The findings from this preliminary study corroborate the reliability of using light stable isotope ratios to characterize hemp and its derived food products and contribute to the creation of a first isotopic database for this plant, paving the way for future studies on authentication, traceability, and verification of organic labeling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Separation Analysis of Food Constituents, Residues, and Contaminants)
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15 pages, 1374 KiB  
Article
Determination of Alternaria Toxins in Food by SPE and LC-IDMS: Development and In-House Validation of a Candidate Method for Standardisation
by Carlos Gonçalves, Ádam Tölgyesi, Katrien Bouten, Fernando Cordeiro and Joerg Stroka
Separations 2022, 9(3), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations9030070 - 8 Mar 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3257
Abstract
Alternaria toxins (ATs) are frequently found contaminants in foodstuffs (e.g., alternariol), often reaching high concentrations (e.g., tenuazonic acid). They can spoil a wide variety of food categories (e.g., cereals, vegetables, seeds and drinks) and storage at fridge temperatures does not prevent the growth [...] Read more.
Alternaria toxins (ATs) are frequently found contaminants in foodstuffs (e.g., alternariol), often reaching high concentrations (e.g., tenuazonic acid). They can spoil a wide variety of food categories (e.g., cereals, vegetables, seeds and drinks) and storage at fridge temperatures does not prevent the growth of Alternaria fungi. Therefore, reliable and validated analytical methods are needed to protect human health and to ensure a transparent and fair trade. This paper describes new technical features that improved a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for the analysis of ATs in tomato, wheat and sunflower seeds. This analytical method should be simple to implement in different laboratories across the EU and thus be an attractive candidate for standardisation. The major element for improvement was the use of isotopically labelled internal standards, only recently commercially available, thereby reducing the sample handling and improving the accuracy of the results. In addition, the sample extraction and the solid-phase extraction (SPE) enrichment/clean-up were fine-tuned, whereas a more suitable analytical column (XSelect HSS T3) with improved selectivity was also employed. Overall, this method shows adequate precision (repeatability < 5.7% RSD; intermediate precision < 7.0% RSD) and trueness (recoveries ranging from 74% to 112%). The limits of quantification in wheat (the most analytically demanding matrix) vary between 0.19 and 1.40 µg/kg. These figures were deemed satisfactory by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and have formed the basis for a subsequent interlaboratory validation study. The corresponding standard was published by CEN in 2021. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Separation Analysis of Food Constituents, Residues, and Contaminants)
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11 pages, 1940 KiB  
Article
Determination of Avermectins Residues in Soybean, Bean, and Maize Using a QuEChERS-Based Method and Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled to Tandem Mass Spectrometry
by Fernanda Uczay, Nelson M. G. Bandeira, Luana Floriano, Osmar D. Prestes, Martha B. Adaime and Renato Zanella
Separations 2021, 8(11), 214; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations8110214 - 11 Nov 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2302
Abstract
Soybean, maize, and bean are crops of great economic importance, but in recent years have suffered with infestations of the caterpillar Helicoverpa armigera, with the main reason being the resistance of this pest to most pesticides. Avermectin emamectin benzoate was recently released [...] Read more.
Soybean, maize, and bean are crops of great economic importance, but in recent years have suffered with infestations of the caterpillar Helicoverpa armigera, with the main reason being the resistance of this pest to most pesticides. Avermectin emamectin benzoate was recently released to control this pest. Other avermectins, like abamectin, doramectin, eprinomectin, and ivermectin are used in large scale because they potent acaricidal, anthelmintic, and insecticidal activities. Thus, a simple and fast method for the determination of avermectins in these crops based on a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) extraction procedure and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) analysis was developed and validated. For extraction, water followed by acetonitrile:isopropanol and a partition step with salts was stablished. With the clean-up step using activated EMR-Lipid, limits of detection of 1.2 μg kg−1 for abamectin, doramectin, emamectin benzoate, and ivermectin, and of 2.4 μg kg−1 for eprinomectin were achieved. The validation showed satisfactory results and the method was successfully applied to commercial samples, indicating that it is suitable for routine analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Separation Analysis of Food Constituents, Residues, and Contaminants)
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16 pages, 976 KiB  
Article
Screening of Volatile Compounds in Mate (Ilex paraguariensis) Tea—Brazilian Chimarrão Type—By HS-SPDE and Hydrodistillation Coupled to GC-MS
by Pedro Kaltbach, Marit Gillmeister, Kathrin Kabrodt and Ingo Schellenberg
Separations 2021, 8(9), 131; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations8090131 - 24 Aug 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2399
Abstract
The volatile fraction of mate (Ilex paraguariensis) tea—specifically Brazilian chimarrão type, which has an odor profile comprising distinctive fresh, green, grass, and herbal notes—was investigated. Hydrodistillation in a Clevenger apparatus was employed in order to extract volatiles from the tea matrix. [...] Read more.
The volatile fraction of mate (Ilex paraguariensis) tea—specifically Brazilian chimarrão type, which has an odor profile comprising distinctive fresh, green, grass, and herbal notes—was investigated. Hydrodistillation in a Clevenger apparatus was employed in order to extract volatiles from the tea matrix. Headspace–solid-phase dynamic extraction (HS-SPDE) was employed to extract the volatiles from two types of infusions of this tea—a simple single infusion and a traditional preparation of consecutive infusions. Volatiles were analyzed by gas chromatography–flame ionization detection/mass spectrometry (GC-FID/MS). In total, 85 compounds were either identified or tentatively identified and semi-quantified. Semi-quantification comprised peak area integration of all the peaks (including the unidentified ones) in the chromatogram. Results obtained by hydrodistillation and by HS-SPDE were distinct, covering mostly different ranges of volatility and showing only 15 compounds in common. The identified compounds had their respective average and minimum odor thresholds and odor characteristics compiled from the literature. Several major compounds considered as key odorants in other mate tea products were not detected or only present at low levels in the samples of this research. Approximately half of the odorants identified in these samples were commonly reported in different mate tea types; the remaining 41 molecules—predominantly terpenoids (isoprenoids)—could be listed as specific to the Brazilian chimarrão type and are suggested to underlie its typical freshness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Separation Analysis of Food Constituents, Residues, and Contaminants)
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