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  • Kun LI, Jun-Lei ZHANG, Yu-Ting SHEN, Shu-Xin YE, Qing GAO, Jin-Song HE
    Journal of Food Safety & Quality. 2025, 16(1): 223-233.

    Objective To delve into the influences of slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) and ultra-high pressure (UHP) on the bactericidal potency of Panax notoginseng tubers, and quantification of synergistic bactericidal effect, constructing bactericidal model. Methods Fresh Panax notoginseng was selected as the raw material, with independent variables encompassing SAEW available chlorine concentrations (25, 30, 35 mg/L), solid-liquid ratios (1:20, 1:30, 1:40 g/mL), treatment durations (4, 6, 8 min), and pressures (200, 300, 400 MPa). The number of deceased Escherichia coli on the surface of Panax notoginseng tubers was set as the response value. A response surface methodology was adopted to optimize these treatment parameters and establish a coordination range for parallel SAEW-UHP treatments while quantifying their synergistic effects, verified the prediction accuracy of the model. Results Revealed that based on single-factor experiments, SAEW-UHP parallel technology was better than single technology in bactericidal effect, the optimal sterilization process parameters for the SAEW-UHP parallel technology lie within a solid-liquid ratio range of 1:26.90-1:33.34 g/mL, available chlorine concentrations range of 29.03-35.00 mg/L, treatment durations range of 5.27-6.83 min, pressure range of 295.57-400.00 MPa and the material-to-liquid ratio was set at 1:31.28 g/mL, with an electrolyzed water concentration was set at 34.25 mg/L, treatment duration was set at 6.79 min, and the pressure was set at 400.00 MPa, the synergistic effect predicted by the model reached its maximum, yielding a peak quantification value of 1.87 lg(CFU/mL). Conclusion This research quantitatively elucidates the augmented sterilization efficacy conferred by the SAEW-UHP parallel technology, utilized the smallest dosage and the lowest processing intensity to achieve the best bactericidal effect, which furnishing a theoretical underpinning for fresh produce storage strategies, offering novel approaches to green processing, and providing a guarantee for food microbial safety.

  • Xiu-Li WANG, Hong-Xia ZHOU, Mei-Chao ZHANG, Shi-Jie DING, Miao WANG
    Journal of Food Safety & Quality. 2025, 16(1): 127-136.

    Objective To Establish a method for simultaneous determination of 11 kinds of caine anesthetics and their 3 kinds of metabolites in aquatic products by QuEChERS-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Methods The samples were extracted by acetonitrile, dehydrated by anhydrous MgSO4 and NaCl, purified by 100 mg primary secondary amine (PSA), filtered by 0.22 µm organic microporous membrane, and qualitatively and quantitatively determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Results The 11 kinds of caine anesthetes and their 3 kinds of metabolites showed a good linear relationship in the mass concentration range of 0.01-5.00 μg/L, and the correlation coefficients (r) were 0.99529-0.99989. The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantification (LOQ) of 11 kinds of caine anesthetics and their 3 kinds of metabolites were 0.05-2.00 µg/kg and 0.15-5.00 µg/kg, respectively. The 3 kinds of substrates, white shrimp, carp and turbinus were performed at 3 levels: 1 times LOQ, 2-2.5 times LOQ and 10 times LOQ. The recoveries of 11 kinds of caine anesthetics and their 3 kinds of metabolites in 3 samples were 71.3%-114.2%, 71.2%-107.0% and 70.4%-104.5%, and the relative standard deviations were 0.7%-11.2%, 0.5%-11.5% and 0.8%-14.2%. The method was used to detect 50 batches of different varieties of aquatic products in the market. The results showed that 4 batches of products were detected with caine anesthetic, and the other 46 batches were not detected, the detection rate was 8%. The detected items were mainly tricaine, benzocaine, m-aminobenzoic acid and p-aminobenzoic acid, the content of which were 5.68-90.80 μg/kg, and the other 10 kinds of compounds were not detected. Conclusions The method is simple and fast, has high sensitivity, accuracy and precision, and can simultaneously determine a variety of caine anesthetics in aquatic products. It is suitable for the determination of batch samples, and has high practical application significance, and can provide powerful technical support for food safety monitoring.

  • Ke-Jing PANG, Zhen-Ping LIU, Xue-Jian ZHANG, Fang-Yuan GAN, Rong JIANG, Dao-Qi LONG
    Journal of Food Safety & Quality. 2025, 16(1): 1-7.

    Food origin traceability technology is an important technical means for the effective implementation of food origin traceability and the protection of regional brands and specialty products. China has established a number of food safety standard systems, including “geographical indications of Chinese agricultural products”. There is an increasing demand for food origin discrimination at home and abroad, and the characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are closely related to food origin, which can be used to characterize the differences between different products of the same kind of food. Gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) technology is a new technology developed in recent years for the determination of VOCs, which has the advantages of good separation effect, fast detection speed and high sensitivity, and has the potential to become an effective technical means for origin tracing. This paper introduced the working principle and characteristics of GC-IMS technology, summarized the progress of the application of GC-IMS technology in the origin traceability of animal and plant-derived foods in recent years, and discussed the future development direction of GC-IMS technology, in order to provide technical reference for the continuous expansion of the application of GC-IMS technology in the origin traceability of food.

  • Wei-Ran ZHANG, Meng QU, Jun-Xia HU, Yan-Hua JIANG, Ying-Ying GUO, Wen-Jia ZHU, Na LI, Feng-Ling LI, Lin YAO
    Journal of Food Safety & Quality. 2025, 16(1): 81-90.

    Objective To explore the genes that respond to the synthesis pathway of norovirus binding receptors in Crassostrea gigas under different temperature stress, screen them, and study their cloning and expression patterns. Methods Crassostrea gigas were treated at high temperature (25 ℃) and low temperature (5 ℃), and two tissues of gills and digestive glands were extracted for RNA extracted for transcriptome sequencing and analysis. Selected genes on the synthesis pathway of norovirus binding receptors that responded to temperature treatment as targets, clone, express in prokaryotic cells, and identified by Western blotting. The tissue expression and seasonal expression pattern of the gene were analyzed by quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Results The β1,3 galactosyltransferase-like 1 (B3GALT1-like) gene (GenBank LOC117683256) was significantly upregulated in multiple sampling sites in the gill group. The 1089 bp coding sequence (CDS) region of the gene was amplified. After 8 h of induction of 25 ℃, isopropyl beta-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG), a protein band of about 84.9 kDa appeared, which was specifically bound to both anti-MBP tag antibody and anti-human B3GALT1 antibody. B3GALT1-like genes was abundantly expressed in gill tissue and was significantly higher at low temperature than at high temperature (P<0.01). Conclusion The expression level of B3GALT1 gene in Crassostrea gigas is affected by temperature, and the expressed protein has similar immunogenicity to human β1,3 galactosyltransferase. The tissue expression and seasonal expression patterns of the B3GALT1 gene are somewhat consistent with the seasonality of norovirus outbreaks. This study provides a foundation for further exploration of the molecular mechanism of seasonal enrichment of norovirus in Crassostrea gigas.

  • Xin-Long XIONG, Yu LIU, Di SUN, Shi-Jun SONG, Rui-Juan DONG, Wei JIANG
    Journal of Food Safety & Quality. 2025, 16(1): 74-80.

    Objective To study the effects of methyl-β-cyclodextrin (M-β-CD) on removing cholesterol from fish oil. Methods Cholesterol removal rate and fish oil recovery rate were used as key indicators to screen suitable materials for removing cholesterol from fish oil from β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and its derivatives. The optimal cholesterol removal process conditions were determined through orthogonal experiments, and the quality of fish oil before and after cholesterol removal was compared. Results M-β-CD was the best material for removing cholesterol from fish oil. The optimal process conditions of M-β-CD removal of cholesterol in fish oil were as follows: M-β-CD dosage of 30%, temperature of 50 ℃, time of 15 min. The cholesterol removal rate was 51.34%, and the fish oil recovery rate was 84.84% under these conditions. When cholesterol was removed under the optimal process conditions, the acid value, peroxide value, and anisidine value of fish oil significantly decreased (P<0.05), while the iodine value did not change significantly (P>0.05). The content of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) significantly increased (P<0.05), the proportions of saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) were 31.33%, 16.81%, and 51.86% of the total lipid content, respectively, with no significant changes observed among them (P>0.05). Conclusion The treatment of fish oil with M-β-CD not only efficiently removes cholesterol but also enhances the quality, making it a promising method for cholesterol removal from fish oil.

  • Yue-Chuan ZHANG, Qing-Long WANG, Shuang LI, Yu-Ting WANG, Qing-Yao LI, Shuang ZHANG, Lin WU, Xiao-Yu YUAN, Zhi-Kai HU
    Journal of Food Safety & Quality. 2025, 16(1): 151-157.

    Objective To establish subsequently the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method that could quickly and accurately identify Cronobacter sakazakii, and design specific primer probes based on the DNA gyrB subunit gene. Methods The target gene sequences were searched and downloaded from National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), sequence comparison was performed using DNAMAN, and primer probes were designed by Primer Express software. This established real-time quantitative PCR method was validated through specificity tests, absolute sensitivity tests, relative sensitivity tests and anti-interference tests. The 40 common pathogenic bacteria standard strains were selected for specificity validation. Results The results of multi-dimensional specificity validation showed that the method was able to specifically detect Cronobacter sakazakii, and there was no non-specific amplification for other closely related Cronobacter and common pathogenic bacteria in food. DNA detection sensitivity was 0.0100 ng/μL, while relative sensitivity was 103 CFU/mL. The anti-interference experiment results showed that mixing interfering bacteria and their DNA with Cronobacter sakazakii DNA and Cronobacter sakazakii did not significantly affect the detection results, indicating that this method had good anti-interference ability. Conclusion The primer probes designed in this study are specific, rapid, sensitive and anti-interference for the detection of Cronobacter sakazakii in food samples under real-time fluorescence PCR method. It can provide technical support for detection of Cronobacter sakazakii in the future.

  • Jiang-Shan LI, Yun-Long NI, Xin QIAO, Yan-Mei WANG, Jia-Lu DU, Xiang HUO
    Journal of Food Safety & Quality. 2025, 16(1): 170-179.

    Objective To study the growth heterogeneity of different serotypes of Vibrio parahaemolyticus (VP) under different culture conditions, and to establish growth prediction models for epidemic strains (O3:K6, O10:K4). Methods Seventeen VP strains of different serotypes were selected as the research objects, and different culture conditions were set, including salinity (0.5%-10.0%), pH (3.0-11.0) and temperature (16-50 ℃). The modified Gompertz model was used to establish the primary growth model. The optimal growth range was determined by comparing the maximum OD value (Ymax), the Lag time (λ) and maximum specific growth rate (μmax). The second-order response surface growth model was established by Design-Expert 13 software. Results There was growth heterogeneity among VP strains. The coefficient of variation for differences in growth parameters μmax and Ymax between VP strains at salinity levels of 1.0%-3.0%, pH of 7.0-9.0, and temperatures of 20-40 ℃ was lower than that under other culture conditions. The growth ability of the epidemic strains (serotype O3:K6, O10:K4) was significantly greater than that of other serotypes when the salinity was 7.0%, the pH was 10.0, and the temperature was 16 ℃, with a statistically significant difference (P<0.05). The determination coefficients of the first-order growth models fitted under different salinity and temperature were greater than 0.98, and the correlation coefficients under different pH were greater than 0.9. The second-order response surface growth model was significant (P<0.05), and the determination coefficient was greater than 0.94. Conclusion There is growth heterogeneity among VP strains, but in certain extreme conditions, there are more obvious growth differences between different serotypes. The modified Gompertz model and the second-order response surface growth model can be used to analyze and predict the growth of VP under different experimental conditions, which can provide reliable and safe prediction for the growth trend of VP.

  • Ze-Chun WU, Ying ZENG, Dan-Ping MO, Dan LI
    Journal of Food Safety & Quality. 2025, 16(1): 53-58.

    Objective To establish a method for the determination of migration of isosorbide in isosorbide modified polyethylene terephthalate (PET) products by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID). Methods The effects of different chromatographic conditions on the separation of isosorbide were investigated. HP-5 was selected as the separation column and 260 ℃ was selected as the injection port temperature. The effects of different pretreatment methods on the extraction of isosorbide from food simulants were investigated. The olive oil food simulant was extracted with methanol, purified with n-hexane and filtered before analyzed. The 95% ethanol and isooctane simulants were directly analyzed by the machine after filtered. Other food simulants were diluted with methanol and then directly analyzed by the machine. The external standard method was used for quantification. Results Isosorbide had a good linear relationship in the range of 2.5-40.0 mg/L (aqueous food simulants), 0.6-10.0 mg/L (substitute simulants) and 1.5-25.0 mg/kg (fatty food simulants), and the correlation coefficient was above 0.995. The limit of detection of this method for the migration of isosorbide was 0.8 mg/kg (aqueous food simulants), 0.2 mg/kg (substitute simulants) and 0.5 mg/kg (fatty food simulants). The limit of quantification was 2.5 mg/kg (aqueous food simulants), 0.6 mg/kg (substitute simulants) and 1.5 mg/kg (fatty food simulants). The spiked recoveries were 92.0%-112.3%, and the relative standard deviation was 0.2%-4.3% (n=6). Conclusions This method has good linearity, high precision, sensitivity and accuracy, and can meet the detection requirements of isosorbide migration in modified PET products.

  • Guang-Xin YANG, Jun-Yu ZHANG, Wei XIA, Long-Long WANG, Xiao-Sheng SHEN, Cheng-Qi FAN, Xiao-Qing TIAN, Cong KONG
    Journal of Food Safety & Quality. 2025, 16(1): 119-126.

    Objective To study the tissue distribution and metabolic regulation of diazepam (DZP) in Carassius auratus after feeding with positive bait containing DZP. Methods Carassius auratus was selected as the study object and exposed to DZP-enriched bait through gavage, and tissue samples including scales, skin, muscle, plasma, gills, intestines, liver, gallbladder, gonads, and brain were collected at specific intervals ranging from 1 h to 456 h post-exposure. High performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem high-resolution mass spectrometry was employed to detect DZP and its metabolites—nordazepam (NZP), temazepam (TZP), and oxazepam (OZP)—in these tissues, analyze their distribution and metabolic patterns. Results Following exposure to DZP-enriched bait, DZP rapidly accumulated in Carassius auratus tissues, with substantial residues persisting for up to 456 h. The highest concentrations were primarily found in the gonads, liver and gallbladder, with the gonads consistently showing elevated levels. NZP and TZP emerged as the primary metabolites. Conclusion DZP predominantly exists in its prototype form in Carassius auratus and tends to accumulate in the gonads. The prolonged metabolic cycle of DZP and its metabolites in Carassius auratus indicates potential food safety and health risks for consumers of aquatic products caught with DZP-containing bait.

  • Jie-Ying ZHENG, Wei-Liang WU, Jian-Yun ZHAO, Xin GAN, Li BAI
    Journal of Food Safety & Quality. 2025, 16(1): 195-201.

    Objective To compare three domestic and foreign Cronobacter detection methods, for verifying the actual detection performance of three standard methods: GB 4789.40—2016 National standard for food safety food-Microbiology tests Cronobacter spp. (Enterobacter sakazakii) test, GB 4789.40—2024 National standard for food safety food-Microbiology tests Cronobacter test and ISO 22964—2017 Food chain microbiology-Horizontal detection methods for Cronobacter spp. Methods Three standard methods were used to detect Cronobacter in 403 samples collected from 2020 to 2022, including infant formula, cereal-based infant supplements, corn ingredients, and raw and supplemental ingredients of infant formula, and to test Cronobacter isolates for drug susceptibility. Results The total contamination rate of Cronobacter in 403 samples was 17.9% (72/403), and the contamination rates of corn raw material, cereal-based infant supplement and infant formula were 37.3% (38/102), 23.4% (33/141) and 1.0% (1/100), respectively. Although there was no significant difference in the total detection rate among the three standard methods (χ2=3.601, P=0.170), 41.5 ℃ could effectively improve the detection rate compared with 44 ℃ (χ2=18.813, P=0.000). The resistance rate of 72 strains of Cronobacter was 55.6% (40/72), among which the resistance rates of cefazolin, ampicillin, and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid were 52.8% (38/72), 5.6% (4/72), and 1.4% (1/72), respectively. Conclusion This study shows that GB 4789.40—2024 has reached the level of the international relevant methods, providing data support for the mutual recognition of the test results of GB 4789.40 and ISO 22964 methods. Cronobacter has high resistance to cefazolin, which should be avoided when choosing antibiotics for clinical treatment.