Levels of furan in foods from the first French Total Diet Study on infants and toddlers.

This study describes an optimisation and validation process on a method using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry to quantify furan in foods consumed mainly by infants and toddlers. The method that we developed allowed for low limits of quantification for liquid (1 µg kg-1) and solid (2 µg kg-1) samples. Our method was then applied to 134 food samples from the first French Total Diet Study on infants and toddlers. Furan was detected in 84% and quantified in 61% of the samples, at average lower and upper bound (LB/UB) concentrations ranging from 0 to 44 µg kg-1. The sugar and sugar derivatives, milk, growth milk, infant formulae and "other hot beverages categories contained the lowest average content (LB/UB ≤ 1 µg kg-1) and breakfast cereals contained the highest (LB/UB = 44 µg kg-1).

Ochratoxin A determination in swine muscle and liver from French conventional or organic farming production systems.

Consumers generally considered organic products to be healthier and safer but data regarding the contamination of organic products are scarce. This study evaluated the impact of the farming system on the levels of ochratoxin A (OTA) in the tissues of French pigs (muscle and liver) reared following three different types of production (organic, Label Rouge and conventional). Because OTA is present at trace levels in animal products, a sensitive ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method using stable isotope dilution assay was developed and validated. OTA was detected or quantified (LOQ of 0.10 µg kg-1) in 67% (n = 47) of the 70 pig liver samples analysed, with concentrations ranging from <0.10 to 3.65 µg kg-1. The maximum concentration was found in a sample from organic production but there were no significant differences in the content of OTA between farming systems. OTA was above the LOQ in four out of 25 samples of the pork muscles. A good agreement was found between OTA levels in muscle and liver (liver concentration = 2.9 × OTA muscle concentration, r = 0.981).

Levels of acrylamide in foods included in 'the first French total diet study on infants and toddlers'.

This study describes an optimisation and validation process using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry to quantify acrylamide in foods mainly consumed by infants and toddlers. A limit of quantification of 5µg.kg-1 for both solid and liquid samples was achieved, except for unprepared infant cereals (LOQ of 18µg.kg-1). The method was then applied to 141 food samples from the first French total diet study on infants and toddlers. Acrylamide was detected in most samples at mean LB/UB concentrations ranging from 0.14 to 102µg.kg-1. The "Follow-on formula" and "Infant formula" products contained the lowest average content (LB/UB of 0.14/2.2µg.kg-1 and 0.60/2.9µg.kg-1 respectively) and the "Sweet and savoury biscuits and bars" (102µg.kg-1; n=1 represented by a plain dry biscuit) contained the highest.

Simultaneous liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis of brominated flame retardants (tetrabromobisphenol A and hexabromocyclododecane diastereoisomers) in French breast milk.

TBBPA and HBCDs are the two classes of flame retardants that are still allowed for use by the European Commission. In May 2013, HBCDs were listed as Persistent Organic Pollutants under the Stockholm Convention, and they were banned with an exemption on EPS/XPS for cavity wall insulation. This study describes the development and optimisation of a rapid LC-ESI-MS/MS method using isotopic dilution quantification including a simplified extraction step using a mixture of solvents and sulphuric acid hydrolysis followed by the one-shot analysis of TBBPA and each of the α-, ß- and γ-HBCD diastereoisomers. The limits of detection and quantification (LOD and LOQ) were 0.5 and 2.5 ng g-1 (lipid weight, lw) for TBBPA and HBCD diastereoisomers, respectively. The method was applied to analyse 106 samples of individual mature breast milk. TBBPA was quantified in 42% of these samples within a range of

Micropollutants and chemical residues in organic and conventional meat.

The chemical contamination levels of both conventional and organic meats were assessed. The objective was to provide occurrence data in a context of chronic exposure. Environmental contaminants (17 polychlorinated dibenzodioxins/dibenzofurans, 18 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 3 hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) isomers, 6 mycotoxins, 6 inorganic compounds) together with chemical residues arising from production inputs (75 antimicrobials, 10 coccidiostats and 121 pesticides) have been selected as relevant compounds. A dedicated sampling strategy, representative of the French production allowed quantification of a large sample set (n=266) including both conventional (n=139) and organic (n=127) raw meat from three animal species (bovine, porcine, poultry). While contamination levels below regulatory limits were measured in all the samples, significant differences were observed between both species and types of farming. Several environmental contaminants (Dioxins, PCBs, HBCD, Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, As) were measured at significantly higher levels in organic samples.

Total diet study on pesticide residues in France: levels in food as consumed and chronic dietary risk to consumers.

Chronic dietary exposure to pesticide residues was assessed for the French population using a total diet study (TDS) to take into account realistic levels in foods as consumed at home (table-ready). Three hundred and twenty-five pesticides and their transformation products, grouped into 283 pesticides according to their residue definition, were sought in 1235 composite samples corresponding to 194 individual food items that cover 90% of the adult and child diet. To make up the composite samples, about 19,000 food products were bought during different seasons from 2007 to 2009 in 36 French cities and prepared according to the food preparation practices recorded in the individual and national consumption survey (INCA2). The results showed that 37% of the samples contained one or more residues. Seventy-three pesticides were detected and 55 quantified at levels ranging from 0.003 to 8.7mg/kg. The most frequently detected pesticides, identified as monitoring priorities in 2006, were the post-harvest insecticides pirimiphos-methyl and chlorpyrifos-methyl-particularly in wheat-based products-together with chlorpyrifos, iprodione, carbendazim and imazalil, mainly in fruit and fruit juices. Dietary intakes were estimated for each subject of INCA2 survey, under two contamination scenarios to handle left-censored data: lower-bound scenario (LB) where undetected results were set to zero, and upper-bound (UB) scenario where undetected results were set to the detection limit. For 90% of the pesticides, exposure levels were below the acceptable daily intake (ADI) under the two scenarios. Under the LB scenario, which tends to underestimate exposure levels, only dimethoate intakes exceeded the ADI for high level consumers of cherry (0.6% of children and 0.4% of adults). This pesticide, authorised in Europe, and its metabolite were detected in both cherries and endives. Under the UB scenario, that overestimates exposure, a chronic risk could not be excluded for nine other pesticides (dithiocarbamates, ethoprophos, carbofuran, diazinon, methamidophos, disulfoton, dieldrin, endrin and heptachlor). For these pesticides, more sensitive analyses of the main food contributors are needed in order to refine exposure assessment.

Dietary acrylamide exposure of the French population: results of the second French Total Diet Study.

Acrylamide is a heat-induced carcinogen compound that is found in some foods consequently to cooking or other thermal processes. In the second French Total Diet Study (TDS), acrylamide was analysed in 192 food samples collected in mainland France to be representative of the population diet and prepared "as consumed". Highest mean concentrations were found in potato chips/crisps (954 µg/kg), French fries and other fried potatoes (724 µg/kg), and salted biscuits other than potato chips (697 µg/kg). Exposure of general adult and child populations was assessed by combining analytical results with national consumption data. Mean acrylamide exposure was assessed to be 0.43±0.33 µg/kg of body weight (bw) per day for adults and 0.69±0.58 µg/kg bw/day for children. Although the exposure assessed is lower than in previous evaluations, the calculated margins of exposure, based on benchmark dose limits defined for carcinogenic effects, remain very low especially for young children (below 100 at the 95th percentile of exposure), indicating a health concern. It is therefore advisable to continue efforts in order to reduce dietary exposure to acrylamide.

Evaluation of some parameters affecting troublesome pesticide analysis in gas chromatography-ion-trap mass spectrometry.

Nowadays, multiresidue methods for pesticides monitoring in food commodities are commonly employed. It is also well known that the presence of several compounds from the matrix introduces a bias during the detection and the quantification steps. The so-called matrix effect phenomenon is related to the masking or formation of active sites. In GC, this phenomenon occurs in the injector port, and in the separative system (retention gap and/or analytical column) and also causes ionization potential modification of analytes. The main consequence of matrix effect is an increasing or decreasing analyte signal in the presence of the matrix (real sample) in respect to the same analyte in solvent (standard solution). In standard mixture, pesticides themselves interact with the active present sites among analytical chain from injector to the detector. Some matrix components, sometimes at trace amounts, are inevitably present in analyzed samples even after numerous and diverse clean-up procedures. In this paper, the influence of some analytical parameters on pesticide signal response is explored using gas chromatography with ion-trap mass-selective detection (GC-IT-MS). Moreover, the responses of characteristic troublesome analytes are analyzed in various kinds of matrices. Finally, matrix compound identification is initiated to study analyte-matrix relationship. Sample acidification with 0.1% acetic acid was the most appropriate for the majority of pesticides, while 0.1% formic acid was more suitable for base-sensitive ones (amitraz, imazalil, thiabendazole). Among tested calibration methods, matrix matched calibration provides the best results. In green bean matrix model, a matrix/pesticide ratio of 1/1 induces the best detected signal for almost every investigated analytes. Presence and quantity of some identified matrix co-extracted compounds like sterols could be partially a cause of signal enhancement.