Analytical Approaches to Verify Food Integrity: Needs and Challenges.

A brief overview of the main analytical approaches and practices to determine food authenticity is presented, addressing, as well, food supply chain and future requirements to more effectively mitigate food fraud. Food companies are introducing procedures and mechanisms that allow them to identify vulnerabilities in their food supply chain under the umbrella of a food fraud prevention management system. A key step and first line of defense is thorough supply chain mapping and full transparency, assessing the likelihood of fraudsters to penetrate the chain at any point. More vulnerable chains, such as those where ingredients and/or raw materials are purchased through traders or auctions, may require a higher degree of sampling, testing, and surveillance. Access to analytical tools is therefore pivotal, requiring continuous development and possibly sophistication in identifying chemical markers, data acquisition, and modeling. Significant progress in portable technologies is evident already today, for instance, as in the rapid testing now available at the agricultural level. In the near future, consumers may also have the ability to scan products in stores or at home to authenticate labels and food content. For food manufacturers, targeted analytical methods complemented by untargeted approaches are end control measures at the factory gate when the material is delivered. In essence, testing for food adulterants is an integral part of routine QC, ideally tailored to the risks in the individual markets and/or geographies or supply chains. The development of analytical methods is a first step in verifying the compliance and authenticity of food materials. A next, more challenging step is the successful establishment of global consensus reference methods as exemplified by the AOAC Stakeholder Panel on Infant Formula and Adult Nutritionals initiative, which can serve as an approach that could also be applied to methods for contaminants and adulterants in food. The food industry has taken these many challenges aboard, working closely with all stakeholders and continuously communicating on progress in a fully transparent manner.

Normal growth of infants receiving an infant formula containing Lactobacillus reuteri, galacto-oligosaccharides, and fructo-oligosaccharide: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The safety of an infant formula containing a new mixture of the prebiotics galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) and fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) and the probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri needs to be evaluated. METHODS: Healthy term infants in Singapore were randomly assigned (using computer-generated allocation sequences) to receive exclusively an experimental infant formula containing L. reuteri, GOS (5.50 g/L), and FOS (0.36 g/L) or a control formula containing only L. reuteri from enrollment (7-14 days of age) to 4 months of age. The primary objective of this trial was to demonstrate that weight change between birth and 4 months of age in infants fed the experimental formula was not inferior to World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth standards. The non-inferiority margin was -0.5 standard deviations (SD). The secondary objectives were to compare changes in anthropometric measurements (weight, length, body mass index, and head circumference), digestive tolerance, stool bacterial counts, urinary D- and L- lactate concentrations, and adverse events in the two formula groups. RESULTS: The intention-to-treat (ITT) population included all randomized infants stratified by gender, (experimental group, N = 68 and control group, N = 72). The per-protocol (PP) population included 61 infants in the experimental and 62 infants in the control groups. The change in weight-for-age z-score between birth and 4 months was +0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI]: +0.63 to +1.23) SD in the experimental group and +0.92 (95% CI: +0.62 to +1.22) SD in the control group in the PP population, indicating non-inferior weight gain in both formulas groups compared with WHO standards. The ITT population had similar results. Liquid stools occurred more frequently in the experimental compared with the control group and median bifidobacteria, lactobacilli, and enterococci counts were higher in the experimental group (p < 0.05). Other secondary outcomes were not significantly different between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Infant formula containing L. reuteri + GOS/FOS supports normal growth and is safe. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrial.gov: NCT01010113.

A Randomized Double Blind Controlled Safety Trial Evaluating d-Lactic Acid Production in Healthy Infants Fed a Lactobacillus reuteri-containing Formula.

BACKGROUND: d-Lactic acidosis in infants fed lactic acid bacteria-containing products is a concern. METHODS: The primary objective of this non-inferiority trial was to compare urinary d-lactic acid concentrations during the first 28 days of life in infants fed formula containing Lactobacillus reuteri (1.2 × 10(6) colony forming units (CFU)/ml) with those fed a control formula. The non-inferiority margin was set at a two-fold increase in d-lactic acid (0.7 mmol/mol creatinine, log-transformed). Healthy term infants in Greece were enrolled between birth and 72 hours of age, and block randomized to a probiotic (N = 44) or control (N = 44) group. They were exclusively fed their formulae until 28 days of age and followed up at 7, 14, 28, 112, and 168 ± 3 days. Anthropometric measurements were taken at each visit and tolerance recorded until 112 days. Urine was collected before study formula intake and at all visits up to 112 days and blood at 14 days. RESULTS: d-Lactic acid concentration in the probiotic group was below the non-inferiority margin at 28 days: treatment effect -0.03 (95% confidence interval [CI]: [-0.48 to 0.41]) mmol/mol creatinine but was above the non-inferiority margin at 7 and 14 days-treatment effect 0.50 (95% CI: [0.05-0.96]) mmol/mol creatinine and 0.45 (95% CI: [0.00-0.90]) mmol/mol creatinine, respectively. Blood acid excess and pH, anthropometry, tolerance, and adverse events (AEs) were not significantly different between groups. CONCLUSION: Intake of L. reuteri-containing formula was safe and did not cause an increase in d-lactic acid beyond two weeks.

Dynamics of human milk nutrient composition of women from Singapore with a special focus on lipids.

BACKGROUND: A recent report suggested that human milk (HM) composition not only changes with lactation stages but also vary according to gender of the offspring. In spite of available literature, the dynamic changes of HM composition still remain to be completely explored and characterized. Progress in analytical technologies together with quantitative sampling of HM allows for a better quantification of HM nutrients and thereby providing a deeper understanding of the dynamics of HM secretion. OBJECTIVE: To characterize and quantify HM nutrients based on appropriate for analyses sampling procedures and advanced analytical methodologies. CLINICAL STUDY DESIGN: We conducted an observatory, single center, longitudinal trial with HM collection at 30, 60, and 120 days postpartum from 50 mothers (singleton-deliveries of 25 male and 25 female infants). HM samples were analyzed for lipid, lactose, energy density, fatty acids, phospholipids, and gangliosides. Longitudinal analyses of the datasets have been carried out using linear mixed models. RESULTS: HM for male infants compared to females at 120 days, were higher for energy content and lipids by 24 and 39%, respectively. Similarly, other bioactive lipids such as linoleic acid, phospholipids and gangliosides were also significantly different based on the gender of the infant. Significant stage-based differences were observed for total lipids, energy density, phospholipids, and gangliosides. Such difference in HM composition may stem from different energy needs to cope up for individual growth and development. CONCLUSION: Collectively, the current observations affirm that HM secretion, especially the lipid composition, is a very dynamic and personalized biological process.

Integration of structure-activity relationship and artificial intelligence systems to improve in silico prediction of ames test mutagenicity.

The Ames mutagenicity test in Salmonella typhimurium is a bacterial short-term in vitro assay aimed at detecting the mutagenicity caused by chemicals. Mutagenicity is considered as an early alert for carcinogenicity. After a number of decades, several (Q)SAR studies on this endpoint yielded enough evidence to make feasible the construction of reliable computational models for prediction of mutagenicity from the molecular structure of chemicals. In this study, we propose a combination of a fragment-based SAR model and an inductive database. The hybrid system was developed using a collection of 4337 chemicals (2401 mutagens and 1936 nonmutagens) and tested using 753 independent compounds (437 mutagens and 316 nonmutagens). The overall error of this system on the external test set compounds is 15% (sensitivity = 15%, specificity = 15%), which is quantitatively similar to the experimental error of Ames test data (average interlaboratory reproducibility determined by the National Toxicology Program). Moreover, each single prediction is provided with a specific confidence level. The results obtained give confidence that this system can be applied to support early and rapid evaluation of the level of mutagenicity concern.