A new, direct analytical method for the determination of 3-chloro-1,2-propanediol fatty acid esters (3-MCPD esters) was developed. The targeted 3-MCPD esters included five types of monoester and 25 [corrected] types of diester. Samples (oils and fats) were dissolved in a mixture of tert-butyl methyl ether and ethyl acetate (4:1), purified using two solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges (C(18) and silica), then analysed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Five monoesters and five diesters with the same fatty acid group could be separated and quantified. Pairs of 3-MCPD diesters carrying the same two different fatty acid groups, but at reversed positions (sn-1 and sn-2), could not be separated and so were expressed as a sum of both compounds. The limits of quantification (LOQs) were estimated to be between 0.02 to 0.08 mg kg(-1), depending on the types of 3-MCPD ester. Repeatability expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD(r)%) varied from 5.5% to 25.5%. The new method was shown to be applicable to various commercial edible oils and showed levels of 3-MCPD esters varying from 0.58 to 25.35 mg kg(-1). The levels of mono- and diesters ranged from 0.10 to 0.69 mg kg(-1) and from 0.06 to 16 mg kg(-1), respectively.

A novel GC-MS method was developed for the determination of acrylamide, which is applicable to a variety of processed foods, including potato snacks, corn snacks, biscuits, instant noodles, coffee, soy sauces and miso (fermented soy bean paste). The method involves the derivatization of acrylamide with xanthydrol instead of a bromine compound. Isotopically labelled acrylamide (d₃-acrylamide) was used as the internal standard. The aqueous extract from samples was purified using Sep-Pak™ C₁₈ and Sep-Pak™ AC-2 columns. For amino acid-rich samples, such as miso or soy sauce, an Extrelut™ column was used for purification or extraction. After reaction with xanthydrol, the resultant N-xanthyl acrylamide was determined by GC-MS. The method was validated for various food matrices and showed good linearity, precision and trueness. The limit of detection and limit of quantification ranged 0.5-5 and 5-20 µg kg⁻¹), respectively. The developed method was applied as an exploratory survey of acrylamide in Japanese foods and the method was shown to be applicable for all samples tested.

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This study aimed to confirm that poultry products packed at poultry processing plants have already been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes and that poultry products contaminated with L. monocytogenes are derived from broiler flocks infected with L. monocytogenes. L. monocytogenes was isolated from 16.8% (58/345) of chicken breast products and 2.3% (8/345) of chicken liver products. In contrast, L. monocytogenes was isolated from the pooled cecal content sample from only 1 (4%) of 25 flocks and was never isolated from any pooled dropping samples collected from 25 farms. The results of our study indicate that cecal content does not seem to be an important source of L. monocytogenes in poultry products.

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