Semicarbazide universality study and its speculated formation pathway

Abstract

Semicarbazide (SEM) was used as a metabolic marker to indicate the use (abuse) of the antibiotic nitrofurazone. It can be generated from azodicarbonamide and also had been observed from other unrelated sources. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the existence of SEM in different foods and conjecture the producing pathway. In this article, a LC–MS/MS method for the detection of SEM in different food products had been validated, and the limit of detection was 0.5 μg/kg. Several different sample pretreatment methods had been developed and 31 samples had been evaluated, 80.03–120.15% recoveries of the spiked samples were obtained. It was shown that SEM was detected in various foods. Different types of food might have different mechanisms for retaining SEM, and blank shrimp flesh had been chosen to further study. Several processing methods were performedand the concentration of SEM in processed shrimps was higher than that in unprocessed shrimps, and temperature, moisture, oil, may influence the formation of SEM. Meanwhile, the simulation experiment proved that SEM was produced by amino acids under high temperature. It was shown that the excessive level of SEM in shrimp was endogenous, presumably, it also can be found in rich‐protein food after processing. Practical applications This study reflected the SEM universality in different food. In previous studies where using LC–MS to detect SEM in different foods, the pretreatments of different substrate foods rarely varied, this would easily lead to experimental error and solvent waste, this study carried out sample pretreatment classification for the main components of different foods, which provided a reference for the subsequent SEM detection. In view of the endogenous SEM, the possible formation pathways of endogenous SEM were analyzed from the aspects of processing methods and amino acid compositions, providing a theoretical basis for the future study of endogenous SEM.

Development of biomimetic enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay based on molecular imprinting technique for semicarbazide detection

“…Moreover, we used conventional ELISA and HPLC-MS/MS methods for SEM analysis of the real food samples and compared the results with established methods. Additionally, HPLC-MS/MS was used as a reference method (Yu, Liu, Tian, Li, & Wang, 2018).…”

Presence of nitrofurans and their metabolites in gelatine

“…Almost at the same time as multi‐nitrofuran metabolite methods based on LC‐MS/MS, with sufficient sensitivity to test at MRPL of 1 μg/kg, were being developed in 2004/2005, the first reports on sources of SEM other than from nitrofurazone were published in the literature. It has been reported that SEM, or compounds from which SEM may be released, may occur in food from the following sources: as a reaction product formed from use of hypochlorite for disinfection or for bleaching of food products (Hoenicke et al., 2004; Xing et al., 2012); as a product from various chemical reactions in foods (Bendall, 2009; Abernethy, 2015; Yu et al., 2018); as a migration or breakdown product from azodicarbonamide previously permitted to be used as a blowing agent to foam the plastic sealing gaskets on metal lids of food jars (Stadler et al., 2004; Nestmann et al., 2005; Szilagyi and de la Calle, 2006); as a migration or breakdown product from azodicarbonamide previously permitted to be used as a flour treatment agent in bread production (Becalski et al., 2004, 2006; Noonan et al., 2005); as a reaction product formed during warm storage of food products such as dried egg powder and whey powder (Gatermann et al., 2004); as a product formed from the reaction of hydrazine with urea in milk, under acidic conditions, including those used in the analytical method (Abernethy and Higgs, 2013; Kuhn, 2014); released from a naturally occurring compound present in shrimps, prawns and crayfish (Saari and Peltonen, 2004; Van Poucke et al., 2011; McCracken et al., 2013; Li et al., 2015); released from precursors occurring in honey, such as the amino acid arginine (Khong et al., 2004; Crews, 2014). use as a chemical additive in gelatine intended for the preparation of drug formulations (e.g.…”

“…• as a product from various chemical reactions in foods (Bendall, 2009;Abernethy, 2015;Yu et al, 2018);…”

Metasurface-based sensor with terahertz molecular fingerprint enhancement in trace additives identification

“…ADA maintains remarkable stability under standard conditions. However, exposure to humid or elevated temperatures can trigger its conversion into noxious semicarbazide [18,19]. Long term excessive intake of ADA may induce serious damage to human body.…”