Mycotoxins, toxic fungal metabolites, are prevalent in a wide range of foods. Among them, aflatoxins, particularly aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), are the most widespread and toxic. AFB1 is metabolized in lactating animals to aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), subsequently being excreted in milk. This work studies the mechanism of the physicochemical procedure of AFM1 elimination from Ringer’s solution, as a model system, and raw milk using insoluble beta-cyclodextrin polymer (BCP). AFM1 concentrations were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD). As found, the elimination process was primarily influenced by mixing time, centrifugation speed, and BCP amount added to Ringer’s solution spiked with AFM1. Under optimal conditions (mixing at 1000 rpm for 40 min, centrifugation at 1020 g for 15 min, 6 % (w/v) BCP, and an initial AFM1 concentration of 0.5 ng/ml), the maximum measure of AFM1 elimination was 71.9 %, while the elimination process itself can be described better by Freundlich sorption isotherm, indicating a combined adsorption mechanism, i.e. the formation of host-guest inclusion complexes between AFM1 and BCP, as well as monolayer sorption of AFM1 on BCP surface. In raw milk, the measure of AFM1 elimination was lower (58 %) due to the presence of other compounds able to compete for adsorption sites on the BCP surface and inside. Importantly, milk’s nutritional components were not significantly altered by the procedure. Based on these results, the procedure exhibits potential for practical application in milk decontamination technology, which will contribute to the development of food safety technologies in dairy production.

Aflatoxin M 1 (AFM 1 ), which is a hydroxylated metabolite of aflatoxin B 1 , can be irreversibly bound to casein micelles and thus, its higher content is measured in cheese than in the original milk. The present study describes validation of a reliable and rapid method for AFM 1 content determination in cheese applied to 36 kinds of cheese sold in Slovakia during the spring of 2024. The method consisted of three basic steps: extraction of AFM 1 from cheese, purification of extracts using immunoaffinity columns, and determination of AFM 1 content by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. Suitability of the method was proved by the limits of detection and quantification equal to 2.0 and 6.0 ng/kg, respectively, which is in accordance with the limits set by European legislation for analytical procedures for AFM 1 determination in milk. Accuracy of the method was determined using a recovery test, spiking cheese with AFM 1 , and varied between 87.8 and 100.5 %. Precision was confirmed by low relative standard deviations, 0.3—7.9 %, and Hor- Rat values (0.01—0.32) of the results obtained on different days. Experiments showed the AFM 1 content in all cheese to be below the limit of quantification, which indirectly confirmed the absence of AFM 1 in milk as raw material. However, AFM 1 contamination of milk is expected to increase due to global warming in future; therefore, AFM 1 contamination should be an essential part of current food safety issues.

Background One of the most carcinogenic compounds found in milk is aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), which is formed in lactating mammals after the ingestion of feeds that have been contaminated with aflatoxin B1 and then excreted into milk. As such, AFM1's concentration is limited at the both the national and international levels by national legislation or internationally-adopted Codex Alimentarius standards, respectively. Climatic conditions, the absence of food safety standards, or insufficient capacity for official controls have led to one-third of humankind being chronically exposed to AFM1, especially in developing countries. Despite being frequently found in milk-based products and the many attempts by researchers to eliminate AFM1 during milk processing, there is no removal procedure applicable in the dairy sector. Scope and approach This article retrieves and summarises the latest scientific and patent information on AFM1 elimination procedures from milk. Key findings and conclusions Various procedures to eliminate AFM1 from milk - based on chemical, physical, biological, and physicochemical principles - are currently being developed at the laboratory level. Due to the legislative prohibition on the addition of chemical reactants capable of destroying AFM1 in the milk matrix, the technological and safety barriers associated with physical procedures, and the inaccessibility of officially approved enzymes capable of decomposing AFM1 during biological procedures, it seems that physicochemical procedures could be of primary importance in the AFM1 mitigation strategy. The suitability of physicochemical procedures also confirms the SCUFEERS concept, which is a set of criteria such as Safety, Capacity, Universality, Finance, Ecology, Efficiency, Rapidity, and Selectivity that enables the identification of the most promising procedures for dairy.

The daily intake of excessive cholesterol plays an important role in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), while the main contributors are foods of animal origin. However, animal-based foods are also common components of many cereal products, which can then play a role of hidden cholesterol source. Thus, this study aims to decrease cholesterol content in three types of commonly consumed cereal products (biscuits, pasta, and muffins) by replacing original animal-based components (milk and eggs) with the same components, from which the cholesterol was removed using β-cyclodextrin treatment procedure. The cholesterol content in the original and treated samples was then analyzed using the validated HPLC–UV method. So, while the cholesterol content in the original biscuits, pasta, and muffins was observed at 329.2, 1117.1, and 487.2 mg/kg levels, the same products containing low cholesterol animal-based components exhibited a considerable decrease in cholesterol content by 93.1, 91.6, and 89.5%, respectively. The optimum β-cyclodextrin level was observed at 4.0, 10.0, and 2.0% (w/w) for butter, egg melange, and milk, respectively. Furthermore, it is notable that the β-cyclodextrin treatment procedure itself did not significantly change the organoleptic profiles of the cereal products, such as colour, culinary, and texture properties. Therefore, it can be concluded that the application of animal-based low cholesterol components in cereal food products could be one of the effective tools in the overall strategy to decrease the total daily cholesterol intake. Thus, this study presents a novel strategy that could have substantial health benefits in relation to the incidence of CVD.

Milk and dairy products are the most consumed foods in human diet and their safety is in the attention centre of control authorities. Aflatoxin M-1 (AFM(1)) is a dangerous toxin that can occur in milk and dairy products as a metabolite formed from aflatoxin B-1 contained in contaminated animal feed. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and validate a reliable method for the determination of AFM(1) content in milk and dairy products based on HPLC with fluorescence detection employing immunoaffinity columns (IAC) pre-treatment. Optimal chromatographic separation of AFM(1) was achieved using a water/acetonitrile mixture (80/20, v/v) as a mobile phase, column with C-18 stationary phase maintained at 25 C-degrees, and fluorescence detection at excitation wavelengths of 360 nm and emission of 440 nm. Efficacy of AFM(1) extraction from the samples was found to be influenced by the elution agent composition. The best results were obtained using 1.25 mL of acetonitrile/methanol (3/2, v/v) and 1.25 mL of water. Validation parameters of the proposed method met the criteria set by the European legislation with the limits of detection and quantification at 0.002 and 0.007 mu g/kg, respectively. Also, suitability of the method was confirmed by its application for AFM(1) determination in certified reference material. Finally, the method was applied for AFM(1) determination in 25 milk and dairy products collected in Slovakia; the AFM(1) content was below the limit of quantification. It was concluded that the method is suitable for AFM(1) content monitoring in milk and dairy products.

The application of cyclodextrins in food technology is extensive due to their unique ability to form complexes with many bioactive substances. Consumption of dairy products is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) due to its high content of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol, so the production of low-cholesterol content products would be one of the critical steps in CVD prevention with regards to lowered total daily cholesterol intake. To maintain consumer acceptance, organoleptic profiles of such products should be, in the optimal case, the same with comparison to original ones. So, this study deals with the development of set low cholesterol foods (milk, cream, butter, soft cheese, cottage cheese) by β-cyclodextrin treatment and the characterization of their organoleptic profiles such as color and textural characteristics. During the experiments, high effectivity of cholesterol removal was reached as follows: milk–97.3%, cream–95.6%, butter–95.6%, cottage cheese–97.9%, soft cheese–97.7%, while color differences varied from 0.25 to 1.13 and textural characteristics were not influenced by cholesterol removal as well. So, it can be concluded that the proposed procedure is enabled to be substantial for the production of a new assortment of low-cholesterol dairy products with considerable health benefits toward the incidence of CVD.

Since milk and dairy products are largely consumed food in the world, authentication is very important to control their real quality. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop and validate a rapid and reliable HPLC-UV-DAD method for the simultaneous determination of cholesterol, stigmasterol, and beta-sitosterol contents in various dairy matrices (milk, cream, cheese, and butter). The validation showed great accuracy and precision of the developed method with the limit of detection of 2.32, 3.29, and 0.99 mu g/ml for cholesterol, stigmasterol, and beta-sitosterol, respectively. Except for butter samples, the presence of phytosterols was not detected in other dairy samples at given analytical conditions. It can be concluded that the proposed HPLC method is suitable for simultaneous determination of cholesterol and phytosterol contents in milk and dairy products and it can serve as an authentication tool in food fat analysis. Novelty impact statement The HPLC-UV-DAD method was validated on the determination of cholesterol and phytosterol contents in dairy products. The proposed method describes a rapid, reliable, and easy determination of dairy adulteration and authentication as phytosterols should not be present in animal food matrices. It was not confirmed the adulteration of 24 various samples (milk, cream, cheese, and butter) except one butter sample.

Milk fat is a rich source of cholesterol; therefore, it may be a possible risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The purpose of the study is to compare the measure of cholesterol removal from milk and cream with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) to find the optimal processing conditions. As found, the optimal mixing conditions were speed at 480 and 840 rpm, time 20 and 10 min, and temperature 40 °C and 25 °C for cream or milk, respectively. In terms of centrifugation, the optimal speed was set at 450g for cream and 130g for milk, respectively. The other important factor was the settlement time with the highest effectivity at 180 min and 30 min for milk or cream, respectively. In milk, the highest removal measure (99.4

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of mortality, especially in the developed world while long-term high cholesterol intake via foods is one of the most important risk factors of CVD. As milk and dairy products are rich in cholesterol and are consumed on a large scale, the production of low-cholesterol content products could decrease effectively high cholesterol intake what would be one of the critical steps in CVD prevention. Scope and approach: This review brings up-to-date complete information combining studies and patents data aimed at conditions enabling low-cholesterol milk and dairy production applying cyclodextrins as a selective tool for effective cholesterol removal. Key findings and conclusions: beta-cyclodextrin can effectively remove cholesterol from milk matrix up to 98% while nutritional, textural, and flavour characteristics of the products are not considerably affected and the application itself is easy, effective, low cost, and realisable on current technological production lines. So, while long-lasting consumption of low-cholesterol milk and dairy products can play a significant role in the decrease of CVD occurrence, production of these products should rise in the next years, which would be in line with current trends of functional foods consumer' interest.

Approximately one-third of humankind is chronically exposed to the carcinogenic aflatoxin M1 contained in milk. As β-cyclodextrin is frequently used in the food industry, its effect on aflatoxin M1 concentration was investigated during cholesterol removal from milk due to the similarity among the physicochemical properties of aflatoxin M1 and cholesterol. Moreover, the elimination of cholesterol using β-cyclodextrin has been successfully applied in many studies without any substantial effect on the quality of the treated milk. Therefore, milk samples were spiked with aflatoxin M1 within the range from 0.20 to 2.00 µg/kg, and cholesterol removal was carried out by 2.0% (w/w) β-cyclodextrin addition, as this concentration is enough for the sufficient removal of cholesterol. It was found that the mean cholesterol concentration decreased by 92.3%, while the aflatoxin M1 concentration decreased to 0.53 ± 0.04 µg/kg, i.e., by 39.1% after treatment (n = 2). This mitigation procedure itself is easy and inexpensive and thus is fully applicable with a high potential for complete decontamination of aflatoxin M1 milk. This method will therefore considerably improve the food safety issues associated with aflatoxin M1 presence in milk and dairy products.

Long-term high cholesterol intake is one of the most critical risk factors of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). As milk and dairy products are rich in cholesterol and are consumed on a large scale, the production of low-cholesterol content products could decrease effectively high cholesterol intake what would be one of the crucial steps in CVD prevention. Thus, this study is aimed at optimization of treatment conditions (mixing speed, time, and temperature) and β-cyclodextrin addition affecting the measure of cholesterol removal in milk. As found, the optimal conditions were identified such as mixing speed 840 rpm, mixing time 10 min, and the temperature of mixing 25 °C while the most effectivity in cholesterol decrease content (98.1%) was observed after 2.0% β-cyclodextrin addition. The cholesterol removal process did not affect considerably the lightness values L* of treated milk, slight differences were noticed in terms of a* and b* color values but ΔE values were statistically insignificant, i.e., the process of cholesterol removal did not affect visual characteristics of treated milk. So, these conditions can be applied for the production of milk base functional foods with the decreased cholesterol content.

Acrylamide (AA) belongs to the food processing contaminants group, forming in foods containing reducing saccharides (e.g. glucose and fructose) and amino acids, mainly asparagine. From these precursors, AA is formed during thermal procedures such as baking and frying of potatoes, cereals, coffee and cocoa beans at temperatures above 120 °C. AA is formed in the early stage of the Maillard reaction from decarboxylated Schiff base, decarboxylated Amadori product, or 3-amino-propionamide, respectively. Due to its metabolic transformation into glycidamide, which can react with DNA nucleobases, AA is listed in Group 2A by The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as probably carcinogenic to humans. Because of these facts, in 2018 the European Union (EU) set out so called ‘benchmark levels’ i.e. indicators used for verification of the effectiveness of the mitigation measures in broad food categories. In addition, the EU also set out performance criteria for evaluation of analytical methods such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC) to be used for the determination of AA content in foods. Mitigation measures can be applied at any stage of food production and lies in the elimination of precursors during the growing of raw materials, splitting precursors during technological pre-treatments, or stimulation of AA polymerisation reactivity by the addition of some inorganic salts that are frequently added to foods (e.g. NaCl, K4[Fe(CN)6], or KIO3) to form biologically unharmful polyacrylamide during heating processes.

This work deals with up-to-date optimization of cholesterol content determination when saponification and extraction procedures as well as HPLC conditions were studied. As found, optimal conditions for saponification process were identified by 15 min heating in the presence of 0.015 L of methanolic KOH solution with a concentration 1 mol/L with subsequent 0.015 L n-hexane–chloroform binary mixture (1:1, v/v) double extraction. HPLC separation consisted of isocratic elution with flow rate of 0.5 mL/min mobile phase composed of acetonitrile/methanol 60:40 (v/v) and stationary phase Zorbax Eclipse Plus C18 column 2.1 × 100 mm, 3.5 μm particle size diameters with detector wavelength 205 nm. The method passed through in-house validation criteria and its suitability was verified by analysis of butter reference materials. In final, the average content of cholesterol content in butter was determined at 2271.0 mg/kg. Thus, the method is suitable for the determination of cholesterol content in butter and probably also in other dairy products.

Abstract Elevated cholesterol intake can induce the development of cardiovascular diseases in man, especially with long term animal origin foods consumption. Therefore, this work deals with the possibility of cholesterol content decrease in milk applying β-cyclodextrin crosslinked with tartaric acid (βCDcTA) as a removal agent. Evaluation of statistic data on food consumption in the Slovak Republic in 2018 aimed at total cholesterol daily intake and effects of “milky” cholesterol content decrease on total cholesterol balance. During the experiments, various amounts of βCDcTA addition to milk were studied resulting in optimal 5 % addition resulting in the cholesterol content decrease by 85.4 % in comparison to original cholesterol content. For monitoring purposes, an HPLC method analysing cholesterol content in saponified milk was employed. The food consumption data analysis showed that total per capita daily cholesterol intake was 369.8 mg, from which 86 mg was assigned to the cholesterol contained in milk and dairy products while the application of cholesterol removal procedure could decrease the total per capita daily cholesterol intake to 296.3 mg (“milky” cholesterol amount equal to 12.6 mg), which in below the recommended value of 300 mg daily intake still valid in the Slovak Republic. This approach might prove as a meaningful step to weaken health problems associated with high long term intake of cholesterol contained in foods of animal origin.

The present study was carried out to compare two different analytical methods (HPLC and spectrophotometric) for determination of cholesterol content in milk while cholesterol in food is important not only for the nutritional value setting of foods but also due to the validation of a fast, reliable and economical method for studying the possible mechanism of its reduction. Spectrophotometric determination of cholesterol content was based on the Liebermann-Burchard (LB) reaction among cholesterol, ethyl acetate, acetic anhydride, plus concentrated H2SO4 and measuring absorbance of formed color at 625 nm. HPLC method was performed by column chromatography on reverse phase C18 with DAD detection at 205 nm. The methods were applied to the milk sample. The achieved LOD and LOQ for HPLC were 2.13 mg.kg-1 and 6.45 mg.kg-1, respectively, while for spectrophotometric method were 12.55 and 38.04 mg.kg-1. The difference between cholesterol content determined by both methods was statistically insignificant at p <0.05. Therefore, it can be concluded that both methods are suitable for determination of cholesterol content in milk, however, HPLC method exhibited higher sensitivity and lower limits of detection or quantification, respectively.

Due to the substantial protective effects of milk thistle to liver against various chemical compounds, a new healthy cereal product replacing wheat flour with milk thistle seed flour in the range of 5; 10; 15; 20; 25 and 30 % has been studied. As it has been found, milk thistle seed flour is a good source of total dietary fibre, proteins, mineral compounds and fats. During the experiments, effects of wheat flour replacement on technological properties of the dough were studied using Mixolab characteristics. From the results it can be stated that milk thistle seed flour replacement led to a decrease in water absorption and stability of dough. After baking, physical, mechanical, colour and sensorial properties of the biscuits were studied. The results have shown that even a 10 % replacement results in a significant difference at p < 0.05 in measured parameters compared to ones. However, it has been calculated that statistically insignificant replacement of wheat flour with milk thistle seed flour is up to 9.3 % with quality and sensorial parameters of the biscuits equal to those prepared from 100 % wheat flour. Thus, production of functional biscuits at these conditions is fully possible.

Numerical simulations and experiments were performed for a thermally active wall with pipes arranged in milled channels in the thermal insulation. The advantage of this system is its suitability for installation in both new and existing buildings in the form of precast heat insulation panels attached to their facades. The study shows that by active control of the supply water temperature, it is possible to alternate the wain function between space heating and a thermal barrier. The wall system has the potential to significantly reduce heat loss when used as a thermal barrier. When operated as space heating, embedding the pipes in thermal insulation reduced the heating capacity by 50% as compared to systems with pipes arranged in a concrete core and by 63% for pipes arranged in a layer underneath the surface. It is crucial that pipes arranged in channels are embedded in a thermally conductive material. Failing to do so can substantially diminish the heating capacity due to the imperfect contact between the pipes and radiant surface and also due to the air gap that may form around the pipes. The thickness of the thermal insulation, spacing of the pipes, and supply water temperature also have a substantial effect on the heating capacity, whereas the thickness of the concrete core does not. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This chapter deals with interactions between foods or food additives and plastic package materials oriented to elimination of hazardous compounds from foods. As found, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can be effectively eliminated from liquid smoke flavors and smoked meat products by migration of PAHs into low-density polyethylene (LDPE), when the limiting factor of the elimination is diffusion in food matrix. After leaving food bulk, PAHs migrate deeper into LDPE bulk what brings about permanent renewal of material imbalance on LDPE/food matrix interface that maintains the migration process in an intensive regime causing extensive lowering of PAH content in food matrix. To the opposite, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in contact with vegetable oils is able to absorb only PAHs on active center deposited on its surface without deeper migration into plastic bulk and therefore this type of elimination process is less effective. Overall, migration processes are affected by polarity of food matrix and package materials, presence of compounds able to compete for adsorption center on PET surface, the time of interactions, and, of course, imbalance of PAH chemical potentials in individual systems.

This chapter deals with modern procedures which decrease contaminant content in processed meats to ensure that human exposure to these compounds is as low as possible. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are organic compounds containing only hydrogen and carbon elements in a molecule, consisting of two or more condensed aromatic rings linked together, either cataannellated or pericondensed. The entire group of catacondensed PAHs can be further divided into branched and nonbranched systems. Branched systems are thermodynamically more stable and chemically less reactive than nonbranched systems of the same size. Conversely, pericondensed PAHs are either closed shell systems or neutral free orbitals, in which at least one electron is in a nonbonding orbital. In general, smoked meat products are believed to be the food products with the highest content of PAHs, especially in cases of production via traditional procedures, when a food is put near the fireplace for several days and directly exposed.