STM4101

FOOD TOXICOLOGY

Chapter 6:
Toxicity due to Food
Processing & Preparation
What is Food Processing?

 Food processing is any method used to turn fresh foods into food products. 
 This can involve one or a combination of various processes including washing,
chopping, pasteurizing, freezing, fermenting, packaging, cooking and many
more. 
 Food processing also includes adding ingredients to food, for example to
extend shelf life.
What are the methods of food processing?

 Food processing includes traditional methods like….

 Heat treatment,
 Fermentation,
 Pickling,
 Smoking,
 Drying,
 Curing.
 Modern methods like….
 pasteurization,
 ultra-heat treatment,
 high pressure processing,
 or modified atmosphere packaging.
 Some of the common methods are described below:
Canning

 The food is heated to a high temperature. This process is called

pasteurization.
 Then, the food is packaged and stored in an air-tight can.
 Check our infographic showing the processing steps for canned tomatoes.
Fermentation

 The breakdown of sugars by bacteria, yeasts or other microorganisms under

anaerobic conditions.
 This means, no oxygen is needed for the process to take place (apart from
oxygen present in sugar).
 Fermentation is notably used in the production of alcoholic beverages such as
wine, beer, and cider, and in the preservation of foods such as sauerkraut, dry
sausages, and yoghurt, but also for raising dough in bread production.
Freezing

 Food temperatures are reduced to below 0°C to decrease the activity of

harmful bacteria.
 The process can be used to preserve the majority of foods including fruits,
vegetables, meat, fish, and ready meals.
 Do you know the steps needed to produce frozen peas?
Modified Atmosphere Packaging
 Air inside a package is substituted by a protective gas mix, often including
oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen – gases that are also present in the air we
breathe.
 They help to extend the shelf life of fresh food products – usually..
 Fruits,
 Vegetables,
 Meat and meat products,
 Seafood.
Pasteurization  
 Food is heated and then quickly cooled down to kill microorganisms.
 For example, raw milk may contain harmful bacteria that cause foodborne
illnesses. 
 Boiling it (at home) or pasteurizing (on a large scale) is crucial to ensure it is
safe to consume.
 Apart from dairy products, pasteurization is widely used in preservation of
canned foods, juices and alcoholic beverages.
Smoking

A process of heat and chemical treatment of food to help preserve it by

exposing it to smoke from burning material such as wood.
 Smoked foods usually include types of meat, sausages, fish or cheese.
Additives
 Food additives play an important role in preserving the freshness, safety, taste,
appearance and texture of processed foods.
 Food additives are added for particular purposes, whether to ensure food safety,
or to maintain food quality during the shelf-life of a product.
 For example, antioxidants prevent fats and oils from becoming rancid,
while preservatives prevent or reduce the growth of microbes (e.g. mould on
bread).
 Emulsifiers are used for instance in improving the texture of mayonnaise, or
stopping salad dressings from separating into oil and water.
Food Processing and Preparation
•Conversion of raw vegetable, animal, or marine
products into food for consumption.
•Preservation of food is the most important reason.
– Usually by reducing or eliminating microbial
contamination.
•Can result in intermediate or final food products.
•Involves labor, energy, machinery, and
knowledge.
•Can be commercial or consumer level.
 Food Processing and Preparation: Why
•Preservation allows longer term availability of food.
– Economic and food availability dimensions: shelf-life.
•Major role in establishing and maintaining microbial food
safety (e.g. pasteurization).
•Decreases toxicity of some foods (e.g. lectins beans).
•Conversion into new foods (e.g. cheese, beer).
•Supplementation, fortification of food (e.g. fortified
milk).
•Sensory, diversity, nutrition.
Food Processing and Preparation: General
•Addition of thermal energy and elevated temperatures (e.g. cooking,
sterilization).
•Removal of thermal energy and reduced temperatures (e.g. frozen
foods).
•Removal of water and reduced moisture content (e.g. dried fruit).
•Use of packaging (e.g. canning).
•Mixtures of ingredients (e.g. water).
•Addition of modifiers and additives (e.g. salt, sugar, starch).
Natural Processes Modifying Food
•Spoilage and “available” microorganisms (e.g. wine yeasts).
•Atmospheric O2 oxidation.
•Atmospheric CO2 pH buffering.
•Food enzyme release (e.g. cassava).

•Post-harvest instability
(e.g. potato greening/sprouting).
•Environmental equilibria.
–Thermal (ambient temperature).
–Moisture (ambient humidity).

•Contamination.
–Water, insects, vessels, natural
Food Processing Approaches
•Thermal processing.
•Blanching and pasteurization.
•Sterilization.
•Refrigerated storage.
•Freezing and frozen food storage.
•Liquid concentration.
•Dehydration.
•Physical processes.
–Mechanical separation.
–Extrusion.
• Irradiation.
Chemistry of Processing Toxicant Formation
•Chemical thermodynamics and kinetics apply.

•Non-spontaneous reactions can occur at higher temperatures.

•Gibbs free energy change of a chemical reaction.

ΔG(J/mol) = ΔH(J/mol) - T(K) • ΔS(J/molK)
–Importance of enzymes and catalysts.

•Kinetics of quality change are related to temperature.

–Arrhenius equation.
Food Processing Toxicants, Pro-Toxicants
•Chemicals added or created during food processing can be anti-nutritive,
toxicants, or pro-toxicants.

•Anti-nutritive chemicals or processes will block, interfere, or destroy nutrient

availability.

•Toxic chemicals formed from food processing will be dose dependent

and subject to biotransformation, sequestration, and elimination.

•Pro-toxicants added or created during food processing can undergo

toxication during digestion or biotransformation.
 Food Processing and Preparation Toxicants
•N-Nitrosamine formation from nitrites.
•Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
•Amino acid pyrolysates.
•Maillard reaction products.
•Food irradiation - unique radiolytic products (URPs) from
ionizing radiation.
•Lipid oxidation products.
•Lysinoalanine cross-linkage from alkali/heat treatment
of proteins.
•Acrylamide formation in foods prepared at high
temperatures.
N-Nitrosamine Formation from Nitrites
•Nitrite used in curing meat and fish products.

•Has antimicrobial activity, sensory attributes, and reacts with

myoglobin and hemoglobin to form red nitrosyl compounds.

•Nitrite reacts with 2º, 3º amines to form stable nitrosoamines.

•High temperature processing and protein degradation to 2º, 3º

amines increase rate of formation.

•Carcinogenic, mutagenic.
 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH)
•Formed in the high temperature pyrolysis of
carbohydrates in grilling and smoking of meats0
.
•Endogenous food sources and environmental
contamination are also important.
– Products of combustion.

•Carcinogenic, mutagenic.
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
PAH Carcinogenic Activation
Protein Reaction: Processing and Storage
Simplified Scheme of the Maillard Reactions

Reducing sugar
Amino acids

What are the 2 main components

involved during Maillard reaction?
Detail Maillard Reaction Process
 Maillard Reaction: Non-Enzymatic Browning
Coffee Bread Desirable color, flavor
Cocoa and aroma
Cooked meats Beer (pyrazines, aldehydes)

Milk Nutritional losses

Infant food Undesirable color, flavor
 Amino Acid Pyrolysates
•Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCAs) formed during broiling of
meat, fish, or other high protein-rich foods.

•High temperature thermal degradation products of tryptophan

(beta-carbolines) and other amino acids (imidazo-quinoline or
imidazo-quinoxalin-2-amine).

•Also formed from the reaction of Maillard products

(pyridines or pyrazines, and aldehydes) with
creatinine.

•Mutagenic (form DNA adducts).

Formation of Beta-Carbolines
 Lysinoalanine in Food
• Cross-linked lysine arising from alkali and
heat treatment of proteins.

•Little influence on available lysine.

•Reduced protein digestibility.

•Strong affinity for copper and other metal ions

(enzyme inactivation).

•Main concern is toxicological.

•Renal cytomegaly (enlargement of cells) in rats.

Food that contains lysinoalanine
Acrylamide in Food
• A neurotoxin and carcinogen

• In year 2000-2002, Swedish researchers identify acrylamide in food and

residues from human samples

• Acrylamide uses: Cement binder

Plastic manufacturer
Waste water treatment
Refining sugar
Cosmetics
Ore processing
Polyacrylamide in food packaging
• Epoxide formation via P450s
Mechanism of action - carcinogen
• Glycidamide metabolite

• Binds to SH groups on critical enzymes and amino acids and

DNA

• Detoxified via glutathione-s-transferase,

• Conditions of protein deficiency exacerbate, due to low GSH

(glutathione in reduced form)

• - malnutrition, oxidative stress and liver damage

 Mechanism of action - neurotoxicants
• Disruption of kinesin proteins involved in
signal transduction-nerve cells die back –
may be related to reproductive toxicity and
cancer

• Interference with membrane fusion process

at nerve terminus – synaptic vesicles –
cannot fuse – signals cannot be conducted –
nerve dies
 Acrylamide Formation
• Acrylamide derived from asparagine (amino acid) in
the presence of sugar
• Carbonyl or C=O glucose facilitates the reaction
• High asparagine, sugar and temperature = high
acrylamide
Acrylamide to Glycidamide in vivo
Time-temperature relationship
 Methods to minimize in Food
 Do not over cook high carbohydrate food

 Avoid food high in asparagine and sugar

 Decrease asparagine levels in foods via genetic manipulation

 Hydrolyze asparagine with acid or amidases

 Acetylate asparagine ito prevent formation of glycoside intermediates with
sugar

 Research conditions that limit acrylamide formation

General Recommendations
• Insufficient evidence to warrant significant change to the
existing dietary recommendations

• FDA continues to emphasize on “a balanced diet” , choosing a

variety of foods that are low in trans fat and saturated fat, rich
in Fiber etc

• FAO/WHO also reinforces general advise of healthy eating eg:

Food should not be cooked excessively…for too long at too
high temperature. However, all food should be cooked
thoroughly to destroy foodborne pathogens
Hazards and Their Prevention
 The most common causes of injuries in the food industry are hand tools,
especially knives; operation of machinery; collisions with moving or
stationary objects; falls or slips; and burns.
 Injuries caused by knives in meat and fish preparation can be minimized by
design and maintenance, adequate work areas, selection of the right knife for
the job, provision of tough protective gloves and aprons and correct training of
workers on both the sharpening and the use of the knife.
 Mechanical cutting devices also pose a hazard, and good maintenance and
adequate training of workers is critical to prevent injuries.
Health hazards
 Infections and infectious or parasitic diseases spread by animals or the waste
products of animals used in manufacture are common occupational problems
in the food industry.
 These zoonoses include anthrax, brucellosis, the leptospiroses, tularemia,
bovine tuberculosis, glanders, erysipeloid, Q fever, foot-and-mouth disease,
rabies and so on.
 Some food handlers may be subject to a wide variety of skin infections,
including anthrax, actinomycosis and erysipeloid.
 Certain dried fruits are infested with mites; this can affect workers in sorting
operations.
Radiation
 It is a common misunderstanding that gamma irradiation, which is
 most often used for food irradiation, produces radioactive materials
in
 foods. In fact, although the electromagnetic energy used for
irradiation
 is sufficient to penetrate deep into foods and can kill a wide range of
 microorganisms, it is far below the range required to produce
radioactivity
 in the target material. However, there are still uncertainties about
 the toxicity of chemicals that may be produced during irradiation. T
he
 energies used are sufficient to produce free radicals, which may in t
urn
 produce toxic chemicals.