Natural toxins are toxic compounds that are naturally produced by living organisms. These toxins are not harmful to the organisms themselves, but they may be toxic to other creatures, including humans, when eaten. These chemical compounds have diverse structures and differ in biological function and toxicity. Some toxins are produced by plants as a natural defense mechanism against predators, insects, or microorganisms, or as a consequence of infestation with microorganisms, such as mold, in response to climate stress (such as drought or extreme humidity). Well-known groups of natural toxins of plant origin are: cyanogenic glycosides, pyrrolizidine alkaloids, furocoumarins, lectins, and glycoalkaloids. These plant-origin natural toxins can cause a variety of adverse health effects and pose a serious health threat to both humans and livestock. Analysis of Naturally Occurring Food Toxins of Plant Origin is divided into three sections that provide a detailed overview of different classes of food toxins that are naturally found in plants, including various analytical techniques used for their structural characterization, identification, detection, and quantification. This book provides in-depth information and comprehensive discussion over quantitative and qualitative analysis of natural toxins in plant-based foods. Key Features: • Provides a detailed overview of different classes of natural toxins found in plants. • Explains how IR, NMR, and mass spectrometry are utilized in characterization and identification. • Describes applicability of HPLC, LC-MS, GC-MS, and HPTLC techniques for detection and quantification. • Discusses progress in the field related to capillary electrophoresis, ELISA, and biosensors for quantitative application of these techniques. Also available in the Food Analysis and Properties Series: Nutriomics: Well-being through Nutrition, edited by Devarajan Thangadurai,Saher Islam,Leo M.L. Nollet, Juliana Bunmi Adetunji (ISBN: 9780367695415) Bioactive Peptides from Food: Sources, Analysis, and Functions, edited by Leo M.L. Nollet and Semih Ötleş (ISBN: 9780367608538) Mass Spectrometry in Food Analysis, edited by Leo M.L. Nollet and Robert Winkler (ISBN: 9780367548797) For a complete list of books in this series, please visit our website at: www.crcpress.com/Food-Analysis--Properties/book-series/CRCFOODANPRO

While systems such as GMP and HACCP assure a high standard of food quality, foodborne poisonings still pose a serious hazard to the consumer's health. The lack of knowledge among some producers and consumers regarding the risks and benefits related to food makes it imperative to provide updated information in order to improve food safety. To

Despite increasing knowledge of human nutrition, the dietary contribution to cancer remains a troubling question. Carcinogens and Anticarcinogens assembles the best available information on the magnitude of potential cancer riskâ€"and potential anticarcinogenic effectâ€"from naturally occurring chemicals compared with risk from synthetic chemical constituents. The committee draws important conclusions about diet and cancer, including the carcinogenic role of excess calories and fat, the anticarcinogenic benefit of fiber and other substances, and the impact of food additive regulation. The book offers recommendations for epidemiological and diet research. Carcinogens and Anticarcinogens provides a readable overview of issues and addresses critical questions: Does diet contribute to an appreciable proportion of human cancer? Are there significant interactions between carcinogens and anticarcinogens in the diet? The volume discusses the mechanisms of carcinogenic and anticarcinogenic properties and considers whether techniques used to evaluate the carcinogenic potential of synthetics can be used with naturally occurring chemicals. The committee provides criteria for prioritizing the vast number of substances that need to be tested. Carcinogens and Anticarcinogens clarifies the issues and sets the direction for further investigations into diet and cancer. This volume will be of interest to anyone involved in food and health issues: policymakers, regulators, researchers, nutrition professionals, and health advocates.

Analysis of Food Toxins and Toxicants consists of five sections, providing up-to-date descriptions of the analytical approaches used to detect a range of food toxins. Part I reviews the recent developments in analytical technology including sample pre-treatment and food additives. Part II covers the novel analysis of microbial and plant toxins including plant pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Part III focuses on marine toxins in fish and shellfish. Part IV discusses biogenic amines and common food toxicants, such as pesticides and heavy metals. Part V summarizes quality assurance and the recent developments in regulatory limits for toxins, toxicants and allergens, including discussions on laboratory accreditation and reference materials.

Food Toxicology and Forensics presents an overview on these subjects, along with the analytical tools necessary to handle the complexity of the issues at play between them. The book discusses the presence of foreign substances in food despite forensic analysis and supports the scientific community, laboratories and regulatory bodies in their aim to identify food fraud. Topics include the forensic attribution profiling of food by liquid chromatography (LC), contemporary mass spectrometry (MS), tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS), the application of ambient ionization mass spectrometry (AIMS) techniques for the analysis of food samples, and more. - Includes toxicology and analytical methods for the determination of certain toxicants in foods - Discusses legal, economic and biological issues of food adulteration and food fraud - Presents the latest allergen measurement techniques and post reviews of allergen non-compliance cases - Provides methods of validation of DNA biochip for species identification in food forensic science

Many people believe that organic agriculture is a solution for various problems related to food production. Organic agriculture is supposed to produce healthier products, does not pollute the environment, improves the fertility of soils, saves fossil fuels and enables high biodiversity. This book has been written to provide scientifically based information on organic agriculture such as crop yields, food safety, nutrient use efficiency, leaching, long-term sustainability, greenhouse gas emissions and energy aspects. A number of scientists working with questions related to organic agriculture were invited to present the most recent research and to address critical issues. An unbiased selection of literature, facts rather than standpoints, and scientifically-based examinations instead of wishful thinking will help the reader be aware of difficulties involved with organic agriculture. Organic agriculture, which originates from philosophies of nature, has often outlined key goals to reach long-term sustainability but practical solutions are lacking. The central tasks of agriculture - to produce sufficient food of high quality without harmful effects on the environment - seem to be difficult to achieve through exclusively applying organic principles ruling out many valuable possibilities and solutions.