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Agronomy
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Safety and Bioactivity of Agri-Food Products—Methods for Chemicals Residues Analysis...
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Safety and Bioactivity of Agri-Food Products—Methods for Chemicals Residues Analysis and Phytochemicals Investigation

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Pest and Disease Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 15136

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Gerardo Alvarez-Rivera

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Foodomics, Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL, UAM-CSIC), Nicolás Cabrera 9, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Interests: food analysis; metabolomics; functional ingredients; food by-products; extraction processes; natural products; chromatographic analysis; mass spectrometry; colon cancer; Alzheimer
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Alejandro Cifuentes

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Foodomics, CIAL, National Research Council of Spain (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
Interests: foodomics; metabolomics; molecular mechanisms; neuroprotection; sustainable biomass; advanced chemical characterization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The widespread use of pesticides in agriculture to control plant diseases, the omnipresence of chemical residues such as organic pollutants, the use of veterinary drugs in cattle, and mycotoxins in crops threaten the safety of many agri-food commodities. Thus, consumers are increasingly concerned about the safety of foods, frequently compromised by the presence of residues of pesticides and other chemical contaminants. In this regard, food safety presents an important challenge to guarantee public health in a Global World, and is therefore a top priority for the World Health Organization and its member states.

On the other hand, food is now considered not only a source of energy but also an affordable way to prevent future diseases. Agri-food products such as vegetables and fruits are potential sources of a broad variety of bioactive phytochemicals (e.g., phytosterols, terpenes, flavonoids, procyanidins) that are well-reported as health-promoting compounds. Additionally, the search for compounds of interest in agri-food waste through advanced value-added strategies based on green technologies has been seen as a way to preserve environmental resources and as a sustainable strategy for sustainable agriculture management. The recovered phytochemicals have found broad applicability as food additives and food supplements, and in cosmetics products, among other things.

In this regard, this Special Issue is a unique opportunity to gather state-of-the-art analytical methods to control the safety and bioactivity of agri-food commodities. This topic involves scientific communities working in agri-food safety issues, pest control, the analysis of residues of pesticides and chemicals in agri-food products, and also involves those laboratories working on the revalorization and characterization of bioactive phytochemicals from agri-food products and wastes. The aim of this Special Issue is to present the state-of-the-art of the analytical methodologies developed for monitoring the presence of pesticides and chemical residues in agri-food matrices, and to investigate bioactive phytochemicals from agri-food by-products and wastes, providing an overview of the main trends in the area. Topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • Safety of agri-food commodities;
  • Pesticide residues;
  • Chemical residues;
  • Organic pollutants;
  • Veterinary drugs;
  • Mycotoxins;
  • Phytochemicals from agri-food sources;
  • Agri-food wastes valorization;
  • Green extraction techniques;
  • Biorefinery.

Dr. Gerardo Álvarez-Rivera
Prof. Dr. Alejandro Cifuentes
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • pesticides
  • organic pollutants
  • veterinary drugs
  • mycotoxins
  • phytochemicals
  • agri-food products and by-products
  • health-promoting compounds
  • bioactive compounds
  • green extraction
  • analytical techniques

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 481 KiB  
Article
Chemical Characterization of Brown and Red Seaweed from Southern Peru, a Sustainable Source of Bioactive and Nutraceutical Compounds
by Yesica Vilcanqui, Luis Omar Mamani-Apaza, Marcos Flores, Jaime Ortiz-Viedma, Nalda Romero, María Salomé Mariotti-Celis and Nils Leander Huamán-Castilla
Agronomy 2021, 11(8), 1669; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy11081669 - 22 Aug 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4114
Abstract
The southern coast of Peru presents a wide diversity of seaweed, which could be used as a new sustainable source of nutritional and bioactive compounds. For the first time, we chemically characterized two species of brown (Macrocystis pyrifera) and red ( [...] Read more.
The southern coast of Peru presents a wide diversity of seaweed, which could be used as a new sustainable source of nutritional and bioactive compounds. For the first time, we chemically characterized two species of brown (Macrocystis pyrifera) and red (Chondracanthus chamissoi) Peruvian seaweed. Both species contained significant amounts of proteins (5–12%), lipids (0.16–0.74%), carbohydrates (43.29–62.65%) and minerals (1300–1800 mg kg−1 dw: dry weight). However, the profiles of amino acids, fatty acids and minerals were highly dependent on species type. C. chamissoi had a higher content of essential amino acids and minerals than M. pyrifera (170% and 45%, respectively), while the presence of polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω 6) as well as the content of tocopherols was higher in M. pyrifera (15.77 g 100 g−1 and 2.37 μg 100 g−1, respectively). Additionally, both species presented significant concentrations of total polyphenols (39–59 mg GAE g−1) and a high antioxidant capacity (67–98 µM TE g−1). Although M. pyrifera and C. chamissoi seem to be excellent raw materials for the food and nutraceutical industry, both species contained toxic heavy metals (cadmium: Cd and nickel: Ni) which could affect the safety of their direct use. Therefore, new separation strategies that allow the selective recovery of nutrients and bioactive compounds from Peruvian seaweed are required. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety and Bioactivity of Agri-Food Products—Methods for Chemicals Residues Analysis and Phytochemicals Investigation)
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10 pages, 488 KiB  
Article
Hot Pressurized Liquid Extraction of Polyphenols from the Skin and Seeds of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Negra Criolla Pomace a Peruvian Native Pisco Industry Waste
by Erik E. Allcca-Alca, Nilton C. León-Calvo, Olivia M. Luque-Vilca, Maximiliano Martínez-Cifuentes, José Ricardo Pérez-Correa, María Salomé Mariotti-Celis and Nils Leander Huamán-Castilla
Agronomy 2021, 11(5), 866; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy11050866 - 28 Apr 2021
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3817
Abstract
The pisco industry in Peru generates large amounts of grape pomace, which is a natural source of bioactive compounds with potential nutraceutical applications. Hot pressurized liquid extraction (HPLE) with water-ethanol solvent mixtures (20–60%) at high temperatures (100–160 °C) was applied to recover polyphenols [...] Read more.
The pisco industry in Peru generates large amounts of grape pomace, which is a natural source of bioactive compounds with potential nutraceutical applications. Hot pressurized liquid extraction (HPLE) with water-ethanol solvent mixtures (20–60%) at high temperatures (100–160 °C) was applied to recover polyphenols from the skin and seeds of a Peruvian pisco-industry grape-pomace waste. At the same HPLE conditions (60% ethanol, 160 °C), the seed fraction extracts contained ~6 times more total polyphenol and presented ~5 times more antioxidant activity than the extract from the skin fraction. The lowest ethanol concentration (20%) and the highest temperature (160 °C) achieved the highest recovery of flavanols with 163.61 µg/g dw from seeds and 10.37 µg/g dw from skins. The recovery of phenolic acids was maximized at the highest ethanol concentration and temperature with 45.34 µg/g dw from seeds and 6.93 µg/g dw from skins. Flavonols were only recovered from the skin, maximized (17.53 µg/g dw) at 20% of ethanol and the highest temperature. The recovery of specific polyphenols is maximized at specific extraction conditions. These conditions are the same for seed and skin extractions. This alternative method can be used in other agroindustrial wastes in order to recover bioactive compounds with potential applications in the pharmaceutical and food industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety and Bioactivity of Agri-Food Products—Methods for Chemicals Residues Analysis and Phytochemicals Investigation)
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12 pages, 562 KiB  
Article
An Optimized Extraction Procedure for Determining Acaricide Residues in Foundation Sheets of Beeswax by Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
by María Jesús Nozal, Edgar Imaz, José Luis Bernal, José Luis Nieto, Mariano Higes and José Bernal
Agronomy 2021, 11(4), 804; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy11040804 - 19 Apr 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2223
Abstract
Pesticides can be found in beehives for several reasons, including contamination from surrounding cultivars; yet one of the most pertinent is related to the fact that beekeepers employ acaricides to control various types of mites, which may accumulate in beeswax due to their [...] Read more.
Pesticides can be found in beehives for several reasons, including contamination from surrounding cultivars; yet one of the most pertinent is related to the fact that beekeepers employ acaricides to control various types of mites, which may accumulate in beeswax due to their lipophilic nature. In the present study, foundation sheets of different origins, collected over a period of three years, were analyzed to detect the residues of seven acaricides (atrazine, chlorpyrifos, chlorfenvinphos, alpha-endosulfan, bromopropylate, coumaphos, tau-fluvalinate) by gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection. An efficient sample treatment (recoveries between 90% and 108%) is proposed, involving solvent extraction with 1% acetic acid in acetonitrile mixture followed by dispersive solid-phase extraction (enhanced matrix removal lipid) and a polishing step. An evaluation was made of the analytical performance of the proposed method. It was shown to be selective, linear from a limit of quantification to 5000 µg/kg, precise (relative standard deviation values were below 6%), and with a goo sensitivity (limit of quantification ranging from 5 to 10 µg/kg). Finally, results showed that a large majority of the sheets analyzed (>90%) contained residues of at least one of these compounds. Coumaphos and tau-fluvalinate residues were the most common, with chlorpyrifos and chlorfenvinphos detected to a lesser extent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety and Bioactivity of Agri-Food Products—Methods for Chemicals Residues Analysis and Phytochemicals Investigation)
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18 pages, 3081 KiB  
Article
Phytochemical and Functional Characterization of Phenolic Compounds from Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) Obtained by Green Extraction Technologies
by M. Victoria Avanza, Gerardo Álvarez-Rivera, Alejandro Cifuentes, José A. Mendiola and Elena Ibáñez
Agronomy 2021, 11(1), 162; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy11010162 - 16 Jan 2021
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3954
Abstract
This work presents a green, downstream process, from extraction to phytochemical characterization and bioactivity testing, to obtain and evaluate the functional properties of phenolic compounds from cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) seeds and pods. Phenolic-rich extracts were obtained by pressurized liquid [...] Read more.
This work presents a green, downstream process, from extraction to phytochemical characterization and bioactivity testing, to obtain and evaluate the functional properties of phenolic compounds from cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) seeds and pods. Phenolic-rich extracts were obtained by pressurized liquid extraction (PLE). The main factors affecting the extraction conditions (temperature and solvent) were optimized in order to attain extracts with the highest extraction yield, antioxidant capacity, and total phenolic content. The optimal extraction conditions were 1:1 ethanol:water at 170 °C with one extraction cycle for seeds and three extraction cycles for pods. Phenolic compounds of optimal extract were analyzed by UHPLC-q-TOF-MS/MS (quadrupole-time of flight tandem MS). The obtained PLE-extracts exhibited higher phenolic content and antioxidant activity compared to conventional extraction procedures. The in vitro anti-neurodegenerative potential of extracts was measured through Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition assay. The results revealed the higher bioactivity observed in cowpea pod samples compared to seed extracts, which might be related to higher levels of quercetin and quercetin glycosides, kaempferol diglucoside, and other tetrahydroxylated flavones and flavonols identified in these samples. These results also provide an added-value benefit to the cultivation of this legume, considering the high potential of cowpea phenolic extracts as nutraceutical and functional ingredients in food formulations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Safety and Bioactivity of Agri-Food Products—Methods for Chemicals Residues Analysis and Phytochemicals Investigation)
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