The aim of this project is to provide updated New Zealand data on the levels of acrylamide in risk foods and estimates of exposure so that New Zealand authorities can make reasoned and informed choices on the need for further action for New Zealand.
The aim of this project is to provide updated New Zealand data on the levels of acrylamide in risk foods and estimates of exposure so that New Zealand authorities can make reasoned and informed choices on the need for further action for New Zealand.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical used primarily as a monomer in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Polycarbonate plastics are rigid plastics sometimes used for food contact materials, including drink bottles. Epoxy resins are used for lining tin cans.
The objective of this project in the 2004/05 year was to indentify the foods most likely to contribute significant amounts of acrylamide to typical New Zealand diets using the simulated diets from the 2003/04 Total Diet Survey and use this as the basis of selecting New Zealand foods for further testing.
Cyanogenic glycosides or cyanoglycosides account for approximately 90% of the wider group of plant toxins known as cyanogens. The key characteristic of these toxins is cyanogenesis, the formation of free hydrogen cyanide, and is associated with cyanohydrins that have been stabilised by glycosylation (attachment of sugars) to form the cyanogenic glycosides.
Glucosinolates are a family of about 120 plant compounds. They are modified amino acids, carrying an S-glucose functional group and a variety of different side chains. The parent compounds can be broken down by a plant enzyme, myrosinase, which is liberated for reaction through processing of the plant tissue (e.g. cutting, cooking or freezing).
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of the non-essential amino acid glutamic acid. Glutamic acid is one of the most abundant amino acids in human foods. When glutamate is present in a free form, not as a component of proteins or peptides, it has a flavour-enhancing effect and for this reason it is added to foods as its purified monosodium salt.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are a large group of compounds made up of two or more fused benzene rings. They are primarily formed by incomplete combustion or pyrolysis of organic matter and during various industrial processes. Consequently, they are found in automobile exhaust, smoke from fires or cigarettes and as a component of air pollution. PAHs generally occur in complex mixtures which may consist of hundreds of compounds.