Zahir Ahmadullah, Ge Zhiwen, Khan Iftikhar Ali
Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Department of Food Science and Technology, Afghanistan National Agricultural Sciences & Technology University, Kandahar 3801, Afghanistan.
Institute of Agri-food Processing and Nutrition, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Fruits and Vegetables Preservation and Processing, Key Laboratory of Vegetable Postharvest Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100097, China.
J Food Prot. 2025 Feb 3;88(2):100426. doi: 10.1016/j.jfp.2024.100426. Epub 2024 Dec 4.
The increasing complexity of food production and processing has raised concerns regarding food process contaminants, which pose significant public health risks. Food process contaminants can be introduced during diverse phases of food processing such as drying, heating, grilling, and fermentation, resulting in the synthesis of harmful chemicals including acrylamide (AA), advanced glycation end products (AGEs), heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs), furan and its naturally occurring derivatives, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), N-nitroso compounds (NOCs), 2-chloropropane-1,2-diol esters (2-MCPDE), and 3-chloropropane-1,2-diol esters (3-MCPDE), ethyl carbamate (EC), glycidyl esters (GE), and 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI), all of these are harmful to human health. Although these compounds can be somewhat prevented during processing, eliminating them can often be challenging due to their unknown formation mechanism. Moreover, prolonged exposure to these dangerous compounds might harm human health. There is limited understanding of the sources, formation processes, and hazards of food processing contaminants, and a lack of knowledge of the mechanisms involved in how to control their generation. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the harmful effects associated with food process contaminants generated during thermal processing and fermentation, alongside elemental process contaminants and their potential threats to human health. Furthermore, this study identifies existing knowledge gaps proposes avenues for future inquiry and emphasizes the necessity of employing a multi-disciplinary approach to alleviate the public health risks posed by food process contaminants, advocating for cooperative initiatives among food scientists, public health officials, and regulatory entities to enhance food safety and protect consumer health.
食品生产和加工的日益复杂引发了人们对食品加工污染物的担忧，这些污染物对公众健康构成重大风险。食品加工污染物可在食品加工的不同阶段引入，如干燥、加热、烧烤和发酵，从而导致合成包括丙烯酰胺（AA）、晚期糖基化终产物（AGEs）、杂环芳香胺（HAAs）、呋喃及其天然衍生物、多环芳烃（PAHs）、N-亚硝基化合物（NOCs）、2-氯丙烷-1,2-二醇酯（2-MCPDE）和3-氯丙烷-1,2-二醇酯（3-MCPDE）、氨基甲酸乙酯（EC）、缩水甘油酯（GE）和4-甲基咪唑（4-MEI）在内的有害化学物质，所有这些都对人体健康有害。尽管这些化合物在加工过程中可以在一定程度上得到预防，但由于其形成机制不明，消除它们往往具有挑战性。此外，长期接触这些危险化合物可能会损害人体健康。人们对食品加工污染物的来源、形成过程和危害了解有限，并且缺乏如何控制其产生的相关机制的知识。在本综述中，我们全面概述了热加工和发酵过程中产生的食品加工污染物、元素加工污染物及其对人体健康的潜在威胁所带来的有害影响。此外，本研究确定了现有的知识差距，提出了未来研究的途径，并强调采用多学科方法来减轻食品加工污染物所带来的公共健康风险的必要性，倡导食品科学家、公共卫生官员和监管实体之间开展合作举措，以提高食品安全并保护消费者健康。
