A rapid determination method for emergency response to health crisis caused by metals in foods, was developed using microwave decomposition equipment and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The method was assessed for 18 elements (Al, As, B, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Sn, Tl and Zn) in 5 kinds of beverages and 7 kinds of foods. A single-laboratory method validation study was performed using food samples added with 20 mg/kg of each metal. Trueness was 88–108% and intralaboratory reproducibility was 0.2–11.3%. Time required for analysis was less than 3 hr. Thus, the presented method could be useful for rapid analysis of metals involved food poisoning cases.

Histamine poisoning has been reported worldwide. Improvements in refrigeration technology have led to a reduction in this food poisoning; however, it continues to occur. Misdiagnosis of fish allergies has compounded this problem and the number of patients subjected to histamine poisoning that are transported to the emergency ward because of anaphylactic shock-like symptoms should not be underestimated. We investigated incidents of histamine food poisoning in Japan from 1998 to 2020, and found that there were a mean 9.7 incidents/year and 195.3 cases/year. Facility-wise occurrence of the incidents per year was the highest in restaurants followed by lunch facilities, and these together accounted for approximately 70% of the incidents. Facility-wise total number of cases was the highest in lunch facilities followed by restaurants, and these together accounted for 80% of the cases. Fish associated with histamine poisoning were mainly tuna, marlin, and mackerel. Based on the current literature review, 23 genera of histamine-producing bacteria were isolated from fish purchased in Japan. The most frequently reported bacteria were Morganella morganii and Photobacterium damselae. Psychrophilic bacteria such as Morganella psychrotolerans and Photobacterium phosphoreum were also isolated. To prevent histamine poisoning, freezing or fast handling of fish and the products during processing and consuming is important because only refrigeration of fish is enough.

Fusarium species infect the major cereals consumed as food and feed, contaminating them with various toxic secondary metabolites known as toxins. Among these toxins, which include trichothecenes, zearalenone (ZEA), and fumonisins, the type-B trichothecene deoxynivalenol (DON) is generally considered as the most important. The present study evaluates an analytical method for the detection and quantification of multiple Fusarium toxins, namely, DON, acetyl forms of DON (3-Ac-DON and 15-Ac-DON), a glycoside form of DON (DON-3G), and other Fusarium toxins (nivalenol, an acetyl form of NIV (fusarenonX), T-2 and HT-2 toxins, diacetoxyscirpenol, and ZEA) in Job’s tears and buckwheat.

A collaborative study for validating the determination method of chlorpropham in feeds by LC-MS/MS was conducted in 13 laboratories using 2 kinds of formula feeds, oats, barley, wheat, and corn. The resulting trueness ranged from 75.3 to 87.0%, repeatability and reproducibility in terms of relative standard deviation (RSD_r and RSD_R) were within 7.3% and 33% respectively, and the HorRat values ranged from 0.39 to 1.5. The limit of detection and limit of quantitation of chlorpropham in feed ware 0.008 mg/kg and 0.003 mg/kg, respectively. This method was thus validated as useful for inspections of chlorpropham in feed.