Manasikan Thammawong

Life cycle of meats: an opportunity to abate the greenhouse gas emission from meat industry in Japan.

The food industry is one of the worlds largest industrial sectors, hence a large contributor of greenhouse gases (GHG) which cause global warming. This study evaluates the life cycle of various types of meat to determine if the GHG emission from the meat industry in Japan could be reduced if the population makes different dietary choices. It was confirmed that the GHG emission of beef was greater than that of pork or chicken. The GHG emission from meat in general also depends on the per capita caloric intake (if meat supplies the recommended animal protein or contributes to it at the present rate). In a healthy and balanced diet (9.2 MJ i.e., 2200 kcal in total, where either mixed meat or chicken or pork or beef contributes 2.2%), the GHG emission is estimated to be 0.28 or 0.17 or 0.15 or 0.77 kg CO₂ eq/person/day, respectively. A change in consumption patterns (from beef to chicken or pork) and the adoption of a healthy and balanced diet would help to abate about 2.5-54.0 million tons (CO₂ eq) produced by the meat industry each year in Japan.

Distribution of deoxynivalenol and nivalenol in milling fractions from Fusarium-infected Japanese wheat cultivars.

The fate of the Fusarium mycotoxins deoxynivalenol and nivalenol during the milling of Japanese wheat cultivars artificially infected with Fusarium was investigated. Grain samples with different mycotoxin concentrations were milled using a laboratory-scale test mill to produce eight fractions: three breaking flours (1B, 2B, and 3B), three reduction flours (1M, 2M, and 3M), wheat bran, and wheat shorts. Patent flour for human consumption was made from the 1B, 2B, 1M, and 2M flours, and low-grade flour was made from 3B and 3M flours. The four resulting samples (patent flour, low-grade flour, bran, and shorts) were analyzed for deoxynivalenol and/or nivalenol with an in-house validated analytical method using high-performance liquid chromatography with UV absorbance detection. In samples with different mycotoxin concentrations, the distribution of those toxins differed among the milling fractions. Grains with a lower level of contamination produced bran and shorts samples with a high relative concentration of nivalenol. A high percentage of nivalenol was found in patent flour, followed by bran. Contrary to the less-contaminated sample, the concentration of nivalenol in moderately contaminated grain was high only in the shorts sample. The highest percentage of deoxynivalenol and nivalenol was observed in the patent flour. The results of this study indicate that the distribution of deoxynivalenol and nivalenol in milled Japanese wheat could be influenced by the contamination level of the original grain, and the milling process is not always effective for removal of toxins from wheat grains.

Distinct Distribution of Deoxynivalenol, Nivalenol, and Ergosterol in Fusarium-infected Japanese Soft Red Winter Wheat Milling Fractions

The occurrence of mycotoxins in small grain cereals and their retention in final products are serious concerns for food safety. Previously, we investigated the fate of deoxynivalenol and nivalenol in a Japanese soft red winter wheat cultivar during milling and we found that deoxynivalenol and/or nivalenol was readily distributed among flours for human consumption. In the present study, we analyzed the ergosterol concentrations in the milling fractions as an index of fungal biomass to elucidate the relationship between deoxynivalenol/nivalenol accumulation and fungal invasion into the grain, after the in-house validation of an analytical method for quantifying ergosterol in the resulting milling fractions (patent flour, low-grade flour, bran, and shorts). Using three samples with different levels of deoxynivalenol and/or nivalenol contamination, the contents of deoxynivalenol/nivalenol and ergosterol in the resulting milling fractions were evaluated. The concentration of ergosterol was always lowest in patent flour and highest in bran or shorts, indicating that most of the fungi is retained in the outer layers of grain (bran and shorts) even in highly contaminated grain. On the other hand, the concentrations of deoxynivalenol and nivalenol were similar in the low-grade and patent flours and only slightly lower than in the medium-level and high-level contaminated grains. Moreover, the percentage distribution of ergosterol was higher in bran than in other fractions in all cases, which differed from that of deoxynivalenol/nivalenol. This result indicates the diffusion of deoxynivalenol/nivalenol inside the grain that is independent of fungal invasion.