Paolo Bogoni

High-performance liquid chromatographic profiles of aloe constituents and determination of aloin in beverages, with reference to the EEC regulation for flavouring substances

Characteristic HPLC profiles of fresh and aged aloe solutions, detected at 360 and 220 nm, are presented and compared. Several aloe constituents (aloesin, aloeresin A, hydroxyaloin, aloin A and B and aloinoside A and B) were simultaneously separated and identified. The determination of aloin is described (detection limit 0.15 ppm) and discussed. In aloe-based alcoholic beverages, the aloins could not be detected, owing to their instability and degradation in solution; this is discussed in relation to the EEC Council Directive 88/388, which fixed the values of maximum allowable concentrations for aloin in food and beverages. Instead of aloin, other aloe compounds (e.g., aloeresin A or aloesin) should perhaps be used as an index of the presence of aloe in alcoholic beverages.

High-performance liquid chromatography of okadaic acid and free fatty acids in mussels

Abstract A high-performance liquid chromatographic method developed for the determination of both okadaic acid (OA) and free fatty acids (FFA) was used for analysing mussel samples collected in the Gulf of Trieste. OA and FFA extracted from mussel hepatopancreas were derivatized prior to their chromatographic separation and spectrofluorimetric detection. 9-Chloromethylanthracene (CA) was used as a fluorescent labelling agent. The presence of toxic fatty acids ( e.g. , linolenic acid), which may interfere with the bioassay of diarrhoetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) toxins, in the lipidic fraction of the extract was observed, whereas no OA was detected in the analysed samples.

Dexamethasone and clenbuterol detection by enzyme immunoassay in bovine liver tissue: a new multiresidue extraction procedure

A fast and simple extraction procedure was developed for simultaneous determination in bovine liver of two veterinary drugs, widely used as growth promoters in meat production: dexamethasone (a synthetic corticosteroid drug) and clenbuterol (a beta2‐adrenergic agonist drug). Liver samples were extracted by acetonitrile, without any clean‐up step. Two different ELISAs, specific for the two classes of drugs, were used to determine the residue concentration in the extracts. The intra‐ and inter‐extraction variability was determined at different concentrations: the intra‐extraction coefficients of variation (CVs) were between 2.5 and 17.7% for dexamethasone and between 0.9 and 9.8% for clenbuterol; the inter‐extraction CVs were between 2.0 and 16.8% for dexamethasone and between 0.5 and 10.8% for clenbuterol. Recovery ranged from 92 to 154% for dexamethasone and from 78 to 105% for clenbuterol. The limit of detection was 1.43 ng g−1 and 0.43 ng g−1, respectively. The limit of quantification for dexamethasone ...

The European Ecolabel in the Tourist Sector: An Analysis of the Italian Experience of Mountain Huts

In tourism and hospitality service industry numerous are the voluntary eco-labels that have been developed by individual companies, industry associations, voluntary organizations and government agencies. Their scopes can range from single villages to worldwide or from single activities to entire destinations; and they may include voluntary codes, awards, accreditation and certification schemes. However, the eco-labels are a controversial topic in tourism as the degree to which they affect tourists’ planning processes and corporate environmental performance is largely unknown. This chapter mainly addresses the perception issue about the main difficulties and advantages driven by the adoption of the voluntary scheme based on the EU Ecolabel Regulation for the environmental certification of the product group ‘tourist accommodation service’. In particular, here are presented the first results of a preliminary study carried out in a specific context: the mountain huts.

Quality and Safety in Commercial Baby Foods

Nutrient-rich baby foods are required with particularly high standards of quality and safety expressed through product specifications or attributes. These foods are generally subjected to thermal processes that could involve a reduction of essential elements, as well as in the formation of potentially harmful molecules. This paper aimed at detecting the presence, in some baby foods, of compounds derived from Maillard reactions, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and total Maillard Reaction Products (MRPs), as well as at evaluating the hypothetical levels of HMF daily intake by infants and children fed with the tested products. Baby food samples included milk powders, lyophilized meat-based foods, powdered creams based on cereals, homogenized jarred foods based on processed cheese, fish, vegetables, and meat. As far as the healthiness of the tested foods is concerned, significant quantities of total MRPs were found. The lyophilized meat-based foods samples showed the highest levels of total MRPs. At 380 nm, all the samples exceeded the total MRPs concentration of 1000 mg/100g. The analysis revealed the presence of HMF in all the samples under study. However, none of the samples exceeded the threshold concentration of 20 mg/Kg. The highest values were recorded for the category of lyophilized meat-based foods and for a sample of homogenized veal-based food. The results for the hypothetical daily levels of HMF intake by babies showed that, for the age group over 12 months, a value of 3.6 mg was reached. The largest percentage contribution was imputable to the homogenized jarred foods based on proteins and vegetables.

Improvement of Cellulose Hydrolysis Process and Cost Savings

The hydrolysis process to obtain the so-called “reducing sugars” represents the main step involved in the production of the second generation bioethanol. This product can be obtained directly from various types of green biomass, replacing the use of cereals cultivations, with obvious benefits to the environment and the economy of agricultural production. However, it is necessary to improve the hydrolysis process of the cellulose to achieve this goal. To this purpose, we applied a chemical process formerly used. The values of sugars yield were increased by about 40% with respect to the previous study. Further significant cost savings were accomplished, resulting from the recovery of the by-product, calcium sulfate, commercially known as gypsum.