title: Genotoxicity of processed food items and ready-to-eat snacks in Finland.
abstract: Processed foods are an insufficiently characterized source of chemical mutagens for consumers. Here, we evaluated the genotoxicity of selected food products in Finland. Mutagenicity was determined by the standard plate incorporation assay followed by methylcellulose overlay and treat-and-wash assays, using the Salmonella strains TA 100 and 98 with and without metabolic activation. Generally, the mutagenic activity of food samples was low, but exhibited lot-wise variation. Cold cuts of cold-smoked beef, grilled turkey, and smoked chicken (a single batch of each) were mutagenic in all three assays with the TA 100 strain with and without metabolic activation, indicating the mutagenic effect was not secondary to histidine release from the food products. However, none of the food extracts showing mutagenic potential induced DNA damage in vitro using the Comet Assay. Our findings imply that in Finland today, there are still products the production methods of which should be refined to reduce the potential risk of mutagenicity to consumers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health (Food and Environmental Toxicology Unit), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, P.O. Box 66, FI-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: matthew.omoruyi@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Iyekhoetin Matthew
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Omoruyi
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health (Food and Environmental Toxicology Unit), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, P.O. Box 66, FI-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Raimo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pohjanvirta
mesh_terms: D057140:Fast Foods; D005387:Finland; D005511:Food Handling; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D009153:Mutagens / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D062410:Snacks
chemical_list: D009153:Mutagens
keywords: Ames test; Cytotoxicity; Food processing; Genotoxicity; Industrially processed food; Mutagenicity; Ready-to-eat food