The objective of this study was to perform a profile of mineral elements and the relationship of those as markers of geographical origin of artisanal goat cheese from the State of Veracruz, Mexico. On fresh and mature goat cheeses the quantified elements were: heavy (aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, lead), major (calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium), essential (cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, selenium, zinc), and others (nickel and strontium). The database using variance analyses and discriminant function analysis was analyzed. Differences (P < 0.05) were found in the contents of elements between fresh and mature cheeses. The content of major, essential and other elements were similar to the results from other investigations. The concentration of arsenic and lead surpassed the limits accepted by international and Mexican standards. Nine elements helped to determine the geographic origin of the goat cheeses.

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The aim of this work was to determine in Capsicum chinense the 1) concentration of heavy metals (Al, As, Cd, Pb), majority (Ca, K, Mg, Na) and essential (Cu, Fe, Mn, Se, Zn) mineral elements, 2) effects of ripening stage, harvest number and type of soil on the mineral content and 3) authenticity markers. Peppers grown in black and red soils of this Mayan region, were harvested in two ripening stages (ripe and ripening peppers [orange and green peppers, respectivily]) and in four post-transplant dates: I (132 post-transplant days, PTD), II (160PTD), III (209PTD) and IV (265PTD). These samples were analyzed by ICP-Spectroscopy. The ripening stage affected the Al, Cu and Zn contents in ripe peppers while As presented the highest content in ripening peppers. Harvests I y III presented the highest Al, Ca, K contents while harvests II y III presented the highest As and Pb contents. Nine and ten elements developed authenticity markers according to the maturation and harvest number, respectively. The results obtained will help the producers and industrialists to focused on the production and agronomic management of high quality habanero peppers.

This study aimed to explore the effectiveness potential of Eichhornia crassipes, Pistia stratiotes and Salvinia molesta for the reduction of potentially toxic metals from effluents enriched with Cd, Cr and Pb. Based on a 21-day laboratory-scale experiment, a total of three concentrations at 1, 5 and 10 mg/L were selected to culture each of the macrophytes. In addition, kinetics and prediction models were used to analyze the metal reduction data to understand the behavior and removal rate of each species and with the Taguchi methodology to see what the right conditions for greater efficiency are. The results suggested that the three macrophytes was able to reduce metals Eichhornia crassipes manages to reduce 90.8-99.99% Cd, 90.8-99.9% Cr and 89.6-99.9% Pb, for Pistia stratiotes 74.6-99.9% Cd, 74.6-99.9% Cr and 91.2-99.9% Pb and Salvinia molesta 83.2-99.9% Cd, 62.2-99.9% Cr and 89.2-99% Pb. The first-order model it is adjusted appropriately to the removal of toxic metals for the three plants, having an adjustment of R2 greater than 0.80. Taguchi analysis shows that optimal conditions for metal phytoremediation occur with 1 mg/L of toxic metals and after 21 days.