No abstract

Environmental heavy metal pollution is a reality in our country and can lead to chemical contamination of products entering in the human food chain. Several European studies linked the environmental level of lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) with their respective level in local hive products. In the present study, the purpose was to evaluate if there can be found a correlation between the environmental pollution with cadmium and lead and the level of these metals in some samples of Romanian honey. Honey was harvested from areas located near pollution sources (very circulated points, factories) and from areas generally known as unpolluted (far from towns, circulated roads, industrial plants) of 2 counties, Prahova and Arges (n=108). The metal content was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and the team evaluated statistically (t- test) if there are any significaticantive differences between honeys from the 2 types of environment. It has been found that the metal load was greater in polluted areas (for cadmium: t=+6, df=106, p

The environmental stress has been implicated in adverse marked effects on egg production and eggshell quality of hens. The effect of heat stress was studied on three hen breeders (White Leghorn, Rhode Island, and White Plymouth Rock). The experiments were conducted on 4210 hens aged 31 weeks for each breed. The experimental period was 4 weeks. At age 32 weeks, the environmental temperature was 34.4-36.4°C, into the hall. There were monitored the following productive parameters: feed intake, laying rate, egg weight, and shell thickness. After one week of heat stress the feed intake decreased with 32.4% at White Leghorn females stock, 21.8% at Rhode Island and 27.3% at Plymouth Rock. After three weeks of heat exposure, the laying rate decreased with 10.4% at White Leghorn, 6.1% at Rhode Island, and 5.8% at White Plymouth Rock (p≤0.05). The egg weight decreased with 3-3.2 g to all groups. The shell thickness was lower with 0.07 mm at White Leghorn, 0.04 mm at Rhode Island and 0.03 mm at White Plymouth Rock. The lower egg quality established a decrease of eggs for incubation. White Leghorn breed was more affected by the heat exposure, because the productive parameters production had a drastic decline. In this breed, mortality was determined by cannibalism and internal haemorrhages.

Salt is the oldest preservative used for food. But the excessive consume of salt is at the origin of blood hypertension, a problem responsible for a huge number of human diseases and deaths. As a consequence, the level of salt added in processed food has to diminish progressively. At the end of 2009, the Public Health Authorities from 29 Romanian counties reported results from the salt analysis of 1321 samples of different foods. The highest levels of salt were found in “telemea” cheese and the significant salt content in other widely consumed food underlined the necessity for a joined effort in order to bring down salt and to comply with the World Health Organization target

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract