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.
Reducing salt is a major task for companies all over the world. Scientific evidence has linked excessive salt consumption to increased risk of high blood pressure.
The question we tried to answer to is if meat products and cheeses need to be reformulated, in order to bring down their salt content, taking in account the daily intake of cold cuts and diary products in our country. The intake was assessed by 7-days food diaries, completed by a representative sample of Romanians. The values used for the salt content were computed from data gathered in Romania since 2007.
The average value of salt for Romanian cheeses is 2.4 g /100 g and for meat products, 2, 2 g /100 g. The food diaries showed that meat products and cheeses cover low percents of the daily salt intake (4%; 4%), with little variations between regions of the country. The present study concludes that cheeses and cold cuts, although consumed in all Romanian regions, have not a great contribution to the total salt intake in our country, so reformulation is not an emergency. However, the producers have to target in future a better management of the use of salt in the food chains, in the frame of advised descendent trends of the salt quantity introduced in human food. It has to be kept in mind that as long as the technological process allows it, every milligram of salt taken away from the product `s recipe is a helper of the consumer `s health.
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