Eurycoma longifolia Jack (ELJ), better known as Malaysian Ginseng, is fast becoming popular due to its efficacy as a general health and testosterone booster, and for its known aphrodisiac properties. With the growing popularity of ELJ, together with the increasing consumer demand for healthy foods, it is expected that the number of healthy food suppliers boasting claims that their products are enriched with this medicinal herb will also increase. It is, therefore, important to device a strategy that can rapidly provide corroborating evidence in order to assess the authenticity of such a claim onsite. A portable electronic taste sensor employing digital signal processing (DSP) technology was developed to meet this objective. The sensor was constructed from eight kinds of lipid membranes forming the multichannel artificial taste-sensing equipment. The system was trained to detect ELJ into four different concentrations: 0.01%, 0.03%, 0.05% and 0.08%. Over 100 samples were tested, from which the taste system was able to correctly classify the test mixtures at a greater than 90% success rate. This classification success rate, however, dropped to well below 50% when data from multichannel were used independently, indicating the between-channel variations were relatively small. Data fusion via principal component analysis helped enlarge the variation with the first and second principal components, contributed nearly 92% of the total variance. Equipped with 32-bit state-of-the-art DSPs, the taste system allowed both training and testing schemes to be implemented directly onboard.

This study aimed to investigate antibiotic residues such as oxytetracycline, ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin and levofloxacin, in both pasteurised and raw cow's milk. A method using high-performance liquid chromatography with a UV detector (HPLC-UV) was developed and validated following International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines for simultaneous detection and quantification of these residues. The technique demonstrated linearity, with r² values ranging from 0.999 to 1.00 within the 1.3-15.0 μg ml^-1 range for each antibiotic. Thirty cow's milk samples, raw and pasteurised, from Dhaka's local markets were analysed, revealing the presence of enrofloxacin and levofloxacin, while oxytetracycline was absent in all samples. Notably, pasteurised milk samples contained enrofloxacin, levofloxacin and oxytetracycline, with groups P6 and P7 exceeding the Maximum Residue Limit for enrofloxacin, levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin (121 µg l^-1). This study emphasises antibiotic residues in milk, with a validated method holding promise for routine analysis in industries requiring simultaneous quantitation of multiple antibiotics.

This study evaluated the presence of residual levels of commonly utilised antibiotics, including oxytetracycline (tetracyclines), ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, and levofloxacin (fluoroquinolones), in milk samples. Fifty raw milk samples were collected from five farms in Keraniganj, Dhaka. A validated RP-HPLC method was applied to detect and quantify antibiotic residues, demonstrating good linearity with coefficients ranging from 0.999 to 1.0 in the concentration range of 1.25-15.00 µg/mL. The study revealed that oxytetracycline was detected in 90% of the samples, followed by levofloxacin (66%), enrofloxacin (64%), and ciprofloxacin (62%). One farm showed the highest antibiotic prevalence, with oxytetracycline in all samples and levofloxacin, enrofloxacin, and ciprofloxacin in 80% of the samples. About 30% of the oxytetracycline-positive samples exceeded the MRL, while none surpassed the MRL for enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin. Calculated human health risks appeared to be low, but children might face potential risks due to prolonged exposure.