An effective and sensitive method is necessary for the determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) pollutants in water. In this study, effervescent-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction with solidification of the aqueous phase (EA-DLLME-SAP), followed by Gas Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS-MS) quantitative analysis, was established for the preconcentration and determination of PBDEs in real environmental water samples. 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane was used as the extractant and directly dispersed into the water phase of the aqueous samples with the aid of a large number of carbon dioxide bubbles generated via the acid-base reaction of acetic acid and sodium bicarbonate, which did not require the use of a dispersant during the extraction process. The key factors affecting the extraction recovery were optimized, and an internal standard was used for quantitative analysis, which gave good linearity ranges of 1–100 ng·L⁻¹ (BDEs 28, 47, 99, and 100), 2–200 ng·L⁻¹ (BDEs 153, 154, and 183) and 5–500 ng·L⁻¹ (BDE 209) with limits of quantification in the range of 1.0–5.0 ng·L⁻¹. The accuracy was verified with relative standard deviations < 8.5% observed in tap, lake, river and reservoir water samples with relative recoveries ranging from 67.2 to 102.6%. The presented method contributes to the determination of PBDEs in environmental water samples.

Nonylphenol (NP) is considered to be an environmentally toxic, endocrine-disrupting chemical that affects humans and ecosystems. Adsorption is one of the most promising approaches for the removal of nonylphenol contamination from water. Herein, in order to design an adsorbent with high adsorption capacity, magnesium silicate with different Mg/Si ratios was successfully synthesized by a sol–gel method at 60 °C. Magnesium silicate with a Mg/Si ratio of 1:6 was found to possess the best adsorption performance, with maximum 4−NP sorption 30.84 mg/g under 25 °C and 0.2 g/L adsorbent dose. The adsorption was negatively affected by increasing adsorbent dose and temperature. The kinetics and isotherm of 4−NP adsorption by Mg/Si were well described by the pseudo−second−order and Sips model, respectively, and behavior was proven to be physisorption−enhanced by a chemical effect. Detailed characterization by XRD, BET, and SEM confirmed that the magnesium silicate possesses an amorphous, mesoporous structure. The study will contribute to the applicability of cheap magnesium silicate for removal of NP contamination in water.

Decabrominated diphenyl ether (BDE-209) is widely used as a flame retardant and is detected at high levels in the environment. Its toxicities have been reported and have attracted attention. In the present study, broilers were used to determine the response in growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, blood profiles and antioxidant system to BDE-209 exposure at doses of 0, 0.02, 0.4 and 4 mg/kg. The results showed that BDE-209 exposure at levels of 0.02 or 0.4 mg/kg increased feed intake and decreased feed efficiency. BDE-209 altered the blood profiles, such as reducing the numbers of white blood cells, lymphocytes and neutrophilic granulocytes. As compared with the control, BDE-209 exposure significantly increased abdominal fat percentages of broilers at 64.9–159.5% and adversely affected the selected biochemical indicators, including alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), creatine (CRE), which indicated its toxicity to liver and kidney functions. Moreover, BDE-209 exposure significantly increased plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations and decreased the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-px) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), which implied aggravating oxidant stress and decline of antioxidant capacity in broilers. In conclusion, our data demonstrated that the environmental pollutant BDE-209 adversely influenced growth performance, increased the deposition of abdominal fat, impaired antioxidant capacity and the immune system and had potential toxicity to the liver and kidney of broilers.

Food freshness is critical to ensuring food safety, minimizing food waste, and improving industrial efficiency. Traditional sensory evaluation and laboratory-based detection methods suffer from inherent limitations, including strong subjectivity, time-consuming procedures, and destructive sampling, which make it difficult to meet the requirements of modern supply chains for rapid, non-destructive, and real-time monitoring. This review comprehensively summarizes the mainstream research directions and recent advances in food freshness monitoring technologies across three complementary directions: (1) biomimetic or instrumental systems based on digital identification of food odors, tastes, and appearance characteristics, including electronic noses, electronic tongues, and machine vision technology; (2) biosensor-based technologies for ultrasensitive recognition of specific biomolecules (metabolites, proteins, and nucleic acids); (3) spectroscopic and imaging techniques for “fingerprint” capture and quantitative analysis of internal components. In addition, the preparation principles, instrumentation, and applications are stated in each section, along with critical performance aspects such as stability and anti-interference capability in complex matrices. We hope this review can provide a comprehensive understanding of sustainable and real-time food quality control for the advancement of food freshness assessment.