Atrazine, an herbicide used to control grassy and broadleaf weed, has become an essential part of agricultural crop protection tools. It is widely sprayed on corn, sorghum and sugar cane, with the attendant problems of its residues in agri-food and washing water. If ingested into humans, this residual atrazine can cause reproductive harm, developmental toxicity and carcinogenicity. It is therefore important to find clean and economical degradation processes for atrazine. In recent years, many physical, chemical and biological methods have been proposed to remove atrazine from the aquatic environment. This review introduces the research works of atrazine degradation in aqueous solutions by method classification. These methods are then compared by their advantages, disadvantages, and different degradation pathways of atrazine. Moreover, the existing toxicological experimental data for atrazine and its metabolites are summarized. Finally, the review concludes with directions for future research and major challenges to be addressed.

Nitrite is a widely used food additive that has been shown to be carcinogenic and can cause health damage when consumed in excess. Therefore, developing a detection method is in demand. Here, we prepared a novel Fe-doped carbon dots (Fe-CDs) using metallic deep eutectic solvent (MDES) which showed high sensitivity and selectivity. Besides, it also showed excellent pH-dependent luminescence characteristics, which proved the feasibility as a pH sensor. Under the optimal conditions, the detection linear of nitrite ranged from 0.2 to 80 µM, and the detection limit was 50 nM. The recovery rate was between 98.8 % and 104.1 % in food and water samples. For pH monitoring, its fluorescence intensity was linearly correlated in the pH range from 2 to 7, accompanying a unique differential solution color change of colorless-yellow-green. Therefore, it can be used as an excellent fluorescent probe for detection of nitrite and pH in food and water environment.

The bioaccumulation of heavy metals in two fish samples along with the water and sediment samples from the coastal waters of Kalpakkam, Southeast coast of India were investigated in this study. The concentration of the metals in the surface waters were in the order Fe (61.30 to 89.68 µg/L) > Zn (29.45 to 36.44 µg/L) > Pb (2.46 to 4.82 µg/L) > Cu (3.04 to 4.36 µg/L) > Cr (1.86 to 4.09 µg/L) > Mn (2.16 to 2.63 µg/L) > Cd (0.78 to 1.94 µg/L) > As (BDL), whereas the trend in the sediment was Fe (3067.40 to 4545.74 mg/Kg) > Zn (8.34 to 10.69 mg/Kg) > Cr (6.48 to 8.86 mg/Kg) > Pb (0.32 to 0.60 mg/Kg) > Cu (3.59 to 5.07 mg/Kg) > Mn (1.83 to 2.77 mg/Kg) > Cd (1.88 to 2.53 mg/Kg) > As (BDL). The bioaccumulation trend of heavy metals in the fish muscles were Fe (18.71–78.48 mg/Kg) > Zn (15.87–26.27 mg/Kg) > Cu (3.61–4.59 mg/Kg) > Mn (0.8–3.48 mg/Kg) > Cr (0.54–1.45 mg/Kg) > Pb (0.24–0.89 mg/Kg) > Cd (0.27–0.47 mg/Kg) > As (BDL). The Overall Metal Pollution Index and Pollution Load Index results suggest that the coast of Kalpakkam is slightly polluted by heavy metals, where KLP-2 station has higher MPI and PLI compared to other stations. But the Target Hazard Quotient, Bio-Accumulation Factor and Bio-Sediment Accumulation Factor suggest that the marine foods of Kalpakkam are free from heavy metal carcinogenic impacts to humans, despite that, THQ for Cd and Cr is high. It may pose a threat to humans if concentration rises in due time. Spatial and seasonal monitoring regularly is warranted to prevent the health risks of the populace along the coast of Kalpakkam.

The chloropropanols, monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) and 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol (1,3-DCP) are potential contaminants that may be found in food contact materials (FCM) from paper and paperboard that have been treated with certain wet-strength resins. They can migrate from the paper matrix to aqueous food and beverages and, due to their potentially carcinogenic properties, are of increasing interest in quality assurance or official controls of paper-based FCM. We hereby describe an improved method for the analysis of 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP in water extracts of FCM making use of 1-chloro-3-methoxy-2-propanol (CMP) as a novel internal standard. The LOD and LOQ were determined to be 0.4 µg/L and 1.2 µg/L for both analytes, making the method appropriate for the quantification of 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP below the current legal limits. The method was applied to an extensive market survey of food contact articles made from paper and paperboard including 674 samples. The survey revealed that a high percentage of the products available on the market (e.g., up to 55% of the analysed drinking straws) exceed the BfR limits with values of up to 327 µg/L 3-MCPD and 20 µg/L 1,3-DCP detected in the cold water extract. Remarkable differences were observed concerning the release of 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP from different kinds of paper-based FCM products, with drinking straws, cupcake cases, bagasse bowls and kitchen rolls showing particularly high rates (>10%) of non-conformity with the legal limits. A number of samples with especially high concentrations were additionally analysed by hot water extraction, which surprisingly yielded considerably lower results for the release of 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP than cold water extraction. The results indicate that cold water extraction is the most sensitive method to detect the migration and control the risk of exposure to 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP.