Screening test for rapid food safety evaluation by menadione-catalysed chemiluminescent assay

The chemiluminescent assay of menadione-catalysed H2O2 production by living mammalian cells was proposed to be useful for rapid food safety evaluation. The tested foods were extracted with water, ethanol and dimethylsulfoxide, and each extract was incubated with NIH3T3, Neuro-2a and HepG2 cells for 4 h. Menadione-catalysed H2O2 production by living mammalian cells exposed to each extract was determined by the chemiluminescent assay requiring only 10 min, and the viability of the cells was estimated as percentage based on H2O2 production by intact cells. In this study the cytotoxicity of food was rated in order of inhibitory effect on H2O2 production by intact cells. The well known natural toxins such as Fusarium mycotoxin, tomato toxin tomatine, potato toxin solanine and marine toxins terodotoxin and brevetoxin could be detected by the above chemiluminescent assay.

► Viable mammalian cells produce H2O2 in the presence of menadione.
► The produced H2O2 is rapidly determined by chemiluminescent assay.
► The produced H2O2 is proportional to the viable cell number.
► Toxins are determined by the above cytotoxicity test.
► Food safety is evaluated by the above cytotoxicity test.