Luisbel González , Ociel Muñoz-Fariña , Yenisleidys Fernández-Guerrero , Olga García , Nathaly Catalán , José M. Bastias-Montes , María Cristina Ravanal
{"title":"Elemental stoichiometry and mineral imbalance: Flame-AAS profiling of Na, K, Ca, Mg, Zn and Fe intakes in a Southern Chile total diet study","authors":"Luisbel González , Ociel Muñoz-Fariña , Yenisleidys Fernández-Guerrero , Olga García , Nathaly Catalán , José M. Bastias-Montes , María Cristina Ravanal","doi":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108438","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108438","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mineral intake in southern Chile was characterized via a Total-Diet Study coupled to high-resolution elemental quantification. Seventeen composite food groups, weighted from 763 adult 24-h recalls, were prepared exactly as eaten, and wet-digested (HNO<sub>3</sub> + H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>, 80 °C) before 12-h ashing at 450 °C. Acidified digests were analyzed by flame AAS; five-point calibration produced r² ≥ 0.9995 across 0.1–50 mg/L, and the infant-food CRM MUVA-NEM returned 102 ± 4 % recovery. Population-weighted exposures averaged 2 312 mg Na/day, 2 050 mg K/day, 1 273 mg Ca/day, 285 mg Mg/day, 11 mg Zn/day and 9.4 mg Fe/day. White bread was the principal carrier (32 % Na, 24 % Zn, 48 % Fe); dehydrated condiments contributed a further 17 % Na and 11 % Fe, while brined cheeses supplied 47 % Ca but raised N by 252 mg/day. Resultant Na/K (1.9) and Ca/Mg (4:1) ratios exceed recommended thresholds, suggesting heightened cardiometabolic and calciuric risk. Nevertheless, Zn met and Fe nearly met EFSA reference intakes, with TTHQ = 0.71. Relative to nine earlier TDS datasets, the study uniquely documents fortified-bread–driven Fe load. Reformulating bakery salt, adopting K-chloride seasoning blends and promoting legumes/nuts are flagged as targeted corrections that preserve micronutrient adequacy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15867,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Food Composition and Analysis","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 108438"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145265818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hongyan Liu , LuLu Zhao , Muhammad Danish Yaqoob , Jiulan Sun , Shiyang Zhao , Jiangting Liu
{"title":"Integrated chemical-spectroscopic analysis of flavonoids and mineral elements in Five Rosa rugosa cultivars","authors":"Hongyan Liu , LuLu Zhao , Muhammad Danish Yaqoob , Jiulan Sun , Shiyang Zhao , Jiangting Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108423","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108423","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><em>Rosa rugosa</em> Thunb. is a medicinal-edible plant with quality variations among cultivars. This study aimed to systematically characterize and compare five <em>R</em>. rugosa cultivars (<em>R</em>. 'Jinbian', <em>R</em>. 'Crimson Glory', <em>R</em>. 'Kushui', <em>R</em>. rugosa 'Plena', and <em>R</em>. gallica L.) using an integrated analytical framework combining spectroscopic, chromatographic, and chemometric approaches, to provide insights for quality control and rational resource utilization. FTIR identified key shared functional groups (3394, 2924, 2854, 1734, 1616 cm⁻¹, etc.) and cultivar-specific spectral differences in the 1500–1000 cm⁻¹ region, enabling discrimination. ICP-MS revealed undetectable toxic elements (As, Cd, Pb), and principal component analysis (PCA) highlighted <em>R</em>. rugosa 'Plena' and <em>R</em>. 'Kushui' as richest in 12 beneficial metallic elements.UPLC-QE-Orbitrap-MS identified 73 constituents (38 flavonoids), with <em>R</em>. gallica L. exhibiting the highest flavonoid content (hyperoside: 6.69 mg·g⁻¹, isoquercitrin: 3.64 mg·g⁻¹, Kaempferol:3.18 mg·g⁻¹), followed by <em>R</em>. 'Crimson Glory' (rutin:3.37 mg·g⁻¹, Quercitrin:5.86 mg·g⁻¹). PCA discriminated cultivars based on dual chemical fingerprints. Health risk assessment confirmed safety (THQ<1, HI<1, CR<1 ×10⁻⁶). These findings highlight <em>R</em>. gallica L. (high flavonoids) and <em>R</em>. rugosa 'Plena' (abundant beneficial minerals) as elite cultivars for medicinal and functional food applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15867,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Food Composition and Analysis","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 108423"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145264799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Turn “on-off” fluorometric probe based on Sm3+ ions activated gold nanoclusters for tetracycline determination in food samples","authors":"Awais Madni , Yuchan Zhang , Leyi Zhang , Yanan Qiang , Shengda Qi , Honglin Zhai","doi":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108429","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108429","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A turn “on-off” fluorometric probe with good sensitivity and selectivity based on glutathione (GSH) fabricated gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) was developed for the determination of tetracycline (TC) in food samples in this work. Samarium ions (Sm<sup>3+</sup>) were used to aggregate the GSH-AuNCs by aggregation induced emission enhancement (AIEE), as a result fluorescence (FL) of GSH-AuNCs was turned on. The Sm<sup>3+</sup> induced AIEE of AuNCs have eco-friendly and “green synthesis” features. Using TC, the FL of GSH-AuNCs-Sm<sup>3+</sup> was turned off due to the strong interaction between Sm<sup>3+</sup> and TC through dynamic quenching. The reasonable quantum yield (Q.Y) of GSH-AuNCs obtained using AIEE of Sm<sup>3+</sup> ions was 5.3 %. The linear range of this probe was 1 – 20 µM with the lowest limit of detection (LOD) of 0.33 µM. This probe showed recoveries of 90.4–105 % in honey and milk samples. The GSH-AuNCs-Sm<sup>3+</sup> is a good choice for sensing hazards in food products.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15867,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Food Composition and Analysis","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 108429"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145265432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shiying Guo , Qing Yao , Jiadi Sun , Bingwei Ni , Shanshan Wang , Xin Zheng , Yuzong Chen , Lyuhan Zhu
{"title":"An information resource for facilitating food consumption trend research from flavor perspectives","authors":"Shiying Guo , Qing Yao , Jiadi Sun , Bingwei Ni , Shanshan Wang , Xin Zheng , Yuzong Chen , Lyuhan Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108383","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108383","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Food consumption impacts on the quality of life and health of human populations. The consumption trend is partly driven by flavors along with cultural, technological and health awareness factors. Food investigations have been facilitated by established general food databases and specialized flavor databases. More information is needed for flavor combinations of everyday consumption, particularly the new trends and updated recipes. Therefore, a new database POFF (Pairing of Food Flavors Database, <span><span>https://bidd.group/POFF</span><svg><path></path></svg></span>) was introduced for facilitating composite food flavor and the new trend studies. POFF provides comprehensive data for 7028 food recipes from 14 regions, 826 distinct food ingredients across 16 food class, and 1789 unique flavor molecules. It links flavor molecules, foods and recipes within an integrated schema, facilitating consumer food combination investigations from the perspective of molecular flavor science. Interactive visualization tools display flavor molecule distributions through color-coded plots and highlight food pairing trends via co-occurrence frequency bars. POFF was presented as a data-driven source for investigating food combinations and consumption trends. It provides a platform for studying flavor composition effects, particularly for new food combinations of desired flavors and market potential.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15867,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Food Composition and Analysis","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 108383"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145264803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ulfah Najamuddin , Melissa Fitzgerald , Sara Ghorbani Gorji
{"title":"Effect of nitrogen fertilizer strategies on rice bran yield and protein composition in YRL39 rice","authors":"Ulfah Najamuddin , Melissa Fitzgerald , Sara Ghorbani Gorji","doi":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108417","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108417","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rice bran, a byproduct of the milling process, is a valuable source of protein with potential applications in food and feed industries. While nitrogen (N) fertilization is known to influence grain protein content, its effect on rice bran protein composition remains poorly characterized. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of thirteen nitrogen fertilizer treatments, including conventional, stabilized, and controlled-release formulations, on bran yield, protein concentration, and amino acid composition in <em>Oryza sativa cv</em>. YRL39. Field trials were conducted during the 2018–2019 dry season at the Walkamin Research Facility, North Queensland, Australia, using a randomized complete block design with three replicates per treatment. Nitrogen treatments significantly affected rice bran yield (F (12,38) = 13.459, p < 0.001) and soluble protein extractability (F (12,38) = 37.534, p < 0.001), but not total protein concentration in the bran (p > 0.05). Nitrogen treatments significantly influenced bran yield (F(12,38) = 13.459, p < 0.001) and soluble protein extractability (F(12,38) = 37.534, p < 0.001), but not total protein concentration (p > 0.05). The highest yields were recorded for Entec 100 % (a stabilized nitrogen fertilizer containing the nitrification inhibitor 3 (14.6 % ± 0.60) and N80 CRU + foliar (13.9 % ± 0.35), compared to the control (10.9 % ± 0.45). Soluble protein was markedly greater in the 90-day controlled-release urea with foliar application (42.08 % ± 1.6) and grower-standard urea (40.34 % ± 1.4), relative to the control (25.45 % ± 1.2). Amino acid profiling revealed enrichment of essential and hydrophilic amino acids in bran protein from 90-day CRU + foliar treatments. These results demonstrate that optimized N fertilization, particularly controlled-release formulations with foliar supplementation, can enhance rice bran protein functionality without altering total protein content.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15867,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Food Composition and Analysis","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 108417"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145265430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zhou Dan, Zou Songbao, Ni Meng, Liu Mei, Yuan Julin
{"title":"Comparative analysis of the non-volatile flavor of Macrobrachium rosenbergii cultured in saline-alkali water and freshwater","authors":"Zhou Dan, Zou Songbao, Ni Meng, Liu Mei, Yuan Julin","doi":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108418","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108418","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Elucidating the flavor profile of aquatic products cultured in saline-alkali water is crucial for the efficient utilization of such marginal resources and the enhancement of product quality. The flavor profile of <em>Macrobrachium rosenbergii</em> from saline-alkali water aquaculture has not been widely studied. This study compared non-volatile flavors in muscle from prawns cultured in saline-alkaline water (SA) versus freshwater (FW) using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a DAD (diode array detector). We found total free amino acids (TFAA) were significantly higher in SA (1336.85 ± 48.59 mg/100 g) than FW (1165.89 ± 57.37 mg/100 g; <em>P < 0.05</em>). Umami amino acids (59.05 ± 4.78 vs 45.44 ± 6.37 mg/100 g) and sweet amino acids (698.80 ± 47.56 vs 591.16 ± 41.37 mg/100 g) were also significantly elevated in SA (<em>P < 0.05</em>), with no difference in bitter amino acids. Key flavor nucleotides inosine monophosphate (IMP) (84.81 ± 9.27 vs 52.21 ± 5.13 mg/100 g), adenosine monophosphate (AMP) (203.62 ± 22.43 vs 116.08 ± 13.67 mg/100 g), and guanosine monophosphate (GMP) (11.97 ± 1.83 vs 5.85 ± 0.66 mg/100 g) were significantly higher in SA (<em>P < 0.05</em>). Taste activity value (TAV) analysis showed enhanced umami (Glutamate (Glu), IMP) and sweet (Glycine (Gly)) contributions in SA. Equivalent umami concentration (EUC) was significantly greater in SA (16.53 ± 0.09 g MSG/100 g) than FW (7.04 ± 0.42 g MSG/100 g; <em>P < 0.05</em>). These findings demonstrate saline-alkaline aquaculture enhances <em>M. rosenbergii</em> flavor attributes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15867,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Food Composition and Analysis","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 108418"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145265819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maria Clara G. Queiroz-Brito , Paulo Travassos , Mônica L. Adam , Rodrigo A. Torres
{"title":"An alternative and effective tissue pre-treatment to improve the DNA identification of canned tuna samples","authors":"Maria Clara G. Queiroz-Brito , Paulo Travassos , Mônica L. Adam , Rodrigo A. Torres","doi":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108439","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108439","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>DNA purity represents a major challenge to investigate food authenticity of canned products due to DNA degradation. Herein, we present a low-cost protocol to increase concentration and purity of DNA extracted from canned samples. The experiment mainly consists of: (1) drying the canned tissue in paper filter, (2) washing it with a PBS solution, (3) store in ethanol 96 % at −20°C, and (4) perform DNA extraction. The pre-treated samples showed an increase of both DNA concentration and purity (A260/A280 ratio), indicating that some of the inhibiting molecules were successfully removed. These differences between the two treatments were statistically significant (p < 0.01). At the amplification level, the pre-treatment allowed the recovery of complete fragments of the barcode region COX1 with approximately 650 bp. Since obtaining relevant levels of DNA purity and concentration from degraded samples, and the sequencing of large fragments from processed samples represents a difficult task, the presented results demonstrate a positive effect of the proposed protocol. Thus, the combination of this treatment with other methodologies, such as mini-barcoding, and sample types is strongly encouraged.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15867,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Food Composition and Analysis","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 108439"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145265820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yiğit İnce , Nizam Mustafa Nizamlıoğlu , Hasan Hüseyin Kara , Fatma Nur Arslan
{"title":"The effects of altitude difference on quality of Gemlik variety olive and olive oil","authors":"Yiğit İnce , Nizam Mustafa Nizamlıoğlu , Hasan Hüseyin Kara , Fatma Nur Arslan","doi":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108436","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108436","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The effect of altitude on the physical and chemical properties of the Gemlik olive and olive oil variety, obtained from 36 different orchards and different altitudes in the Mut District of Mersin Province during the 2019 harvest year, has been investigated. The increase in altitude of olive cultivation resulted in higher values of the ripening index, moisture, total phenol and oil yield of olives, with values of 1.09–7.90, 37.48 %-56.22 %, 101.44±1.95 % - 343.21±3.84 % and 28.67 %-51.12 %, respectively. The antioxidant activity values of olive oil samples at different altitudes were found to be between 4.194±0.20 % −11.619±0.50 %. In olive oils, the values of free acidity, peroxide, linoleic acid, and palmitoleic acid were determined to be in the ranges of 0.41 %-2.23 %, 1.13–14.30 meqO₂/kg, 4.09 %-14.26 %, and 0.08 %-0.13 %, respectively, showing a decrease with increasing altitude of the cultivation area, while the value of oleic acid (65.10 %-73.58 %) increased with altitude. The highest value in the α-tocopherol and α-, β-, γ-, and δ-tocotrienol content was detected in olive oils derived from olives cultivated at altitudes of 700–800 m. Triacylglycerol levels did not significantly differ in olive oils obtained from olives cultivated at different altitudes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15867,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Food Composition and Analysis","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 108436"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145265815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
You-fei Hou , Yan-bing Li , Nan Chen , Shang-tao Ou-yang , Qi Wang , Yang Wang , Bin Li , Yan-de Liu
{"title":"Detection of water content and size of peas based on hyperspectral imaging combined with 2D-CNN and irregular polygon size measurement techniques","authors":"You-fei Hou , Yan-bing Li , Nan Chen , Shang-tao Ou-yang , Qi Wang , Yang Wang , Bin Li , Yan-de Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108437","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108437","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Pea storage stability and germination rely on moisture content and morphology, but traditional destructive methods cause sample damage, low efficiency, and subjective errors, limiting practical use. To overcome the destructive and inefficient limitations of traditional methods for pea quality assessment, this study develops an integrated, non-destructive framework for the simultaneous and rapid measurement of pea moisture content and size using hyperspectral imaging combined with deep learning. We innovatively converted one-dimensional spectral data into two-dimensional texture images via Gramian Angular Field (GAF) encoding and input them into a residual 2D Convolutional Neural Network (2D-CNN) for moisture prediction. For dimensional analysis, a novel algorithm based on irregular polygon geometry was proposed to accurately measure pea length and width. The GAF-2D-CNN model achieved superior performance for moisture prediction (prediction set R²=0.9818, RMSEP=0.0318 %, RPD=7.4780), significantly outperforming 1D-CNN, Least Squares Support Vector Machine (LSSVM), and Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) models. The dimensional algorithm also demonstrated high accuracy, especially for length measurement (R²=0.9946, RPD=13.94). This framework provides a robust, accurate, and high-throughput solution for automated pea quality grading, offering significant potential for applications in precision agriculture and storage management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15867,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Food Composition and Analysis","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 108437"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145265817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Taha Yaseen Wais , Berivan F. Namq , Laith Ahmed Najam , Milena P. Živković , Mohamed A. Najemalden , Rehab Taher Ahmed , M.I. Sayyed , Amjed abbawe salih , Howaida Mansour
{"title":"Assessment of natural radioactivity and dietary exposure to 238U, 232Th, and 40K in commonly consumed foods from Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq","authors":"Taha Yaseen Wais , Berivan F. Namq , Laith Ahmed Najam , Milena P. Živković , Mohamed A. Najemalden , Rehab Taher Ahmed , M.I. Sayyed , Amjed abbawe salih , Howaida Mansour","doi":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108431","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfca.2025.108431","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study provides a radiological assessment of food products commonly consumed in Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq, by measuring the activity concentrations of natural radionuclides (<sup>238</sup>U, <sup>232</sup>Th, and <sup>40</sup>K) using NaI(Tl) gamma-ray spectroscopy. A total of 55 food samples, including powdered milk, yogurt, tomato paste, flour, juices, vegetables, oils, and meats, were analyzed. The results showed that <sup>40</sup>K was the most abundant radionuclide (29.8–434.0 Bq kg<sup>−1</sup>), reflecting its natural presence in biological tissues. Uranium concentrations were generally low, but two food items, an Iraqi powdered milk (48.4 Bq kg<sup>−1</sup>) and Turkish chickpeas (72.5 Bq kg<sup>−1</sup>), exceeded the IAEA reference value of 30 Bq kg<sup>−1</sup>. Thorium levels were consistently low (<16.6 Bq kg⁻¹). Based on estimated consumption rates, the annual effective dose (AED) from all analyzed foods remained below the public dose limit of 1 mSv y<sup>−1</sup>. To enhance risk prediction, a Random Forest regression model was applied, achieving high accuracy (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.998), and confirming that <sup>40</sup>K and <sup>238</sup>U are the main contributors to AED. These findings indicate that while the overall radiological risk from food ingestion in Kirkuk is low, isolated outliers above uranium guidelines warrant follow-up monitoring. The combined use of radiometric analysis and machine learning provides a framework for improving food safety surveillance and supporting public health protection at both national and international levels.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15867,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Food Composition and Analysis","volume":"148 ","pages":"Article 108431"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145265835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}