A cluster of acute thebaine poisonings from non-food grade poppy seeds in the Australian food supply.

Introduction: Poppy seed tea is used for its opioid effects and contains multiple opium alkaloids, including morphine, codeine, papaverine, and thebaine. Animal studies indicate thebaine has strychnine-like properties, but there is limited literature describing human thebaine poisoning. We describe a cluster of acute thebaine poisoning in people ingesting tea made using poppy seeds with high thebaine content that entered the Australian food supply chain.

How is Trehalulose Formed by Australian Stingless Bees? - An Intermolecular Displacement of Nectar Sucrose.

Trehalulose, a rare sucrose isomer, is a dominant sugar in stingless bee honey, with traces of the trisaccharide erlose. Incubating sucrose solutions with macerated stingless bee parts (head, thorax, and abdomen) from , we observed that sucrose isomerization occurs predominantly in the head incubations, with trehalulose constituting 76.2-80.

Feeding Sugars to Stingless Bees: Identifying the Origin of Trehalulose-Rich Honey Composition.

The beneficial disaccharide, trehalulose, is a feature of stingless bee honey, while not dominant in any other foods. By experimentally feeding sugar solutions to confined colonies of the Australian stingless bee , the origin of trehalulose has now been established. Complete conversion of fed sucrose was observed, by analysis of the honey, forming trehalulose (64-72%) with lesser erlose (18-23%), fructose (9-12%), and minor glucose detected.

Isotopic and Elemental Composition of Roasted Coffee as a Guide to Authenticity and Origin.

This study presents the stable isotopic and elemental compositions of single-origin, roasted coffees available to retail consumers. The δ(13)C, δ(15)N, and δ(18)O compositions were in agreement with those previously reported for green coffee beans. The δ(15)N composition was seen to be related to organic cultivation, reflected in both δ(2)H and δ(18)O compositions.

Stable isotope and chemical compositions of European and Australasian ciders as a guide to authenticity.

This paper presents a data set derived from the analysis of bottled and canned ciders that may be used for comparison with suspected counterfeit or substitute products. Isotopic analysis of the solid residues from ciders (predominantly sugar) provided a means to determine the addition of C4 plant sugars. The added sugars were found to comprise cane sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, glucose, or combinations.