Toxicity Analysis of Some Frequently Used Food Processing Chemicals Using Allium cepa Biomonitoring System

SIMPLE SUMMARY: This study showed that the chemical agents (FML, SCN, and urea) used in food processing produced mild concentrations and exposure time-dependent toxicity in A. cepa. The chemical agents exhibited time-dependent protective effects up to 72 h inspection of 24 h, and depletion of %RG was observed at 72 h inspection of 48 h. Our study suggests that adequate precautions and minimization of doses are needed in the case of industrial and local usage of these chemicals, as the chemicals produced concentration-dependent toxicity in this eukaryotic test system. ABSTRACT: Frequent use of various food processing chemical agents sometimes causes damage to our bodies by inducing cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and mutagenesis. In Bangladesh, among various chemical agents, formalin, saccharin, and urea are vastly used for processing foodstuffs by industry and local people. This study is focused to assess the toxic effects of formalin, saccharin, and urea on the popularly used eukaryotic test model, Allium cepa L. The assay was carried out by exposing different concentrations of test samples to A. cepa at 24, 48, and 72 h, where distilled water and CuSO(4)·5H(2)O (0.6 µg/mL) were utilized as the vehicle and positive control, respectively. The root length of the onions was measured in mm, and the results propose that all the chemical agents demonstrated toxicity in onions in a concentration- and exposure-time-dependent manner. The highest root length was examined at the lower concentrations, and with the increase in the concentration of the test sample and exposure time, the RG (root growth) was inhibited due to the deposition of chemicals and hampering of cell division in the root meristematic region of A. cepa. All the chemical agents also revealed a concentration- and time-dependent adaptive effect up to 72 h inspection of 24 h and a depletion of % root growth at 72 h inspection of 48 h. Our study suggests that sufficient precautions should be confirmed during its industrial and traditional usage as a toxicological response to the chemical agents observed in the A. cepa assay.