A Smart Approach for Food Contaminants Risk Management, Complementary to Diet Nutritional Balance

Review Data

Q: Is the topic relevant to the journal area of interest? Is it contemporary and interesting for

researchers?

A: Good

Abstract & Keywords

Q: Are all required components included in the abstract? Are the keywords appropriately chosen?

A: Very Good

Goal

Q: Is the goal explicitly stated in the Introduction? Is its formulation clear and unambiguous?

A: Good

Structure

Q: Is the paper's structure coherent? Is it in coherence with the goal of the paper?

A: Good

Tools and Methods

Q: Are methods the author uses adequate and well used?

A: Good

Discussion & Conclusion

Q: Is it related to the results presented before? Do you consider them as coherent?

A: Good

Comments: The Discussion establishes that the Mediterranean diet is the healthiest diet plan with the lowest intake of contaminants and good food variability. It also illustrates that the recurring elements are high levels of Cadmium and Lead and very low levels of perfluoroalkylated substances (PFASs) in case of all the dietary plans. The Discussion highlights that the proposed approach provides for a personalized risk assessment of the intake of important food contaminants. Relevant literature has been cited to support the discussion. The study concludes that being able to modulate the assessment day by day, based on real consumption data, the proposed approach provides a tool for the prevention of exposures that, over time, could put health at risk.

Literature

Q: Does the author utilize relevant literature?

A: Very Good

Author's knowledge

Q: What is the level of the author’s knowledge? Does the author utilize all recent contributions relevant to the topic?

A: Good

Length

Q: Is the length of the paper adequate to the significance of the topic? Do you suggest shortening the paper without losing its value?

A: Good

Figures & Tables

Q: Does the author use them suitably? Are legend and notations clear?

A: Good

Writing style

Q: Is it clear and understandable?

A: Good

Comments: Except the following errors have been detected:

1.     The 1^st sentence in the 6^th paragraph under Introduction was not framed properly and should be changed to “PFASs that have been used since decades…. tissues of organisms, including humans.”

2.     In 10^th sentence in the 3^rd paragraph under Introduction the phrase “Department of Agriculture” was missing and should be changed to “However, large…. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture).” as mentioned in the reference.

3.     The 4^th sentence under the subheading D1_Mediterranean Diet under Results and Discussion was not framed properly and should be changed to “It has been observed…is mainly due to foods such as wheat pasta for cadmium and some types of fruit such as grapes for lead.”

Further comments on the paper

Comments: The study aims at comparing different food schemes to determine problems related to chemical contaminated food intake, using an easy tool for calculating the intake levels, based on recent scientific literature. This study proposes a quick and simple approach to combine the estimate of the intake of certain pollutants with the diet, in combination with different nutritional plans. The study has investigated the intake of three heavy metals and two perfluoroalkyl substances in each of the dietary plans. The study observed for all the three plans the recurring elements are high levels of Cadmium and Lead and very low levels of perfluoroalkylated substances (PFASs). Also, the Mediterranean diet showed the lowest intake of all contaminants. The study concludes that the advantage of the proposed approach is the option of having a personalized risk assessment of the intake of important food contaminants to prevent exposure to them.

Q: Would you recommend this manuscript for further publication?

A: Yes - Suitable to be published

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Thanks,
Science Repository Team