TITLE:
Occurrence of Biologically Inactive Corrinoid Compounds in Canned Edible Apple Snails (Escargots)
AUTHORS:
Fei Teng, Yuri Tanioka, Tomohiro Bito, Shigeo Takenaka, Yukinori Yabuta, Fumio Watanabe
KEYWORDS:
Apple Snails, Escargots, Canned Products, Factor S, Factor IIIm, Vitamin B12
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.6 No.12,
September
7,
2015
ABSTRACT: In this study, we characterized and quantified vitamin B12 in canned apple snails, escargots, (boiled plain) using a microbiological assay based on Lactobacillus delbrueckii ATCC 7830. Vitamin B12 contents of canned escargots (boiled plain) were varied from approximately 0.8 μg/100g weight to approximately 5.5 μg/100g weight (mean values, 2.2 μg/100g weight). We identified vitamin B12 compounds from escargots using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization/tandem mass spectrometry. We found that escargots contained true vitamin B12 and two inactive corrinoids, which were identified as factor IIIm (or methoxymensimidazolyl cyanocobamide), and factor S (or 2-methylmercaptoadenyl cyanocobamide). These results indicate that canned escargots (boiled plain) are not good sources of vitamin B12 for humans.