Research Publications (Food Safety)

During the past two decades, food safety issues in China not only posed serious threats to Chinese consumers but also damaged the image of Chinese products internationally. In China, food safety is not only about scientific discoveries, advanced laboratories, and sanitation equipment; it is more about the role of different players in the food supply chain.

Fowl typhoid and pullorum disease, caused by Salmonella enterica serovars Gallinarum biovars Salmonella Gallinarum (S. Gallinarum) and Salmonella Pullorum (S. Pullorum), remain large threat to the organic poultry industry. These infections are serious threats to poultry health and overall flock viability especially at their early age.

Clostridium perfringens produces diverse virulent toxins that cause necrotic enteritis in poultry, resulting in a great negative impact on the poultry industry. To study the characteristics of C. perfringens in chickens, we isolated 88 strains from chickens (1 strain per flock) with necrotic enteritis. The isolated bacterial strains were screened for toxin type and antimicrobial susceptibility.

Extensive research over the last couple of decades has made it obvious that mycotoxins are commonly prevalent in majority of feed ingredients. A worldwide mycotoxin survey in 2013 revealed 81% of around 3,000 grain and feed samples analyzed had at least 1 mycotoxin, which was higher than the 10-year average (from 2004 to 2013) of 76% in a total of 25,944 samples.

Fructooligosaccharide and inulin prebiotics are carbohydrate-based polymers derived from natural sources that can be utilized by certain gastrointestinal tract bacteria but not by the host animal. They are attractive as feed additives for nonconventional poultry production systems because they select for beneficial microorganisms that are thought to promote nutritional benefits to the bird and potentially limit foodborne pathogen establishment.

The influenza A virus infects a broad range of species and spreads easily through the respiratory tract. Because of these characteristics, the influenza A virus has caused pandemic disease in humans and livestock. To investigate the early molecular responses after influenza A virus infection in chickens, we infected tracheal epithelial cells derived from 20-day-old chick embryos with influenza A virus (H1N1).

Laboratory of genetics and physiology 2 (LGP2) is an important intracellular receptor that recognizes viral RNAs in innate immunity. In this study, a novel LGP2 cDNA was identified from the spleen of a Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata). The deduced amino acid sequence of Muscovy duck LGP2 (MdLGP2) consisted of 675 amino acid residues.

A new monophasic variant of Salmonella Typhimurium, Salmonella enterica serotype 4,12:i:-, is rapidly emerging. This serotype is now considered to be among the 10 most common serovars isolated from humans in many countries in Europe and in the United States. The public health risk posed by these emerging monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium strains is considered comparable to that of classical Salmonella Typhimurium strains.

Publication date: Available online 27 May 2015

Author(s): Tomomi Takano , Hajime Kusuhara , Akira Kuroishi , Midori Takashina , Tomoyoshi Doki , Takamichi Nishinaka , Tsutomu Hohdatsu

E. Fasano, F. Esposito, G. Scognamiglio, T. Cirillo Smoked mozzarella is obtained through traditional smoking techniques or the use of liquid smoke. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) may be produced during the organic matrix combustion.

e-First Articles.

Publication date: October 2015
, Volume 51
Author(s): H. Liu , Y.D. Niu , R. Meng , J. Wang , J. Li , R.P. Johnson , T.A. McAllister , K. Stanford

Anna Vogiatzoglou, Angela A. Mulligan, Marleen A. H. Lentjes, Robert N. Luben, Jeremy P. E. Spencer, Hagen Schroeter, Kay-Tee Khaw, Gunter G. C. Kuhnle

Background

In the present paperthe chemical composition of Helichrysum italicum oil was analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Neryl acetate (32.65%) was the main component. The minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration of H. italicum oil against several bacteria were evaluated. The results showed that H. italicum oil exhibited high antibacterial activity against all of the bacteria tested.

Background. ROP16 is a protein kinase of Toxoplasma gondii identified in the mouse model as a virulent marker, but it is unknown whether this finding is relevant in human toxoplasmosis.

Publication date: 1 January 2016
, Volume 190
Author(s): Christiani Jeyakumar Henry , Xinyan Bi , Joseph Lim , Evelyn Lau

Abstract

Scope
: In this study human exposure to the mycotoxin ochratoxin A (OTA) and its thermal degradation product 2’R-ochratoxin A (2’R-OTA, previously named as 14R-Ochratoxin A [22]) through coffee consumption was assessed. LC-MS/MS and the dried blood spot (DBS) technique were used for the analysis of blood samples from coffee and non-coffee drinkers (n = 50), and food frequency questionnaires were used to document coffee consumption.

Publication date: 2 September 2015
, Volume 208
Author(s): D.C. Aryani , H.M.W. den Besten , W.C. Hazeleger , M.H. Zwietering

Publication date: 1 January 2016
, Volume 190
Author(s): Guoxin Lai , Guoying Chen , Tuanwei Chen

Publication date: September 2015
, Volume 75
Author(s): Diogo Thimoteo da Cunha , Anna Rafaela Cavalcante Braga , Estevão de Camargo Passos , Elke Stedefeldt , Veridiana Vera de Rosso

Publication date: 2 September 2015
, Volume 208
Author(s): Stefanie Delbeke , Siele Ceuppens , Liesbeth Jacxsens , Mieke Uyttendaele

Publication date: Available online 8 May 2015

Author(s): Qiong Zhang , Thao Nguyen , Megan McMichael , Sandanandan Velu , Jing Zou , Xuedong Zhou , Hui Wu

Publication date: Available online 4 May 2015

Author(s): Valérie Thomas , Anno de Jong , Hilde Moyaert , Shabbir Simjee , Farid El Garch , Ian Morrissey , Hervé Marion , Michel Vallé

Vibrio cholerae uses a multiprotein transcriptional regulatory cascade to control expression of virulence factors cholera toxin and toxin-coregulated pilus. Two proteins in this cascade are ToxR and TcpP – unusual membrane-localized transcription factors with relatively undefined periplasmic domains and transcription activator cytoplasmic domains.