Research Publications (Food Safety)

Background Recycled oil has emerged as a big food safety issue and poses a major threat towards the public health. To date, very limited studies have been conducted to detect the adulteration of used and recycled palm olein in refined, bleached, and deodorized palm olein (RBDPO). In this study, oil samples that underwent controlled heating and deep‐frying studies were refined using the common oil refining procedure to simulate the production of recycled oil.

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND T‐2 toxin (T‐2) is a potent mycotoxin and a common contaminant of aquatic animal feed, posing a serious risk to the health and aquatic animals. We investigated the effect of T‐2 on shrimp muscle proteins using proteomics and conventional biochemical methods. Shrimp were fed a diet containing T‐2 at 0 ‐ 12.2 mg kg‐1 for 20 days, and changes to the muscle protein composition, ATPase activities, and the sulfhydryl content and hydrophobicity of actomyosin were determined.

BACKGROUND Common oil‐in‐water plant‐based emulsions are allergenic and unstable to environmental stress, leading to increased consumer concerns about the food industry. To solve the problem of safety and instability, we investigated the influence of environmental stress on the stability of emulsions containing various rice protein hydrolysates, and compared the performance to whey protein, a common food emulsifier.

BACKGROUND The possible agricultural use of grape pomace could be limited by the content and mobility of metals. This is influenced by many factors. In this study, the abundance and availability of heavy metals and essential nutrients were evaluated comprehensively in different grape pomace residues from winemaking of five white and red grape varieties, before and after the distillation process.

BACKGROUND Tomato fruit is susceptible to Alternaria spp. spoilage. Correct postharvest management is necessary to prevent mold growth and mycotoxin accumulation, temperature being one of the main factors associated with these problems. The effect of different postharvest temperatures (5, 12, 25, and 35 °C) on growth, mycotoxin production, and stress‐related gene expression by two Alternaria spp. was assessed.

Pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment consists of exposing food to electrical fields between electrodes within a treatment chamber, which can improve the preservation of fresh‐like products such as milk. Although several studies support the use of PEF technology to process milk at low temperature, these studies reported microbial reductions of around 3 log10 cycles and also indicated a limited impact of PEF on some endogenous and microbial enzymes.

BACKGROUND Pyropia yezoensis, rich in porphyran, is a medicine‐edible red alga. In the present study, the physicochemical characteristics, conformational states and antitumor activities of a novel porphyran extracted from the high‐yield algal strain Pyropia yezoensis Chonsoo2 and its two degraded derivatives by gamma irradiation were investigated. RESULTS Pyropia yezoensis porphyran is a water‐soluble, triple‐helical sulfated hetero‐galactopyranose, named PYP.

BACKGROUND Slight acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) has been widely used in cleaning systems of fruit and vegetables. It strongly reduces microbial contamination. However, no information is available on whether SAEW offers the potential for fresh jujube cleaning. The purposes of this study were first, to compare the effectiveness of SAEW with commercial sanitizers (i.e.

BACKGROUND Portable handheld near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) instruments currently present enormous advantages in terms of size, weight, and robustness. They also provide fast, precise information that can be obtained in situ, and they represent a viable option for controlling vegetable safety and quality during the growth period. The aim of this research was to evaluate three handheld portable NIRS instruments for in situ and real‐time analysis of intact summer squashes.

BACKGROUND Ozone has been used for improving the postharvest life of fruits and vegetables. Ozonation, an alternative decontamination method, can be applied effectively to perishable commodities immediately after harvest. Kiwifruit is a subtropical climacteric fruit that is less able to acclimate and is susceptible to low temperatures.

BACKGROUND Acidovorax citrulli is a plant pathogen causing bacterial fruit blotch in Cucurbitaceae family. Applying high concentration of disinfectants to seeds containing plant pathogen may substantially decrease the germination rate of seeds. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a hurdle technology which can inactivate plant pathogens without decreasing seed viability.

The mycotoxin enniatin B1 (ENN B1) is widely present in grain-based feed and food products. In the present study, we have investigated how this lipophilic and ionophoric molecule can affect the lysosomal stability and chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) in wild-type (WT) and in lysosome-associated membrane proteins (LAMP)-1/2 double-deficient (DD) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF).

This study deals with the influence of food matrix components on the degradation of the mycotoxins T-2 toxin (T-2) and HT-2 toxin (HT-2) and with the binding of T-2 to starch during thermal food processing. Both mycotoxins were heated in a simulated food environment and subsequently analyzed via HPLC-HRMS to generate degradation curves and to draw conclusions regarding the thermal degradation under food processing conditions.

Alternariol (AOH) is produced by fungi of the genus Alternaria and can be found in fruits, vegetables, and grains. Besides the oestrogenic activity demonstrated in vitro, this mycotoxin causes DNA damage and cell cycle arrest. Based on this, the effect of AOH was investigated on porcine female gametes during in vitro maturation and subsequent initial embryo development.

The contamination of feed with mycotoxins is a continuing feed quality and safety issue, leading to significant losses in livestock production and potential human health risks. Consequently, various methods have been developed to reduce the occurrence of mycotoxins in feed; however, feed supplementation with clay minerals or mineral adsorbents is the most prominent approach widely practiced by farmers and the feed industry.

Echinostomes are important intestinal foodborne parasites. Despite their significance as pathogens, characterization of the molecular biology and phylogenetics of these parasites are limited. In the present study, we determined the entire mitochondrial (mt) genome of the echinostome Echinostoma miyagawai (Hunan isolate) and examined the phylogenetic relationship with selected members of the suborder Echinostomata. The complete mt genome of E.

The environmental accumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is of great concern due to potential carcinogenic and mutagenic risks, as well as their resistance to remediation. While many fungi have been reported to break down PAHs in environments, the details of gene-based metabolic pathways are not yet comprehensively understood. Specifically, the genome-scale transcriptional responses of fungal PAH degradation have rarely been reported.

In this study, the levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined in the street soil of Ma’an City, Jordan. The probable sources of PAHs in the soils were estimated by using diagnostic ratios. PAHs were extracted from soil samples via the ultrasonic extraction method using three portions of 20 mL of n-hexane/acetone mixture. The most priority environmental protection agency 13 PAHs were determined in the extract using gas chromatography–mass spectrometer.

Land application is suggested to be the most economical sludge disposal method but is also a potential source of bisphenol analogs (BPs) to the environment. In this study, BP concentrations in sewage sludge from Henan province ranged from 15.1 to 2237 ng g−1 dw.

Size scaling of the accumulation of four trace metals was examined in the infaunal clam Amiantis umbonella in Kuwait Bay. In clams of varying shell length (2.5–5 cm), soft tissue growth in A. umbonella from a contaminated site was inhibited compared with clams from a less contaminated reference site.

Environmental contamination caused by the human occupancy and economic activities that generate a wide range of contaminated effluents that reach natural water resources, is a current reality. Residues of agrichemicals used in plant production were detected in different environments and in different countries. Among these agrochemicals, we studied a glyphosate-based herbicide (GBH), a fipronil-based insecticide (FBI), and their mixtures (GBH + FBI).

Mercury (Hg), one of the most toxic heavy metals, is commonly used in the gold extraction process in small-scale mining operations in many countries. Our previous field work on the impact of mining on soil nematode assemblages in a small-scale mining area in Sibutad, the Philippines, revealed no significant negative effects despite sometimes strongly elevated Hg concentrations.

We collected Walleye Sander vitreus (May–October) from Bitter and Twin lakes, South Dakota to assess seasonal- and diet-related variation in tissue mercury (Hg) concentration. The average Hg concentration in Walleye was 43–68% higher in the spring for Bitter (p < 0.008) and Twin Lakes (p < 0.017) compared with summer or autumn months.

Acinetobacter pittii strain ABC was isolated from oily sludge sediments and characterized with regard to utilization/degradation of hydrocarbons and competitive persistence in hydrocarbon-amended media. The isolate grew in both aliphatic- and aromatic hydrocarbon-amended Bushnell–Haas medium (BHM).