Research Publications (Food Safety)

Soil leaching is a viable technology to achieve rapid remediation and reuse of contaminated sites. However, there is still a need to find leaching reagents that can achieve high removal rates of heavy metals with low environmental impact. Based on this, single and combined reagents were used to leach contaminated soil.

Zearalenone (ZEN) is a non-steroidal estrogenic mycotoxin produced by the fungi of the Fusarium genera, and is a contaminant of cereals and plant products. ZEN and its metabolites are considered endocrine disruptors, and could have various toxic effects on animals and humans. In recent years, there has been a significant demographic increase in wild boar (Sus scrofa) in many mountainous and hilly areas of Italy, including the Campania region, mainly due to global climate change.

Fresh fruits and vegetable products are easily perishable during postharvest handling due to enzymatic browning reactions. This phenomenon has contributed to a significant loss of food. To reveal the physiological changes in fresh-cut potato tubers at the molecular level, a transcriptome analysis of potato tubers after cutting was carried out. A total of 10,872, 10,449, and 11,880 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified at 4 h, 12 h and 24 h after cutting, respectively.

Increased use of antibiotics in livestock is a public health concern, as it poses risks of antibiotic residues and antibiotic-resistant pathogens entering the food chains and infecting humans. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 216 poultry farms to study knowledge, attitudes and practices of poultry farmers on the use of antibiotics in urban and peri-urban areas of Ouagadougou. Results show that only 17.13% (37/216) of farmers attended training on poultry production.

The global demand for fish products is continuously increasing as the population grows, and aquaculture plays an important role in supplying this demand. However, industrial antibiotic misuse has contributed to the spread of antimicrobial resistance among pathogenic bacteria, therefore, several antibiotic alternatives have been proposed.

Foodborne pathogens are a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Therefore, strategies focused on functional foods are urgently required to tackle this issue. As a result, camel milk is one of the most important traditional functional foods since it contains a variety of bioactive components, which all have antimicrobial activity against foodborne pathogens.

The only staphylococcal enterotoxins produced by Staphylococcus epidermidis include SECepi and SELepi, whereas Staphylococcus aureus produces orthologous SECs and SEL having different sequences. We compared S. epidermidis and S. aureus SECs and SELs in terms of resistance to proteolysis and both, thermal and chemical stability. We show that SECepi and SELepi produced by S.

Journal of Bacteriology, Ahead of Print. The adaptation of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium to stress conditions involves expression of genes within the regulon of the alternative sigma factor RpoN (σ54). RpoN-dependent transcription requires an activated bacterial enhancer binding protein (bEBP) that hydrolyzes ATP to remodel the RpoN-holoenzyme-promoter complex for transcription initiation.

Salmonella Typhimurium challenge causes a huge detriment to chicken production. N-acyl homoserine lactonase (AHLase), a quorum quenching enzyme, potentially inhibits the growth and virulence of Gram-negative bacteria. However, it is unknown whether AHLase can protect chickens against S. Typhimurium challenge.

Rapid and sensitive analysis of ochratoxin A (OTA) plays an important role in food safety. Here, an aptasensor based on novel exponential rolling circle amplification (ERCA) was proposed for ultrasensitive and label-free fluorescence detection of OTA. The attachment of OTA to its aptamer could release H and rapidly hybridize with CT to initiate rolling circle amplification (RCA).

An integrated strategy for the rapid and sensitive detection of deoxynivalenol in cereals was developed by combining Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticle-modified metal organic framework-5-based magnetic solid-phase extraction and the optical fiber-based homogeneous chemiluminescence immunosensor. The hybrid magnetic material was prepared and characterized, exhibiting good enrichment capacity up to 1.68 mg/g.

Since ancient time, plants and there parts have been used widely against dreadful pathogens due to ability of killing microbes. Waste from fruits and vegetables are pulling in more interest in exploration due to their therapeutic properties such as anti-pathogenic activity.

Campylobacter coli is the second most incriminated species of Campylobacter in cases of human campylobacteriosis, often isolated from chicken meat. Brazil is the largest exporter of chicken meat in the world, which makes the characterization of Brazilian isolates crucial for the establishment of control measures. Eighty-three C.

Due to the rich source of compounds, milk and dairy products are an excellent environment for the growth of many groups of microorganisms, including Staphylococcus aureus. The presence of pathogens in raw materials can threaten the dairy industry around the world.

The excessive and unreasonable use of fungicides can inevitably lead to increased residues in food and ultimately cause harm to human health. To detect the residues of 8 fungicides in agro-products from 2018-2021 in Hebei province China, the method with modified QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe) by Ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectroscopy (UPLC-MS/MS) was developed.

Arsenic (As) accumulation in rice grain and subsequent transmission into the food chain is a major global concern. Numerous attempts to minimize As accumulation in rice have been researched till date. The current investigation evaluates the relative susceptibility of different growth stages of rice plant to As stress in terms of As accumulation in grain at maturity using sixty treatment combinations.

A novel charge neutralization strategy with positively charged SYBR Green I was used for the convenient detection of fumonisin B1. In the absence of the fumonisin B1, the aggregation of gold nanoparticles would appear in less than 2 min. In the presence of the fumonisin B1, the positive charge of SYBR Green I was neutralized by the negatively charged fumonisin B1. As a result, the aggregation of gold nanoparticles could not be achieved.

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence, molecular characteristics and antimicrobial susceptibility of S. aureus in raw eggs during production and sales in Yangling, Shaanxi Province, China, and assess whether enterotoxin-A-carrying strains could grow and produce enterotoxin A (SEA) in egg contents at 3 different temperatures (10, 25, and 37 °C) and culture times (1, 3, 5, and 7 days).

Introduction Black Tibetan sheep is one of the primitive sheep breeds in China that is famous for its great eating quality and nutrient value but with little attention to the relationship between feeding regimes and rumen metabolome along with its impact on the muscle metabolism and meat quality. Methods This study applies metabolomics-based analyses of muscles and 16S rDNA-based sequencing of rumen fluid to examine how feeding regimes influence the compositi

Phytoextraction is an efficient strategy for remediating heavy metal-contaminated soil. Chelators can improve the bioavailability of heavy metals and increase phytoextraction efficiency. However, traditional chelators have gradually been replaced due to secondary pollution.

The estrogenic mycotoxin zearalenone (ZEN) is a common contaminant of animal feed. Effective strategies for the inactivation of ZEN in feed are required. The ZEN-degrading enzyme zearalenone hydrolase ZenA (EC 3.1.1.-, commercial name ZENzyme®, BIOMIN Holding GmbH, Getzersdorf, Austria) converts ZEN to hydrolyzed ZEN (HZEN), thereby enabling a strong reduction in estrogenicity.

The bacterial storage compound poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a potential bio-control agent in aquaculture. It has been reported that PHB benefit to the survival and growth, and improve their immunity of aquatic animals. However, the cellular and molecular regulation mechanisms of PHB in immunity process remain unclear. This study investigated the immune mechanism of hemocytes regulated by Halomonas-PHB (PHB-HM) and PHB monomer 3-HB.

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of chitosan on the antibacterial efficacy of 405 nm LED illumination against Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., and Listeria monocytogenes on fresh-cut melons. The antibacterial efficacy of LED illumination (a total dose of 1.3 kJ/cm2) with or without chitosan (0.5 and 1.0 %) against these three pathogens was determined at 4 and 10 °C, respectively.

Since 2019, EU limits apply to cadmium (Cd) concentrations in cacao-derived food products. The dietary risk assessment leading to that regulation used consumption surveys aggregated to a limited number of chocolate product categories and did not consider differences in Cd bioaccessibility. Here, the cacao-related dietary Cd exposure in the Belgian population was estimated with higher resolution and accounting for bioaccessibility.

Cadmium (Cd) is a persistent heavy metal that poses environmental and public health concerns. This study aimed to identify the potential biomarkers responsible for Cd tolerance and accumulation by investigating the response of the content of essential metal elements, transporter gene expression, and root exudates to Cd stress in broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum).