Research Publications (Food Safety)

AbstractNecrotic enteritis (NE) causes significant economic losses in the broiler chicken industry, especially in birds raised without in-feed antibiotics. A standardized blend of plant-derived isoquinoline alkaloids (IQA) derived from Macleaya cordata has shown to have anti-inflammatory potency and promoted animal productivity. This study investigated the effects of IQA supplementation on broiler chickens under NE challenge.

Publication date: October 2017
, Volume 67

Author(s): Charles Nkufi Tango, Imran Khan, Paul-François Ngnitcho Kounkeu, Rubab Momna, Mohammad Shakhawat Hussain, Deog-Hwan Oh

Marie Verbanck, Mickaël Canouil, Audrey Leloire, Véronique Dhennin, Xavier Coumoul, Loïc Yengo, Philippe Froguel, Odile Poulain-Godefroy

Yiran Wang, Jianhua Li, Kun Xiong, Zhijin Chen, Chunping Zheng, Yong Tan, Yanguang Cong

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) K88 causes diarrhea in weaned piglets and represent a suitable model system for ETEC causing childhood diarrhea. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of oligosaccharides against ETEC K88 adhesion to porcine erythrocytes with two bioassays. Galactosylated chitosan-oligosaccharides (Gal-COS) were synthesized through transgalactosylation by β-galactosidase.

Abstract

Xiaoyan Wang, Jiaojiao Zhang, Runze Meng, Yong Jiang, Suyun Liang, Yunsheng Zhang, Ming Xie, Zhengkui Zhou, Shuisheng Hou

The Gram-negative bacterium Vibrio vulnificus can cause severe disease in humans who consume undercooked, contaminated seafood. To study food-borne V. vulnificus disease in the laboratory, mouse virulence studies...

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Publication date: November 2017
, Volume 81

Author(s): Yu An, Ying Wang, Xiaoyue Liang, Huaxi Yi, Zhaohang Zuo, Xiaoxi Xu, Dongjie Zhang, Changqing Yu, Xue Han

Abstract

AbstractOwing to the increase in the number of diseases affecting ducks and the demand for food safety by consumers, vaccination has become one of the factors that influence duck meat productivity. The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus is one of the most prevalent and causes one of the most lethal diseases in domestic ducks, and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is a food-borne pathogen persistent in the domestic duck population.

Publication date: October 2017
, Volume 67

Author(s): Elisabetta Lambertini, Javad Barouei, Donald W. Schaffner, Michelle D. Danyluk, Linda J. Harris

Sebastian Steffens, Leonie Nüßer, Thomas-Benjamin Seiler, Nadine Ruchter, Mark Schumann, Ricarda Döring, Catrina Cofalla, Avi Ostfeld, Elad Salomons, Holger Schüttrumpf, Henner Hollert, Markus Brinkmann

Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) is a newly emerging shrimp disease that has severely damaged the global shrimp industry. AHPND is caused by toxic strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus that have acquired a "selfish plasmid" encoding the deadly binary toxins PirAvp/PirBvp. To better understand the repertoire of virulence factors in AHPND-causing V.

To get insights into the temporal pattern of commensal Escherichia coli populations, we sampled the feces of four healthy cows from the same herd in the Hwange District of Zimbabwe daily over 25 days. The cows had not received antibiotic treatment during the previous 3 months. We performed viable E. coli counts and characterized the 326 isolates originating from the 98 stool samples at a clonal level, screened them for stx and eae genes, and tested them for their antibiotic susceptibilities.

Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), produced by neurotoxigenic clostridia, is the most potent biological toxin known and the causative agent of the paralytic disease botulism. The nutritional, environmental, and genetic regulation of BoNT synthesis, activation, stability, and toxin complex (TC) formation is not well studied. Previous studies indicated that growth and BoNT formation were affected by arginine and glucose in Clostridium botulinum types A and B. In the present study, C.

Species in the extremely thermophilic genus Caldicellulosiruptor can degrade unpretreated plant biomass through the action of multimodular glycoside hydrolases. To date, most focus with these bacteria has been on hydrolysis of glucans and xylans, while the biodegradation mechanism for arabinose-based polysaccharides remains unclear. Here, putative α-l-arabinofuranosidases (AbFs) were identified in Caldicellulosiruptor species by homology to less-thermophilic versions of these enzymes.

Bacillus cereus is a soil-dwelling Gram-positive bacterium capable of forming structured multicellular communities, or biofilms. However, the regulatory pathways controlling biofilm formation are less well understood in B. cereus. In this work, we developed a method to study B. cereus biofilms formed at the air-liquid interface.

Ticks transmit a large number of pathogens capable of causing human disease. In this study, the PCR-reverse line blot (RLB) method was used to screen for pathogens in a total of 554 Ixodes ricinus ticks collected from all provinces of Austria. These pathogens belong to the genera Borrelia, Rickettsiae, Anaplasma/Ehrlichia (including "Candidatus Neoehrlichia"), Babesia, and Coxiella.

In the last decade, strains of the genera Franconibacter and Siccibacter have been misclassified as first Enterobacter and later Cronobacter. Because Cronobacter is a serious foodborne pathogen that affects premature neonates and elderly individuals, such misidentification may not only falsify epidemiological statistics but also lead to tests of powdered infant formula or other foods giving false results.

The control of Q fever, a zoonotic disease caused by the Coxiella burnetii bacterium, remains a scientific challenge. Domestic ruminants are considered the main reservoir, shedding C. burnetii essentially through parturition products during abortion or birth. Sheep are particularly frequently associated with human outbreaks, but there are insufficient field data to fully understand disease dynamics and to instigate efficient control measures.