Research Publications (Food Safety)

National and industrial standards used for the certification and inspection of eggs and egg products in the People's Republic of China were reviewed. Although egg production is very high, specific egg and egg product standards are insufficient. Currently, 11 recommended standards and 6 compulsory standards are used to inspect eggs and egg products.

Uneven cooking due to consumer use of microwave ovens to cook food products that have been prepared but are not ready to eat has been a documented risk factor in several foodborne disease outbreaks. However, the use of microwave ovens in restaurants and other food service establishments has not been well documented.

The objective of this study was to verify the characteristics of food safety inspections, considering risk categories and binary scores. A cross-sectional study was performed with 439 restaurants in 43 Brazilian cities. A food safety checklist with 177 items was applied to the food service establishments.

In this study, the effectiveness of pullulan (a fungal polysaccharide) film containing oregano essential oil (OEO) at 1.0 to 10.0% was evaluated against bacteria, yeasts, and molds. The quality of the sprouts, as determined by weight loss, color, and appearance, was monitored during storage at 2 and 16°C. An organoleptic evaluation of odor preference and odor acceptability of OEO on the Brussels sprouts was also conducted.

The market for tea drinks as healthy beverages has been steadily expanding, and ready-to-drink beverages in polyethylene terephthalate bottles have been popular. To more rapidly and accurately test tea beverages bottled in polyethylene terephthalate for microbial contamination, a newly developed filtration device and a washing method with a commercial bioluminescence assay were combined to detect low numbers of bacterial spores, fungal conidia, and ascospores.

Escherichia coli O157 (EcO157) infections can lead to serious disease and death in humans. Although the ecology of EcO157 is complex, ruminant animals serve as an important reservoir for human infection. Dairy cattle are unique because they may be a source of contamination for milk, meat, and manure-fertilized crops. Foodborne dairy pathogens such as EcO157 are of primary importance to public health.

Allergies to cow's milk are very common and can present as life-threatening anaphylaxis. Consequently, food labeling legislation mandates that foods containing milk residues, including casein and/or β-lactoglobulin, provide an indication of such on the product label. Because contamination with either component independent of the other can occur during food manufacturing, effective allergen management measures for containment of milk residues necessitates the use of dual screening methods.

To estimate the effect of a low concentration of sugar on the changes in quality of lightly salted grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) during storage under vacuum packaging at 4°C, we determined the sensory score, total viable counts, biochemical quality, and physical quality of fish fillets. Fish samples were left untreated, dry cured with 1.3% salt, or dry cured with 1.3% salt plus 1.0% sugar.

Filipendula ulmaria, also known as meadowsweet, is an herb; its extract was examined for the prevention of histamine production, primarily that caused by contaminated fish. The efficacy of meadowsweet was assessed using two parameters: inhibition of Morganella morganii histidine decarboxylase (HDC) and inhibition of histamine accumulation in mackerel. Ellagitannins from F.

Over one-half of foodborne diseases are believed to be of viral origin. The ability of viruses to persist in the environment and fresh produce, as well as their low infectious dose, allows even a small amount of contamination to cause serious foodborne problems. Moreover, the consumer's demands for fresh, convenient, and safe foods have prompted research into alternative food disinfection technologies.

Several species of Aspergillus section Nigri, including potential mycotoxin producers, are common residents of grape vineyards, but the relative population size of individual species throughout the growing season is difficult to determine using traditional isolation and identification methods. Using a quantitative droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) method in combination with dilution plating, total Aspergillus section Nigri populations and relative proportions of A. niger, A. welwitschiae, A.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) works closely with federal, state, and local public health partners to investigate foodborne illness outbreaks associated with its regulated products. To provide insight into outbreaks associated with meat and poultry, outbreaks reported to FSIS during fiscal years 2007 through 2012 were evaluated.

Quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) models are extensively applied to inform management of a broad range of food safety risks. Inevitably, QMRA modeling involves an element of simplification of the biological process of interest. Two features that are frequently simplified or disregarded are the pathogenicity of multiple strains of a single pathogen and consumer behavior at the household level.

The primary objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and level of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145 (collectively EHEC-6) plus EHEC O157 in fecal, hide, and preintervention carcass surface samples from culled dairy cows. Matched samples (n =300) were collected from 100 cows at harvest and tested by a culture-based method and two molecular methods: NeoSEEK STEC (NS) and Atlas STEC EG2 Combo.

A culture method to detect non-O157 Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) was optimized in this study. The finished dairy compost with 30% moisture content was inoculated with a cocktail of six non-O157 STEC serovars at initial concentrations of 1 to 100 CFU/g.

A total of 117 Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and 59 monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium (S. enterica serovar 4,[5],12:i:–) strains isolated between 2008 and 2012 from pig, wild bird, rodent, and farm environment samples from the northeast of Spain were characterized by phage typing, antibiotic susceptibility testing, and multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis in order to evaluate their phenotypic and genetic relatedness.

Tomatoes have been implicated in various microbial disease outbreaks and are considered a potential vehicle for foodborne pathogens. Traceback studies mostly implicate contamination during production and/or processing. The microbiological quality of commercially produced tomatoes was thus investigated from the farm to market, focusing on the impact of contaminated irrigation and washing water, facility sanitation, and personal hygiene.

Although flooding introduces microbiological, chemical, and physical hazards onto croplands, few data are available on the spatial extent, patterns, and development of contamination over time postflooding. To address this paucity of information, we conducted a spatially explicit study of Escherichia coli and Salmonella contamination prevalence and genetic diversity in produce fields after the catastrophic flooding that occurred in New England during 2011.

Salmonella enterica is the most common foodborne pathogen worldwide, with 2,500 recognized serovars. Detection of S. enterica and its classification into serovars are essential for food safety surveillance and clinical diagnosis. The PCR method is useful for these applications because of its rapidity and high accuracy. We obtained 412 candidate detection targets for S. enterica using a comparative genomics mining approach.

Two outbreaks of salmonellosis were linked to the consumption of raw almonds from California in 2001 and 2004. As a result, federal regulations were developed, which mandate that all almonds grown in California must be treated with a process that results in a 4-log reduction of Salmonella.

In North America, outbreaks of Salmonella have been linked to low–water activity (aw) foods, such as nuts and seeds. These outbreaks have implicated an assortment of Salmonella serotypes. Some Salmonella serotypes (e.g., Enteritidis and Typhimurium) cause high proportions of salmonellosis. Nevertheless, there has recently been an emergence of uncommon Salmonella serotypes and strains (e.g., Tennessee, Hartford, and Thompson) in low-aw foods.

In-shell pecan samples (500 g) were collected over four harvest seasons (2010 to 2014) from seven pecan shelling facilities located in five U.S. states. Four varieties of pecans were analyzed: Mexican Improved, Native Seedlings, Southern Improved, and Western Improved. Pecan samples (100 g) were sent to a third party laboratory for initial Salmonella screening.

Mitigation of Salmonella associated with poultry carcasses is primarily accomplished by rendering or carcass composting. While rendering temperatures and pressures are well established for pathogen inactivation in poultry carcasses, parameters controlling composting processes are less defined in part because multiple conditions and procedures are utilized.

Two experiments evaluated prebiotics added to feed on the recovery of Salmonella in broilers during grow-out and processing. In Experiment 1, "seeder" chicks were inoculated with Salmonella Typhimurium and placed with penmates. Treatments were: basal control diet, added 0.3% bamboo charcoal, 0.6% bamboo charcoal, or 0.12% Aromabiotic (medium chain fatty acids).

While horizontal transmission is a route clearly linked to the spread of Campylobacter at the farm level, few studies support the transmission of Campylobacter spp. from breeder flocks to their offspring. Thus, the present study was carried out to investigate the possibility of vertical transmission. Breeders were monitored from the time of housing day-old chicks, then throughout the laying period (0 to 60 wk) and throughout their progeny (broiler fattening, 1 to 42 d) until slaughter.