Research Publications (Food Safety)

The biological roles of low molecular weight penicillin-binding proteins (LMW PBP) have been difficult to discern in Gram-negative organisms. In E. coli, mutants lacking these proteins often have no phenotype, and cells lacking all 7 LMW PBPs remain viable. In contrast, we report here that Vibrio cholerae lacking DacA-1, a PBP5 homolog, displays slow growth, aberrant morphology, and altered peptidoglycan (PG) homeostasis in LB medium, as well as a profound plating defect.

A multistate outbreak of hepatitis A virus (HAV) among European travellers returning from Egypt occurred between November 2012 and April 2013. A total of 14 European Union (EU)-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries reported 107 cases. Twenty-one cases from six countries were affected by strains of sub-genotype IB harbouring identical RNA sequences, suggesting a common source outbreak.

Publication date: February 2015
Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 76
Author(s): Paola Costanzo , Antonello Santini , Luigi Fattore , Ettore Novellino , Alberto Ritieni

Since the discovery of aflatoxins in the 1960s, much research has focused on detecting the toxins in contaminated food and feedstuffs in the interest of public safety. Most traditional detection methods involved lengthy culturing and/or separation techniques or analytical instrumentation and complex, multistep procedures that required destruction of samples for accurate toxin determination.

Foreword: aflatoxins in maize and other crops

This review highlights developments in the determination of mycotoxins over a period between mid-2013 and mid-2014. It continues in the format of the previous articles of this series, emphasising on analytical methods to determine aflatoxins, Alternaria toxins, ergot alkaloids, fumonisins, ochratoxins, patulin, trichothecenes and zearalenone.

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin found in the tissues of many taxonomically diverse organisms. Its origin has been the topic of much debate, with suggestions including endogenous production, acquisition through diet, and symbiotic bacterial synthesis. Bacterial production of TTX has been reported in isolates from marine biota, but at lower than expected concentrations. In this study, 102 strains were isolated from Pleurobranchaea maculata (Opisthobranchia) and Stylochoplana sp.

Sergio Sánchez, María Teresa Llorente, María Aurora Echeita, Silvia Herrera-León

Publication date: March 2015
, Volume 69
Author(s): Vijay K. Juneja , Vasco Cadavez , Ursula Gonzales-Barron , Sudarsan Mukhopadhyay

Publication date: March 2015
, Volume 69
Author(s): Cláudia Vieira Prudêncio , Maria Cristina Dantas Vanetti , Miguel Prieto

Publication date: February 2015
Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 76
Author(s): Yuan-Zhen Wu , Fu-Pu Lu , Hai-Lan Jian , Cui-Ping Tan , Dong-Sheng Yao , Chun-Fang Xie , Da-Ling Liu

Publication date: February 2015
Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 76
Author(s): Laura-Ana Corcuera , Ariane Vettorazzi , Leire Arbillaga , Noemí Pérez , Ana Gloria Gil , Amaya Azqueta , Elena González-Peñas , Jose Antonio García-Jalón , Adela López de Cerain

Publication date: 2 April 2015
, Volume 198
Author(s): M. Schneeberger , I. Brodard , G. Overesch

Publication date: 15 June 2015
, Volume 177
Author(s): Alonzo A. Gabriel , Jochelle Elysse C. Cayabyab , Athalie Kaye L. Tan , Mark Lester F. Corook , Errol John O. Ables , Cecile Leah P. Tiangson-Bayaga

Publication date: 15 June 2015
, Volume 177
Author(s): Natalia Arroyo-Manzanares , José F. Huertas-Pérez , Laura Gámiz-Gracia , Ana M. García-Campaña

Ochratoxin A (OTA), which is found in a variety of food products, is associated with the development of nephrotoxicity and carcinogenicity in rats and has raised public health concerns. A previous study in our laboratory indicated that OTA exposure induced cytotoxicity by decreasing global DNA methylation in vitro. However, the relationship between OTA-induced nephrotoxicity and DNA methylation changes in vivo remains unclear.

Publication date: March 2015
, Volume 69
Author(s): A. Garvín , R. Ibarz , A. Ibarz

Publication date: July 2015
, Volume 53
Author(s): Ulrike Rensch , Matthias Greiner , Günter Klein , Corinna Kehrenberg

Mycotoxins are low molecular weight fungal metabolites that pose a threat as toxic contaminants of food products, thereby necessitating their effective monitoring and control. Microplate ELISA can be used for this purpose, but this method is characteristically time consuming, with a duration extending to several hours. This report proposes a variant of the ELISA method for the detection and quantification of three mycotoxins, ochratoxin A, aflatoxin B1 and zearalenone, in the kinetic regime.

Publication date: May 2015
, Volume 103
Author(s): Susann Fellendorf , Maurice G. O'Sullivan , Joseph P. Kerry

Aims
To isolate bacteria from soil for the purpose of microbial pre-treatment of brown crab (Cancer pagurus) shell waste and the production of chitin.

Publication date: 1 July 2015
, Volume 178
Author(s): Nina Bilandžić , Đurđica Božić , Božica Solomun Kolanović , Ivana Varenina , Luka Cvetnić , Željko Cvetnić

Chitosan beads were prepared by the method of inverse suspension cross-linking characterized and applied to remove patulin from aqueous solution. Batch adsorption experiments were performed to evaluate the optimum adsorption conditions and reusability. The results showed that chitosan beads were effective in removing patulin from aqueous solution. The maximum adsorption capacity of chitosan beads for patulin was 626.4 μg/g at pH 7.0, 40C for 24 h.

A novel procedure on vancomycin, α-glucosidase activity, cephalothin and sucrose for isolation of Cronobacter spp. from powdered infant formula (PIF) was developed. Meanwhile, a comparison between the new procedure, Druggan-Forsythe-Iversen (DFI) and modified lauryl sulfate tryptose (mLST) procedure was also carried out. The recovery rate is higher by the new procedure than those by DFI and mLST procedures.

The time-to-detection (TTD) method is a rapid and high throughput approach for the estimation of microbial growth parameters (maximum specific growth rate μmax and lag phase duration λ), which relies on optical density (OD) measurements. The performance of this method depends on several factors that are often selected in an arbitrary way.