Research Publications (Food Safety)

Gastrointestinal nematodes are a diverse class of pathogens that colonise a quarter of the world’s human population and nearly all grazing livestock. These macroparasites establish, and some migrate, within host gastrointestinal niches during their life cycles and release molecules that condition the host mucosa to enable chronic infections.

Saline-alkali is one of the important environmental factors affecting oil-contaminated soil.

Metal hyperaccumulators are plant species that can uptake and store high concentrations of heavy metals in their aboveground tissues, while maintaining high vigor. Hyperaccumulation of metals was suggested to provide defense against natural enemies such as herbivores. However, heavy-metal uptake can incur physiological and ecological costs, suggesting that, like other anti-herbivore defenses, it might be induced by herbivore attack.

Mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol introduce a health risk to the food supply and are costly to manage or avoid. Technologies for reducing or eliminating the toxicity of deoxynivalenol could be useful in a variety of processes, such as in preserving the value as animal feed of byproducts of ethanol production.

Rapid, cost-efficient, and eco-friendly methods are desired today for routine analysis of the Fusarium mycotoxin zearalenone (ZEN) in edible vegetable oils. Liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) is commonly used to reliably control the specified ZEN maximum levels, which requires efficient sample clean-up to avoid matrix interferences.

Aspergillus niger produces carcinogenic ochratoxin A (OTA), a serious food safety and human health concern. Here, the ability of A. niger CBS 513.88 to produce OTA using different carbon sources was investigated and the underlying regulatory mechanism was elucidated. The results indicated that 6% sucrose, glucose, and arabinose could trigger OTA biosynthesis and that 1586 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) overlapped compared to a non-inducing nutritional source, peptone.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of humidity on the gaseous ozone inactivation of Salmonella enterica on grape tomatoes, and on the ozone-induced changes in fruit quality.

Cadmium (Cd) pollution not only reduces crop yields, but also threatens human health and food safety. It is of great significance for agricultural production to improve plant Cd resistance and reduce Cd accumulation. In Arabidopsis, tryptophan (Trp) has been found to play a role in Cd resistance. However, studies on the role of exogenous Trp on Cd tolerance in crops are limited.

Germacrene A (GA) is a key intermediate for the synthesis of medicinal active compounds, especially for β-elemene, which is a broad-spectrum anticancer drug. The production of sufficient GA in the microbial platform is vital for the precursors supply of active compounds. In this study, Escherichia coli BL21 Star (DE3) was used as the host and cultivated in SBMSN medium, obtaining a highest yield of FPP. The GA synthase from Lactuca sativa (LTC2) exhibited the highest level of GA production.

We studied the succession of bacterial communities during the biodegradation of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD). The communities originated from a mesocosm with soil from Bien Hoa airbase in Vietnam heavily contaminated with herbicides and dioxins. They were grown in defined media with different carbon and Gibbs energy sources and 2,3,7,8-TCDD.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are considered a sink and a source of antibiotic resistance. In this study, we applied both culture-dependent and SmartChip-based culture-independent approaches for the investigation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) at Jungnang (JN), located in the Han River, Seoul, South Korea, for 2 years, i.e., 2017 and 2018.

Bee pollen (BP) and bee bread (BB) have attracted great attention due to their biological activities including antibacterial activity. However, the mechanism of antibacterial activity is largely unknown.

Singlet oxygen (1O2), an initiator for photooxidation, is responsible for vegetable oil degradation. However, few details about the formation of 1O2 in vegetable oil are known due to the lack of a reliable method for its determination. In this study, a simple, reliable, and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for indirect quantification of 1O2 generated in vegetable oil was developed. Furfuryl alcohol (FFA) was selected as a real-time “trap” for 1O2.

Contamination of edible oils with aflatoxins (AFs) is a universal issue due to the detrimental effects of aflatoxins on human health and the fact that edible oils are a major source of fungal growth, particularly storage fungi (Aspergillus sp.).

Enterococcus faecium has become an important drug-resistant nosocomial pathogen because of widespread antibiotic abuse. We developed short and chemically simple antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with a selective amino acid composition, fixed charge, and hydrophobicity ratio based on the core antimicrobial motif of bovine lactoferrin (LfcinB6). Among these peptides, 5L and 6L (both 12 residues long) demonstrated a narrow spectrum and high antibacterial activity against drug-resistant E.

This study aims to detect the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Listeria monocytogenes and Cronobacter sakazakii in three dairy households and dried milk from different suppliers, and evaluate the antimicrobial effect of rose water, rose, and orange essential oils. In total, 360 samples were collected from cattle, the environment, and dried milk (n = 30). Antimicrobial activity was evaluated with twofold microtube dilution and the time-kill method. L.

Microbiology Resource Announcements, Ahead of Print. Here, we present the complete genome sequence of Staphylococcus edaphicus strain CCM 8731, which was originally isolated from Ross Island, Antarctica. The 2,749,487-bp sequence contains 2,709 predicted genes, with a G+C content of 33.4%. The complete genome was assembled using a hybrid approach with Oxford Nanopore Technologies long-read sequencing and Illumina short-read sequencing.

Nutrients in quail eggs can be affected by egg product processing technologies. However, freeze-drying would be the most suitable, but it is very costly and difficult to transfer to the quail egg production actors. This study is aimed at comparing the physicochemical and microbiological qualities of liquid, pasteurized, hot air-dried, and freeze-dried quail eggs. Liquid quail eggs were used as controls. The physicochemical and microbiological qualities were evaluated by conventional methods.

The objective of this study was to explore the effects of the inoculation of mixed starter cultures of Lactobacillus and 

Salmonella contamination of chocolate-derived products has caused a number of outbreaks and recalls in recent years. Earlier research found that reducing moisture content or water activity of low-moisture foods sharply enhances the resistance of Salmonella during thermal treatments.

Currently, increasing attention is being paid to conjugated mycotoxins in plant-based foods because of their assumed bioavailability and health risks. However, analytical standards for most mycotoxin glycosides are not available and risk assessment processes have not yet been completed because of the lack of occurrence data.

The geothermal zone of Araró, México, is located within the trans-Mexican volcanic belt, an area with numerous arsenic (As)-rich hot springs. In this study, the draft genome sequence of two endemic Bacillus strains (ZAP17 and ZAP62) from Araró microbial mat hot springs was determined, which were able to grow on arsenate As(V) (up to 64 mM) and arsenite As(III) (up to 32 mM).

A portable device is conducive to the on-site detection of heavy metal ions at trace level in food and the prevention of related food safety issues. In this work, an electrochemical device stacked up with flat electrodes was developed for the detection of Pb2+ and Cd2+. The top layer of the device is a carbon paper as working electrode, which is modified with amino functionalized cobalt-based metal-organic framework and gold nanoparticles.

Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal that is harmful to human health. Early studies have shown that cadmium can damage testicular structure, affecting testosterone synthesis and spermatogenesis. However, the effect of paternal Cd exposure on the reproductive system of offspring remains unclear.

Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) is being applied increasingly to Bacillus cereus group species; however, misinterpretation of WGS results may have severe consequences. We report 3 cases, 1 of which was an outbreak, in which misinterpretation of B. cereus group WGS results hindered communication within public health and industrial laboratories.