Research Publications (Food Safety)

This study investigated the occurrence of shiga toxin‐producing Escherichia coli (STEC), thermotolerant Campylobacter spp. and Salmonella spp. in Swedish dairy milk. A total of 302 inline milk filters were analyzed. Salmonella was not isolated from any filters. Polymerase chain reaction screening detected thermotolerant Campylobacter in 30.5% of the milk filters analyzed and it was isolated from 12.6% of filters.

The microbial population of kefir made from Korean kefir grain was profiled via next‐generation sequencing technology at the species level. Interestingly, Acetobacter fabarum was the second most predominent bacteria in kefir. We isolated Acetobacter fabarum DH1801 strain and revealed its potent and broad‐spectrum antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria. This could contribute to the anti‐contamination and probiotic attributes of Korean kefir.

The quality of vacuum packed sea bass fillets treated with nanoemulsions based on commercial oils (hazelnut oil, corn oil, canola oil, soybean oil, olive oil, and sunflower oil) at 2 ± 2°C was evaluated by sensory, chemical (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, peroxide value, total volatile basic nitrogen, and free fatty acids), and microbiological (total psychrophilic bacteria, total Enterobacteriaceae counts, total mesophilic aerobic bacteria, and total lactic acid bacteria)

The efficiency of a molecularly imprinted polymer as a selective packing material for solid‐phase extraction of imatinib mesylate sorption was investigated. Molecularly imprinted polymer was prepared using N, N'‐methylenebisacrylamide, as a cross‐linker agent, N‐vinylcaprolactam as a thermo‐sensitive monomer, 1‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone and methyl methacrylate as functional monomers, azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator and imatinib mesylate as a template.

Despite substantial developments of extraction and separation techniques, isolation of natural products from natural sources is still a challenging task. Undoubtedly hybrid methods like LC‐NMR or LC‐MS made on‐line structure elucidation possible and provided impressive examples of natural product identification without prior isolation, however, in many cases the necessity to get the purified compounds in hand is still a fact.

Metals are among the most prevalent pollutants released into the environment. For these reasons, the use of biomarkers for environmental monitoring of individuals and populations exposed to metal pollution has gained considerable attention, offering fast and sensitive detection of chemical stress in organisms.

The aim of this study was to determine the antimicrobial resistance characteristics of Listeria species isolated from foods and food processing environments, animal and human specimens in Iran. A systematic review of the papers published in Persian and English languages up to 20th May 2019 and indexed in the Scientific Information Database, PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar databases using related keywords was conducted.

In order to determine the potential heavy metal contamination in soil across Dongguan City, 124 soil samples from seven land use types were collected, four heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cr, and Cu) were analyzed. Total Cd, Cr, and Cu contents were significantly higher than the background values for Guangdong Province. Lead bioaccessibility in urban green land was lower than that in industrial and abandoned districts.

Toxigenic Vibrio cholerae strains, including strains in serogroups O1 and O139 associated with the clinical disease cholera, are ubiquitous in aquatic reservoirs, including fresh, estuarine, and marine environments. Humans acquire cholera by consuming water and/or food contaminated with the microorganism. The genome of toxigenic V. cholerae harbors a cholera-toxin producing prophage (CT-prophage) encoding genes that promote expression of cholera toxin. The CT-prophage in V.

Antimicrobial resistance is an increasing problem worldwide, and Salmonella spp. resistance to quinolone was classified by WHO in the high priority list. Recent studies in Europe and in the US reported the presence of small plasmids carrying quinolone resistance in Enterobacteriaceae isolated from poultry and poultry products. The aims of this study were to identify and characterize plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance in Salmonella spp.

Contaminated food-contact surfaces are recognized as the primary reason for recent L. monocytogenes outbreaks in caramel apples and cantaloupes, highlighting the significance of cleaning and sanitizing food-contact surfaces to ensure microbial safety of fresh produce. This study evaluated efficacies of four commonly used chemical sanitizers at practical concentrations against L.

This study examines treatments of the bacterial pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, namely, in the context of its being a major cause of subclinical bovine mastitis. Such infections caused by S. aureus among dairy cows are difficult to detect and can easily become chronic, leading to reduced productivity and large losses for dairy manufacturers. In this study, the role of alternative sigma factor B (σB), which has been shown to be a global regulator for S.

Shigellosis, caused by Shigella boydii type 1, is understudied and underreported. For 3 years, GEMS study identified 5.4% of all Shigella as S. boydii. We showed the prevalent serotypes of S. boydii in Bangladesh and phage-based diagnosis of S. boydii type 1, a rapid and low-cost approach. Previously typed 793 clinical S. boydii strains were used for serotype distribution. Twenty-eight environmental water samples were collected for isolation of Shigella phages.

Aflatoxin (AF) contamination of maize is a major concern for food safety. The use of chemical fungicides is controversial, and it is necessary to develop new effective methods to control Aspergillus flavus growth and, therefore, to avoid the presence of AFs in grains. In this work, we tested in vitro the effect of six essential oils (EOs) extracted from aromatic plants.

Author(s): Nicoletta Scaramuzza, Cigarini Massimo, Paola Mutti, Elettra Berni

Author(s): Qiumin Ma, P. Michael Davidson, Qixin Zhong

Author(s): Yunyun Li, Jiaxun Guan, Jiating Zhao, Bai Li, Yu-feng Li, Yuxi Gao

Neuropeptides function as neuromodulators in the brain, whereby they are released in a paracrine manner and activate G protein–coupled receptors in adjacent cells. Because neuropeptides are made in, and secreted from, cancer cells, then bind to cell surface receptors, they function in an autocrine manner.

We developed an assay for detecting pork adulteration in meat and meatballs using real‐time polymerase chain reaction involving specific primers and a TaqMan probe targeting the porcine mitochondrial (mt) ATPase 6 gene. We proved the specificity of the probe by showing no amplification from DNA isolated from six different meat‐providing species: cattle, dog, mouse, chicken, goat, and horse.

The present study evaluated raw milk samples from dairy farms and urban areas in Lahore District, Pakistan, for the measurement of chemical composition, presence of adulterants, total microbial, and heavy metals loads.

Light is an important factor that can induce the growth of varieties of organisms including fungi and their secondary metabolites. The evolutions of biomass, carotenoids, lipid production, compositions and contents of fatty acid and amino acid in Rhodotorula mucilaginosa were investigated under different light irradiation conditions. The results indicated that irradiation with 1700 lx could promote the growth and glucose assimilation of R.

R. Tauxe Public health advances step by step, as hazards are recognized and better control and prevention strategies are developed. How this happens, how new safety measures come into being, and how they are improved and become part of the way we live are the focus of this new book, Outbreak: Foodborne Illness and the Struggle for Food Safety (Figure).

The objective of this study was to assess the effects of low-dose zinc oxide (ZnO) supplemented with or without probiotic complex compared with pharmacological ZnO (3000 mg kg−1) on the performance, digestibility, blood metabolites, fecal Lactobacillus and enterobacteria counts of weaned piglets. One-hundred and twenty crossbred piglets were randomly allocated to three treatments based on their initial body weight (BW).

Author(s): Zhuoxing Zhang, Keke Han, Xiaoling Dai, Ruidong Zhang, Xueying Cao, Chao Zhang, Kaiqiang Wang, Xin Huang, Qian Ren