Research Publications (Food Safety)

Translation of polyproline proteins leads to translation arrest. To overcome this ribosome stalling effect, bacteria depend on a specialized translation elongation factor P (EF-P), being orthologous and functional identical to eukaryotic/archaeal elongation factor e/aIF-5A (recently renamed “EF5”). EF-P binds to the stalled ribosome between the peptidyl-tRNA binding and tRNA-exiting sites, and stimulates peptidyl-transferase activity thus allowing translation to resume.

Publication date: January 2016
, Volume 111
Author(s): Annachiara Berardinelli, Frederique Pasquali, Chiara Cevoli, Marcello Trevisani, Luigi Ragni, Rocco Mancusi, Gerardo Manfreda

The effect of Ziziphora clinopodioides (0.1 and 0.2%) and nisin (250 and 500 IU/g), both separately and in combination, on mesophilic, psychrotrophic and Enterobacteriaceae microorganisms and also on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli O157:H7 in raw beef patty during storage at refrigerated temperature for 9 days were evaluated. Carvacrol (64.22%), followed by thymol (19.22%), p-cymene (4.86%) and γ-terpinene (4.63%) were the most abundant components of the essential oil.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of different temperatures on survival of various strains of Yersinia enterocolitica during the storage of ultra-filtered (UF) white cheese. UF pasteurized cow milk was inoculated with 3 log colony-forming unit per gram of two standard strains (DSM 11502 and DSM 9499) and one native strain of Y. enterocolitica. Cheese samples were prepared according to the regular procedure and stored at 14, 8 and 25C.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is an important seafood-borne pathogen. V. parahaemolyticus carrying either tdh or trh or both genes is considered a pathogenic strain. The objectives of this study were to examine the prevalence and concentration of V. parahaemolyticus in shrimp processed in a factory using most probable number (MPN) combined with either polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) techniques.

This study investigated the effect of material typespolystyrene, polypropylene, glass, and stainless steel) and glucose addition on Staphylococcus aureus biofilm formation, and the relationship between biofilm formation measured by crystal violet (CV) staining and the number of biofilm cells determined by cell counts was studied. We also evaluated the efficacy of chlorine sanitizer on inhibiting various different types of S. aureus biofilms on the surface of stainless steel.

Publication date: February 2016
, Volume 53, Part B
Author(s): Dominic Dussault, Khanh Dang Vu, Monique Lacroix

Publication date: 4 January 2016
, Volume 216
Author(s): Elisabetta Lambertini, Robert L. Buchanan, Clare Narrod, Randall M. Ford, Robert C. Baker, Abani K. Pradhan

In Escherichia coli or Salmonella enterica, the stress associated mammalian hormones epinephrine (E) and norepinephrine (NE) trigger a signaling cascade by interacting with the QseC sensor protein. Here we show that V. cholerae, the causative agent of cholera, exhibits a specific response towards E and NE. These catecholates (0.1 mM) enhanced growth and swimming motility on soft agar of V. cholerae strain O395 in medium containing calf serum which simulated the environment within the host.

Flagellation in polar flagellates is one of the rare biosynthetic processes known to be numerically regulated in bacteria. Polar flagellates must spatially and numerically regulate flagellar biogenesis to create flagellation patterns for each species that are ideal for motility. FlhG ATPases numerically regulate polar flagellar biogenesis, yet FlhG orthologs are diverse in motif composition.

Canada geese (Branta canadensis) faeces have been shown to contain pathogenic protozoa and bacteria in numerous studies over the past 15 years. Further, increases in both the Canada geese populations and their ideal habitat requirements in the United States (US) translate to a greater presence of these human pathogens in public areas, such as recreational freshwater beaches.

Publication date: March 2016
, Volume 61
Author(s): Valentina Bernini, Elena Dalzini, Camilla Lazzi, Benedetta Bottari, Monica Gatti, Erasmo Neviani

Publication date: February 2016
, Volume 53, Part B
Author(s): Ar’Quette Grant, Fawzy Hashem, Salina Parveen

Roxana Cojocneanu Petric, Cornelia Braicu, Cristian Bassi, Laura Pop, Ionelia Taranu, Nicolae Dragos, Dan Dumitrascu, Massimo Negrini, Ioana Berindan-Neagoe

Publication date: March 2016
, Volume 61
Author(s): Qinghua Ye, Qingping Wu, Huijuan Hu, Jumei Zhang, Huixian Huang

Publication date: March 2016
, Volume 61
Author(s): Alexandros Ch. Stratakos, Mark Linton, Girum Tadesse Tessema, Taran Skjerdal, Margaret F. Patterson, Anastasios Koidis

Rice wine is a traditional Chinese fermented alcohol drinkSpontaneous fermentation with the use of the Chinese starter and wheat Qu lead to the growth of various microorganisms during the complete brewing process. It's of great importance to fully understand the composition of bacteria diversity in rice wine in order to improve the quality and solve safety problems.

Nisin and ethanol have been used as antimicrobial agents in food industryHowever, nisin alone could not inhibit the growth of gram-negative bacteria, except in combination with a chelating agent, EDTA, or organic acid.

Jin Hwan Park, Youmi Jo, Song Yee Jang, Haenaem Kwon, Yasuhiko Irie, Matthew R. Parsek, Myung Hee Kim, Sang Ho Choi

This study investigated the hypothesis that dietary fats rich in lauric (C12) and myristic acid (C14) increase broiler performance and that the underlying mechanism involves antimicrobial effects on gut bacteria and changes in gut morphology. One hundred eighty 1-day-old Cobb-500 broilers were allotted to 3 groups.

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of feeding dietary fiber on cecal short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentration and cecal microbiota of broiler and laying-hen chicks. The lower fiber diet was based on corn-soybean meal (SBM) and the higher fiber diet was formulated using corn-SBM-dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) and wheat bran to contain 60.0 g/kg of both DDGS and wheat bran from 1 to 12 d and 80.0 g/kg of both DDGS and wheat bran from 13 to 21 d.

A study was conducted to evaluate a high pressure spray (HPS) with water as an alternative to trimming to remove gastrointestinal contamination on poultry carcasses and improve microbiological quality. The study was conducted under commercial conditions in 5 slaughter plants with one plant presenting approximately 5% of carcasses with visible gastrointestinal contamination (VGC), and the others showing approximately 12% of VGC.

The dietary supplementation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii was evaluated in broilers challenged or not challenged with Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) using a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement. Depending on yeast inclusion at 0 (C) or 1 x 109 cfu/kg diet (Y) and SE challenge (0 or log 6.3 cfu/bird) on d 15, the experiment had four treatments C, Y, C-SE, and Y-SE, respectively. Each treatment had seven replicate floor pens with 15 broilers.

A study was carried out to evaluate the effect of dietary probiotic supplementation and stocking density on the performance, relative carcass yield, gut microflora, and stress markers of broilers. One-day-old Ross 308 male broiler chickens (n = 480) were allocated to 4 experimental groups for 42 d. Each treatment had 8 replicates of 15 chicks each.