Research Publications (Food Safety)

The lethal effect of high hydrostatic pressure processing (HPP), expressed as D-value, on some common pathogens found in low salt white brined cheese was studied.

The present study aimed to elaborate a review of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria in soil, food, aquatic environments, cattle, poultry, and swine farms in Brazil. Initially, the literature database for published papers from 2012 to 2023 was Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), U.S. National Library of Medicine (PubMed), and Google Scholar, through the descriptors: antimicrobial resistance, resistance profile, multidrug resistance, environmental bacteria, and pathogenic bacteria.

This study aimed to investigate the synergistic effects of benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) and resveratrol (RS) on Listeria monocytogenes and their application in chicken meat preservation.

Listeria monocytogenes is an opportunistic foodborne pathogen which has been implicated in many outbreaks of foodborne diseases. This study evaluated the effects of gastric acidity and gastric digestion time of adults, L. monocytogenes strain and food type on the survival of L. monocytogenes under simulated stomach conditions of adults in in vitro gastric models with dynamic pH changes occurring throughout the exposure.

Listeria monocytogenes is a major foodborne pathogen which mainly infects susceptible individuals through the consumption of contaminated foods. To this end, ready-to-eat (RTE) food products are of particular concern as this microorganism is widely distributed, can survive, and even grow, under adverse conditions, and thus must be carefully controlled.

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. This study determined the prevalence, risk factors, and molecular characteristics of Listeria species detected in beef and beef products sampled in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. Four hundred beef and beef products were collected from 30 retail outlets in three districts (Bronkhorstspruit, Emalahleni, and Middelburg) within the province. Standard bacteriological and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays were used in the study.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Ahead of Print. Soft-ripened cheeses (SRCs) are at a higher risk for the growth of the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes due to favorable moisture content and pH compared to other cheeses. L. monocytogenes growth is not consistent across SRCs, however, and may be affected by physicochemical and/or microbiome characteristics of the cheeses.

High-pressure processing (HPP) has emerged in the food industry as an alternative to thermal juice preservation treatments, with its appeal being its assurance of safety for products with nutritional and sensory qualities similar to those of fresh food. However, HPP remains to be fully understood, particularly regarding hazards and process validation to mitigate microbiological risks.

Microbial biofilm formation represents a serious problem for both food industry and households. Natural biofilms are formed mostly by multiple species, and show resistance against most of the usual sanitizers.

The problem of microbial biofilms has come to the fore alongside food, pharmaceutical, and healthcare industrialization. The development of new antibiofilm products has become urgent, but it includes bioprospecting and is time and money-consuming. Contemporary efforts are directed at the pursuit of effective compounds of natural origin, also known as “green” agents. Mushrooms appear to be a possible new source of antibiofilm compounds, as has been demonstrated recently.

Listeria monocytogenes is a major foodborne pathogen. Various methods can be used to control biofilms formed by foodborne pathogens. Recently, the food industry has become interested in plasma, which can be used as a non-thermal technology with minimum changes to product quality. In this study, the effects of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma on L.

The antilisterial activity of four strains of bacteriocinogenic lactic acid bacteria has been tested in vitro and in a meat model, as an alternative to reduce nitrite added to fermented sausages. Cell-free supernatants were obtained after bacterial growth under monoculture and coculture conditions, both at 32 °C/16 h and 22 °C/72 h.

The efficacy of pulsed light (PL) for the surface decontamination of a sliced ready-to-eat cured meat product, salpicão, was studied. The surface of the slices was inoculated with Listeria monocytogenes (107 cfu/g), and then PL treatment was applied. Microbial analyses (L. monocytogenes, coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CNS), Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and Enterobacteriaceae) were performed immediately after the treatment.

The purpose was to create a novel composite food preservative for fresh-cut lettuce using flavonoids and chitosan from sea buckthorn leaves (SBL). Sea buckthorn leaves were extracted with ethanol as the extraction solvent and ultrasonic-assisted extraction to obtain flavonoid from sea buckthorn leaf crude (FSL), and then the FSL was secondarily purified with AB-8 resin and polyamide resin to obtain flavonoid from sea buckthorn leaf purified (FSL-1).

Hydrothermally prepared garlic (Allium sativum) cloves-derived carbon dots (CDs) were used to fabricate carrageenan/sodium alginate (Car/Alg)-based functional films for UV-barrier food packaging. The effects of different concentrations of CDs on the films’ structural, functional, physical, and mechanical properties were analyzed. The CDs acted as a reinforcing agent to improve the films’ mechanical stability and surface hydrophobicity.

Listeria contamination in foods of animal origin is one of the most concerning food safety issues. A duplex, SYBR green-based, real-time PCR assay was developed with high-resolution melting analysis-based differentiation of the genus Listeria and Listeria monocytogenes. The primers were designed and tested against other related foodborne pathogens.

Microbiology Resource Announcements, Ahead of Print. While Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen of global concern, little is known regarding L. monocytogenes populations in Asia. We report the draft genome sequences of three L. monocytogenes strains from chickens in South Korea, which could facilitate understanding the genetic diversity of the regional L. monocytogenes population.

The use of antibiotics in food animals results to antimicrobial resistant bacteria that complicates the ability to treat infections. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of pathogenic and commensal bacteria in soil, water, manure, and milk from cattle and goat farms. A total of 285 environmental and 81 milk samples were analyzed for Enterobacteriaceae by using biochemical and PCR techniques.

Introduction

Due to the increasing resistance of bacteria and fungi to antimicrobials, it is necessary to search for effective alternatives to prevent and treat pathogens causing diseases in humans, animals, and plants. In this context, the mycosynthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are considered as a potential tool to combat such pathogenic microorganisms.

Methods

In ready-to-eat products, such as cooked ham, fresh cheese, and fuet in which Listeria monocytogenes is a concern, the use of biopreservation techniques represents an additional hurdle to inhibit pathogen growth during storage. The objective of this study was to apply several biopreservation techniques in three different food matrices to reduce the growth of Listeria innocua, used as a surrogate of L. monocytogenes.

The objectives of this study were, firstly, to compare a conventional (i.e., chlorinated alkaline) versus an alternative (chlorinated alkaline plus enzymatic) treatment effectivity for the elimination of biofilms from different L. monocytogenes strains (CECT 5672, CECT 935, S2-bac and EDG-e). Secondly, to evaluate the cross-contamination to chicken broth from non-treated and treated biofilms formed on stainless steel surfaces. Results showed that all L.

In this study, for the first time, the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-tyrosinase and antimicrobial property of P. atlantica Desf. subsp. atlantica leaf-bud extract have been investigated. The anti-inflammatory activity was determined in vivo by reducing carrageenan-induced hind paw edema in mice, while the antiradical function was evaluated using DPPH, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and reduction power assays.

Prenylated isoflavonoids can be extracted from plants of the Leguminosae/Fabaceae family and have shown remarkable antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive food-borne pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes. Promising candidates from this class of compounds are glabridin and 6,8-diprenylgenistein. This research aimed to investigate the potential of glabridin and 6,8-diprenylgenistein as food preservatives against L. monocytogenes.

The current research was designed to compare the physicochemical and antimicrobial properties of cell-free supernatant (CFS) and whole-cell postbiotic (WCP) and reveal the efficacy of WCP in combination with chitosan and thymol for extending the shelf life and inhibiting emerging foodborne pathogens in chicken breast fillets during storage at 4 °C.

The gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes is an important foodborne pathogen contaminating dairy products. Closely related to L. monocytogenes saprophytic Listeria spp. are also frequent contaminators of food and, particularly, dairy products. To distinguish L. monocytogenes from nonpathogenic Listeria spp. and other bacteria, a dot-immunoassay was developed.