An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Research Publications (Food Safety)

This page tracks research articles published in national and international peer-reviewed journals. Recent articles are available ahead of print and searchable by Journal, Article Title, and Category. Research publications are tracked across six categories: Bacterial Pathogens, Chemical Contaminants, Natural Toxins, Parasites, Produce Safety, and Viruses. Articles produced by USDA Grant Funding Agencies (requires login) and FDA Grant Funding Agencies (requires login) are also tracked in Scopus.

Displaying 101 - 125 of 568

  1. Does the Oxygen Permeability affect the Equilibrium Gas Concentrations in Passive Modified Atmosphere Packaged Pomegranate Arils?

    • Journal of Food Quality
    • Abstract The effect of oxygen permeability of packaging material on shelf life of minimally processed and passive modified atmosphere packaged pomegranate arils, cv “Wonderful” as well as some quality attributes were investigated. Packaging materials having Oxygen transmission rate (OTR) as low as 125–290 cm3/m2/day were found to provide the gas concentration requirements of 2–5% O2 and 3–10% CO2 for passive modified atmosphere application of fresh fruits and vegetables.

      • Produce Safety
      • Fresh Cut
  2. Isochoric freezing of foods: A review of instrumentation, mechanism, physicochemical influence, and applications

    • Journal of Food Processing and Preservation
    • Abstract This literature survey reveals the extended shelf life of foods when subjected to isochoric freeze processing. All other preservation aspects, thermal or non‐thermal, contribute to food preservation as per their specific functionality. From the given set of available food preservation technologies, shelf life extension by way of isochoric freezing works very well to extend the shelf life of fresh agricultural produce, without any weight loss and browning reaction to occur.

      • Produce Safety
      • Post Harvest
      • Leafy Greens
  3. Anti‐browning active packaging: A review on delivery mechanism, mode of action, and compatibility with biodegradable polymers

    • Journal of Food Processing and Preservation
    • Abstract Fresh‐cut fruits and vegetables are still an active area of study despite being a staple of food outlets offering minimally processed foods. These minimally processed foods often have a short shelf life due to enzymatic browning. Active packaging is of current interest as it offers an efficient method to deliver polyphenol oxidase inhibitors onto the surface of foods to suppress browning.

      • Produce Safety
      • Fresh Cut
  4. A new and efficient method for producing food ingredients high in l‐ornithine using unused parts of white cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata)

    • Journal of Food Biochemistry
    • A surplus of unused parts of vegetables (e.g., white cabbage cores and outer leaves) is generated daily by factories of fresh‐cut vegetables. Anaerobic fermentation of these vegetable residues with protease (Sumizyme FP) and Pediococcus pentosaceus did not produced l‐ornithine, however, when eggshell was added to them, large amounts of l‐ornithine were stably produced. These fermented products are sustainable food ingredients with the potential health benefits of l‐ornithine.

      • Produce Safety
      • Fresh Cut
  5. Vitis vinifera L. Bioactive Components Modulate Adipose Tissue Metabolic Markers of Healthy Rats in a Photoperiod‐Dependent Manner

    • Molecular Nutrition & Food Research
    • This study aims to describe the metabolic effects of seasonal consumption of red grapes as a rich and natural source of (poly)phenols. Specifically, it focuses on energy metabolism and the biology of the adipose tissue, a key player in the energy balance regulation in mammals. Moreover, it highlights that differences in (poly)phenol composition in one same fruit, resulting from distinct growing conditions, can also affect metabolism.

      • Produce Safety
      • Seasonal Produce
  6. Linking the willingness of smallholder dairy farmers to adopt minimum food safety and quality standards to the country's export potential

    • International Journal of Food Science & Technology
    • A visual summary of the findings. Summary Food safety is a crucial aspect of human well‐being, covered under the second sustainable development goal (SDG). Sustainable food supply chains must ensure compliance with food safety standards from farm to fork. Consumers in developed countries are becoming ever more demanding regarding ‘producers’ compliance with food safety and quality standards.

      • Produce Safety
      • Pre Harvest
  7. Transcriptome and metabolic survey disclose the mode of action of static and dynamic low oxygen postharvest storage strategies to prevent the onset of superficial scald disorder in fruit of ‘Granny Smith’ apple cultivar

    • Postharvest Biology and Technology
    • To preserve quality features and ensuring availability of fresh fruit on the market, apples need to be stored after harvest. The low temperature applied during storage, beside avoiding important fruit loss, can also promote the development of serious chilling injury disorders, such as superficial scald. One of the strategies largely employed to prevent the development of this phenomenon is the control of the storage atmosphere by lowering down the oxygen concentration.

      • Produce Safety
      • Post Harvest
  8. Widespread Multidrug Resistance of Arcobacter butzleri Isolated from Clinical and Food Sources in Central Italy

    • Antibiotics
    • The Arcobacter genus comprises a group of bacteria widely distributed in different habitats that can be spread throughout the food chain. Fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides represent the most common antimicrobial agents used for the treatment of Arcobacter infections. However, the increasing trend of the antimicrobial resistance of this pathogen leads to treatment failures.

      • Produce Safety
      • Leafy Greens
  9. Exploring genetic variability of Giardia duodenalis and Enterocytozoon bieneusi in raw vegetables and fruits: implications for food safety and public health in Mozambique

    • Frontiers in Microbiology
    • Giardia duodenalis and Enterocytozoon bieneusi are etiological agents of enteric diseases characterized by diarrhea that can progress to chronicity in humans, especially in children and in immunocompromised patients. This study aims to assess the genetic pattern of G. duodenalis and E. bieneusi detected in vegetables and fruits commercialized in Maputo markets, Mozambique and determine their public health importance.

      • Parasites
      • Giardia lamblia
      • Produce Safety
      • Leafy Greens
  10. Sprout-suppressing 1,4-dimethylnaphthalene treatment reduces dry rot infection in potato tubers during postharvest storage

    • Postharvest Biology and Technology
    • Postharvest losses related to dry rot can reach 60% during long-term storage of potato tubers.

      • Produce Safety
      • Post Harvest
  11. Farm management practices and season dependent factors affect the microbial community and chemical profile of corn and grass-legume silages of farms in Ontario, Québec, and Northern New York

    • Frontiers in Microbiology
    • The effects of farm management practices and seasonal variation on the microbial community and chemical composition of corn and grass-legume silage are largely understudied due to the advantages of controlled mini-silo experiments. This study aims to investigate the effects that some key farm factors (use of an inoculant, farm region, and bunker or tower silo) and seasonal variations have on corn and grass-legume silage from farms across Ontario, Quebec, and New York.

      • Produce Safety
      • Seasonal Produce
  12. Metalloporphyrin-based Amphiphilic Porous Organic Polymer with Peroxidase-mimetic Activity for Colorimetric Detection of Ascorbic Acid

    • Food Analytical Methods
    • Porous organic polymers (POPs) are a class of materials that combine the properties of both polymers and porosity. They are characterized by their network structure composed of repeating organic units, which form pores or cavities throughout the material. Owing to their unique features including tunable porosity, abundant accessible active sites and synthetically control ability, POPs have been widely employed in the fields of catalysis, adsorption, and biomedicine.

      • Produce Safety
      • Ethylene Sensitive
  13. Understanding potential cattle contribution to leafy green outbreaks: A scoping review of the literature and public health reports

    • Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety
    • Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Recently, multiple reports from regulatory agencies have linked leafy green outbreaks to nearby or adjacent cattle operations. While they have made logical explanations for this phenomenon, the reports and data should be summarized to determine if the association was based on empirical data, epidemiological association, or speculation.

      • Produce Safety
      • Leafy Greens
  14. Transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis reveals a protein module involved in preharvest apple peel browning

    • Plant Physiology
    • Peel browning is a natural phenomenon that adversely affects the appearance of fruits. Research on the regulation of browning in apples (Malus × domestica Borkh.) has mainly focused on postharvest storage, while studies at the preharvest stage are relatively rare. Apple is an economically important horticultural crop prone to peel browning during growth, especially when the fruits are bagged (dark conditions).

      • Produce Safety
      • Post Harvest
  15. ETHYLENE-INSENSITIVE 3-LIKE 2 regulates β-carotene and ascorbic acid accumulation in tomatoes during ripening

    • Plant Physiology
    • ETHYLENE-INSENSITIVE 3/ETHYLENE-INSENSITIVE 3-LIKEs (EIN3/EILs) are important ethylene response factors during fruit ripening. Here, we discovered that EIL2 controls carotenoid metabolism and ascorbic acid (AsA) biosynthesis in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). In contrast to the red fruits presented in the wild type (WT) 45 d after pollination, the fruits of CRISPR/Cas9 eil2 mutants and SlEIL2 RNA interference lines (ERIs) showed yellow or orange fruits.

      • Produce Safety
      • Ethylene Sensitive
  16. Targeted system approach to ethylene biosynthesis and signaling of a heat tolerant tomato cultivar; the impact of growing season on fruit ripening

    • Frontiers in Plant Science
    • Growing tomato in hot weather conditions is challenging for fruit production and yield. Tomato cv. Savior is a heat-tolerant cultivar which can be grown during both the Vietnamese winter (mild condition) and summer (hot condition) season. Understanding the mechanisms of ethylene biosynthesis and signaling are important for agriculture, as manipulation of these pathways can lead to improvements in crop yield, stress tolerance, and fruit ripening.

      • Produce Safety
      • Post Harvest
  17. Deep inside the genetic regulation of ascorbic acid during fruit ripening and postharvest storage

    • Postharvest Biology and Technology
    • Since the early characterization of vitamin C (ascorbic acid, AsA) as a major antioxidant molecule that human beings are unable to synthesize de novo, the discovery of adequate natural sources of AsA, as well as its elevation and preservation in fruit and vegetables through the entire food chain, has become a cutting-edge research topic in plant science as well as in 

      • Produce Safety
      • Post Harvest
  18. Linking microbial contamination to food spoilage and food waste: the role of smart packaging, spoilage risk assessments, and date labeling

    • Frontiers in Microbiology
    • Ensuring a safe and adequate food supply is a cornerstone of human health and food security. However, a significant portion of the food produced for human consumption is wasted annually on a global scale. Reducing harvest and postharvest food waste, waste during food processing, as well as food waste at the consumer level, have been key objectives of improving and maintaining sustainability.

      • Produce Safety
      • Post Harvest
  19. Enhanced H2S biogenesis followed by its postharvest application retarded senescence development by promoting multiple antioxidant protection systems in button mushroom during cold storage

    • Food Science and Technology International
    • Rapid postharvest quality deterioration of button mushroom as fruit body surface browning brings about senescence development and limits its distribution potential and postharvest storage. In this investigation, 0.5 mM of NaHS as the optimum concentration for H2S fumigation was applied to retain the quality of Agaricus bisporus mushrooms concerning some qualitative and biochemical attributes evaluation throughout 15 storage-day at 4°C and 80–90% relative humidity.

      • Produce Safety
      • Post Harvest
  20. Isolation of three MiDi19-4 genes from mango, the ectopic expression of which confers early flowering and enhances stress tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis

    • Planta
    • Drought-induced protein 19 (Di19) is a drought-induced protein that is mainly involved in multiple stress responses. Here, three Di19-4 genes (MiDi19-4A/B/C) in mango (Mangifera indica L.) were identified, and the coding sequences (CDS) had lengths of 684, 666, and 672 bp and encoded proteins with 228, 222, and 224 amino acids, respectively.

      • Produce Safety
      • Ethylene Sensitive
  21. ASFL-YOLOX: an adaptive spatial feature fusion and lightweight detection method for insect pests of the Papilionidae family

    • Frontiers in Plant Science
    • Introduction Insect pests from the family Papilionidae (IPPs) are a seasonal threat to citrus orchards, causing damage to young leaves, affecting canopy formation and fruiting. Existing pest detection models used by orchard plant protection equipment lack a balance between inference speed and accuracy. Methods To address this issue, we propose an adaptive spatial feature fusion and lightweight detection model for IPPs, called ASFL-YOLOX.

      • Produce Safety
      • Seasonal Produce
  22. Tobamovirus infection aggravates gray mold disease caused by Botrytis cinerea by manipulating the salicylic acid pathway in tomato

    • Frontiers in Plant Science
    • Botrytis cinerea is the causative agent of gray mold disease, and infects more than 1400 plant species, including important crop plants. In tomato, B. cinerea causes severe damage in greenhouses and post-harvest storage and transport. Plant viruses of the Tobamovirus genus cause significant damage to various crop species. In recent years, the tobamovirus tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) has significantly affected the global tomato industry.

      • Produce Safety
      • Post Harvest
  23. Transcription factors GmERF1 and GmWRKY6 synergistically regulate low phosphorus tolerance in soybean

    • Plant Physiology
    • Soybean (Glycine max) is a major grain and oil crop worldwide, but low phosphorus (LP) in soil severely limits the development of soybean production. Dissecting the regulatory mechanism of the phosphorus (P) response is crucial for improving the P use efficiency of soybean. Here, we identified a transcription factor, GmERF1 (ethylene response factor 1), that is mainly expressed in soybean root and localized in the nucleus.

      • Produce Safety
      • Ethylene Sensitive
  24. High virulence Proteus mirabilis strains cause acceleration of decay of fresh-cut fruits

    • LWT
    • The role of Proteus mirabilis on food safety has not been investigated before. Three P. mirabilis strains (swupm1, swupm2 and swupm3) isolated from fresh-cut fruits were shown to vary in swarming motility, with strains swupm1 and swupm2, but not awupm3 exhibiting the characteristic bull's-eye phenotype. Strains swupm1 and swupm2 grew faster and produced stronger biofilm than swupm3.

      • Produce Safety
      • Fresh Cut
  25. Protection of postharvest grains from fungal spoilage by biogenic volatiles

    • Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
    • Fungal spoilage of postharvest grains poses serious problems with respect to food safety, human health, and the economic value of grains. The protection of cereal grains from deleterious fungi is a critical aim in postharvest grain management. Considering the bulk volume of grain piles in warehouses or bins and food safety, fumigation with natural gaseous fungicides is a promising strategy to control fungal contamination on postharvest grains.

      • Produce Safety
      • Post Harvest