Research Publications (Food Safety)

The productions of food, agricultural products and feed involve a variety processing conditions, which can affect the release/binding of zearalenone (ZEN) with macro-components in maize, resulting in the interconversion of hidden ZEN with free ZEN. This interconversion can cause the uncertainties and individual differences in the exposure assessment.

Bacterial infection has become an important factor affecting human health, and the increasing antibiotic resistance has seriously hindered the treatment of infectious diseases. This study aimed to explore a novel nanotechnology that combines silver with glutathione (GSH) to form antibacterial nanoclusters, GSH@AgNCs.

Listeria monocytogenes is a food-borne pathogen that can cause human listeriosis. The main cause of L.monocytogenes poisoning is the consumption of contaminated or processed foods, of which meat is the main one. At present, it is not clear whether the listeria contaminated in different meat is genetically diverse.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a momentous factor affecting food safety. It can survive under long-term desiccation stress and contaminate foods that have intermediate to low water activities. However, the specific molecular mechanisms by which it survives and persists under low water activity stress are often overlooked. In this study, transcriptome analysis was applied to investigate the effect of desiccation stress on gene expression of S.

Listeria monocytogenes is a significant foodborne health hazard in many products and may survive and grow when making fermented meat sausages. The objective of this study was to investigate the competition between lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and L. monocytogenes during simultaneous fermentation and drying (SFD) of meat sausages.

This work developed an enzyme-free fluorescent aptasensor for sensitive aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) detection based on a dual signal amplification strategy of hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and Zn2+-dependent DNAzyme. In the presence of AFB1, the aptamer specifically binds to the target, releasing the blocking DNA, which can initiate HCR between hairpin probes H1 and H2.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is reported to cause intestinal damage following ingestion of contaminated foods. Tibetan kefir (TK) is a fermented dairy product that possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and gut microbiota-regulating properties. However, it is not clear if TK can alleviate OTA-associated intestinal toxicity. Here, we investigated whether TK can prevent OTA-induced intestinal barrier disruption in mice.

Recently, using bacteriophages as new molecular probes in reliable platforms for the detection of bacterial pathogens has attracted more and more increasing attentions. In this paper, a novel isolated Myoviridae bacteriophage SEP37 was covalently immobilized onto gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) modified gold disk electrode (GDE) surfaces using cysteamine (Cys) as a crosslinker.

In this article, the thermal inactivation of two Salmonella strains (Salmonella Enteritidis CECT4300 and Salmonella Senftenberg CECT4565) was studied under both isothermal and dynamic conditions. We observed large differences between these two strains, with S. Senftenberg being much more resistant than S. Enteritidis.

Fine ground black pepper generally consumed as a seasoning without any further processing has been associated with Salmonella enterica outbreaks. Thermal inactivation kinetics data is necessary to develop a pasteurization process for fine ground black pepper.

Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) activation has been shown to protect against intestinal injury induced by different stimuli. PPARγ is known to regulate tight junction proteins (TJP) in epithelial cells. Both eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are natural PPARγ agonists, but the implication of PPARγ in their physiological effects on the gut is poorly understood.

Blood sausages consisting of groats, pork, porcine offal, fat, blood, and spices are very popular in the Czech Republic. All these ingredients are potential sources of dietary exposure to ochratoxin A (OTA). OTA has a strong affinity to serum proteins in porcine blood. Thus, the contamination of blood sausages with OTA can be expected. This study aims to evaluate OTA in 200 samples of porcine blood sausages purchased at the Czech market during 2020–2021.

Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen that can form biofilms in food processing facilities even under unfavorable growth environment. This study aimed to evaluate the biofilm eradication ability of Listeria-specific bacteriophage (phage) cocktail (LMPC01+02+03) against L.

Salmonella, especially drug-resistant Salmonella poses a serious threat to food safety and human health. Herein, we proposed a rapid, accurate and sensitive phage amplification-based analysis (PAA) based on an isolated Salmonella phage T156 with broad host range and potent lysis ability for the quantification of viable Salmonella, as well as rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing.

It has been a challenge in developing effective thermal pasteurization processes for foods with high-fat and low-moisture contents like peanut butter, due to a general lack of reliable data on thermal resistance of pathogens in those food matrices.

Since mcr-1 was first discovered in 2015, this gene has shown excellent transmission ability and evolutionary characteristics worldwide, leading to major public health and food safety concerns.

Essential oils (EOs), such as thyme (Thy) and cinnamon (Cin) oils, present promising antibacterial properties against foodborne pathogens (e.g., Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium). However, the food matrix might result in sublethal EO stress, and little information about direct and/or cross-resistance development after sublethal EO exposure is available.

This project explored the antibacterial mechanism of didecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB) toward Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and its removal effect on biofilms. Furthermore, we explored the effect of treatment by DDAB combined with slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) on biofilms of S. aureus or P. aeruginosa. First, DDAB has bacteriostatic and biofilm removal effects.

Outbreaks involving romaine and iceberg lettuce are frequently reported in the United States. Novel technologies are needed to inactivate pathogens without compromising product quality and shelf life. In this study, the effects of a process aid composed of silver dihydrogen citrate, glycerin, and lactic acid (SGL) on Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes concentrations on lettuce immediately after washing and during cold storage were evaluated.

Various studies have identified the kidney as a target organ for patulin (PAT)-induced toxicity. However, detailed mechanistic insights into PAT-induced nephrotoxicity had not yet been done.

Foodborne pathogen-mediated biofilms in food processing environments are severe threats to human lives. In the interest of human and environmental safety, natural substances with antimicrobial properties and generally regarded as safe (GRAS) status are the futuristic disinfectants of the food industry. In this study, the efficacy of bioactive, soluble products (metabolic by-products) from lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and plant-derived essential oils (EO) were investigated as biocidal agents.

Due to the ubiquitous character of Listeria monocytogenes, multiple strains of the pathogen may end up co-existing in/on the same final products and could potentially cause infection during consumption. Such multiple strain contamination may occur in different stages of the food supply chain. The present study evaluated the effect of oxygen availability and matrix structure on inter-strain interactions of L.

The importance of single-cell variability is increasingly prominent with the developments in foodborne pathogens modeling. Traditional predictive microbiology model cannot accurately describe the growth behavior of small numbers of cells due to individual cell heterogeneity. The objective of the present study was to develop predictive models for single cell lag times of Salmonella Enteritidis after heat and chlorine treatment.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a foodborne pathogen that endangers human health worldwide. Antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation (aPDI), mediated by titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NP), was recently used to control the growth of S. aureus, however, UV illumination had to be offered to initiate the photodynamic reaction.

Microorganisms in low-moisture foods (LMFs) exhibit prolonged survivability and high heat resistance. Various external factors (water, food texture, nutritional compounds, etc.) influence the microbial heat resistance in LMFs; yet, the influential degree of each factor is not fully understood. In this study, the thermal resistance parameters (D and z values) of Salmonella enterica Enteritidis PT 30 (S.