Research Publications (Food Safety)

Journal of Food Process Engineering, EarlyView. In this study, the effect of cold plasma on the reduction of Aspergillus flavus and total aflatoxin level in pistachio and some of its quality properties were investigated. Independent variables for reducing A. flavus and aflatoxin include plasma exposure time (5–10–15 min), power supply voltage (10–15–20 kV), argon to air composition (0–50–100%), and the dose of inoculated toxin.

Consumption of undercooked meat is one of the main transmission routes for Toxoplasma gondii worldwide. In the South American Andes, the guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) is a domestic rodent representing one of the main sources of animal proteins for indigenous communities. Although T. gondii infects a wide range of rodents worldwide, the natural impact of the infection on guinea pig populations is still unknown.

Human listeriosis outbreaks are often associated with consumption of contaminated food, especially meat products. To better understand meat contamination of L. monocytogenes, whole genome sequencing(WGS) was performed on all detected isolates to investigate genetic relationships between retail markets and slaughterhouses. 110 and 13 isolates were isolated from 1914 food samples and 67 food and environmental samples, respectively.

Microbial-induced phosphate precipitation (MIPP) is a promising biomineralization technology to immobilize lead in wastewater. However, more in-depth biological principles and reactor models with more biomass need to be further explored to guide its engineering applications.

Aflatoxins have carcinogenic effect on human health, developing effective adsorbents for their enrichment and detection is particularly required. A magnetic hyper-crosslinked polymer (MHCP-TPE) was prepared and used as a magnetic sorbent to adsorb and isolate aflatoxins from rice and sorghum samples prior to high performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection.

As one major foodborne pathogen, Salmonella can cause serious food poisoning outbreaks worldwide. Bacteriophage therapy is increasingly considered as one of the promising antibacterial agents for the biocontrol of foodborne pathogens. In the current study, a lytic phage STG2 capable of infecting S. enteritidis and S.

Cadmium (Cd) is considered the primary dietary toxic element. Previous studies have demonstrated significant differences in heavy metal accumulation among crop species. However, this information in karst areas with low heavy metal activity is missing. In this study, the uptake and accumulation characteristics of cadmium in soil–crop samples of group 504 in the core karst region of East Asia were analyzed.

Fusarium (FER) and Gibberella ear rots (GER) are the two most devastating diseases of maize (Zea mays L.) which reduce yield and affect grain quality worldwide, especially by contamination with mycotoxins. Genetic improvement of host resistance to effectively tackle FER and GER diseases requires the identification of stable quantitative trait loci (QTL) to facilitate the application of genomics-assisted breeding for improving selection efficiency in breeding programs.

Biofortification is the supply of micronutrients required for humans and livestock by various methods in the field, which include both farming and breeding methods and are referred to as short-term and long-term solutions, respectively. The presence of essential and non-essential elements in the atmosphere, soil, and water in large quantities can cause serious problems for living organisms.

Widespread multidrug antimicrobial resistance in emerging pathogens has led to a renewed interest in phage therapy as an alternative or supplement to traditional small molecule drugs. The primary limiting factors of phage therapy deployment rest in the narrow host range specificity of phage as well as a poor understanding of many phages’ unintended downstream effects on host physiology and microbiota as well as on adverse pathogen evolution.

Sensing surface topography, an upsurge of signaling biomolecules, and upholding cellular homeostasis are the rate-limiting spatio-temporal events in microbial attachment and biofilm formation. Initially, a set of highly specialized proteins, viz. conditioning protein, directs the irreversible attachment of the microbes. Later signaling molecules, viz. autoinducer, take over the cellular communication phenomenon, resulting in a mature microbial biofilm.

Neonatal infection is a significant cause of mortality and morbidity in infants. The global incidence of multi-drug resistance continues to rise among neonatal pathogens, indicating a need for alternative treatment strategies. Nisin is an antimicrobial peptide that exhibits broad-spectrum activity against a wide variety of clinical pathogens and can be used in combination with antibiotics to improve their effectiveness.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is prevalent in wheat and threatens the health of humans and animals. It has been certificated that plasma activated water (PAW) can effectively degrade DON in wheat. However, the application of PAW used in the production of wheat flours was not reported nowadays. Thus, PAW was used to replace pure water in the traditional tempering process to eliminate DON in wheat, and DON degradation effect of PAW was compared with H2O2 and O3.

The emergence of antibiotic resistance among animal farms impels the development of novel antimicrobials or strategies for agri-food production. The combinational use of agents to achieve a synergistic antimicrobial effect provides many advantages such as dosage reduction, shortened treatment time, and avoidance of antimicrobial resistance.

Mycotoxins can occur naturally in a variety of agriculture products, including cereals, feeds, and Chinese herbal medicines (TCMs), via pre- and post-harvest contamination and are regulated worldwide. However, risk mitigation by monitoring for multiple mycotoxins remains a challenge using existing methods due to their complex matrices.

The presence of deoxynivalenol (DON) in feed may increase intestinal barrier permeability. Disturbance of the intestinal barrier integrity may affect the absorption of antibiotics used in animals. Since the bioavailability of orally administered antibiotics significantly affects their efficacy and safety, it was decided to evaluate how DON influences the absorption of the most commonly used antibiotics in pigs, i.e., amoxicillin (AMX) and doxycycline (DOX).

Gymnodimines (GYMs) are a group of fast-acting phycotoxins and their toxicological effects on human beings are still unclear due to the lack of sufficiently well-characterized large quantities of purified toxins for toxicology studies. In this study, a certified reference material (CRM) of GYM-A was prepared from the dinoflagellate Karenia selliformis, followed by multi-step chromatography separation and purification.

Fluoroquinolones (FQs) are among the antibiotics whose widespread use in farm-raised animals results in potentially harmful residues in the end products. Additionally, most Thai farmers use antibiotics. Amoxicillin and enrofloxacin were commonly used by pig farms, and hens were given enrofloxacin to prevent immunization side effects. Moreover, antibiotic overuse has harmed food safety in the long term, and the use of low-dose antibiotics causes bacterial resistance.

Clostridium perfringens is a spore-forming, anaerobic bacterium which produces toxins and exoenzymes that cause disease in calves, especially necro-hemorrhagic enteritis-associated diarrhea often resulting in death. Clostridium infections are currently being treated with antibiotics, but even with the prudent administration of antibiotics, there are significant rates of recurrence. Probiotics, an alternative to antibiotics, are commonly employed to prevent clostridial infections.

In the present study, CotA laccase was cloned from Bacillus licheniformis ZOM-1 and expressed in Escherichia coli. In addition to the oxidative degradation of zearalenone (ZEN) and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), CotA laccase also has the ability to degrade the Alternaria toxin alternariol (AOH). This is the first report of an Alternaria toxin-degrading enzyme.

Current methods of preserving fruit and vegetables are costly with accompanying health risks from preserver residue.

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by various kinds of fungi that can induce disease in humans. The fungal species Penicillium expansum produces patulin (C7H6O4), a polyketide lactone mycotoxin found in fruits. Patulin is classified as noncarcinogen; however, recently, it has been associated with harmful effects on the central nervous system.

This study aimed to determine the changes in metabolites in the culture media of foodborne pathogens using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Extracellular metabolites in tryptic soy broth inoculated with none, Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 19111, and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 and 27213 at 37 °C were collected and analyzed by 1D 1H NMR and 2D 1H–13C heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) NMR.

Bacillus cereus GSICC 30237 (BC37), preserved in the Gansu Branch of the China Industrial Microorganism Collection and Management Center (GSICC), was originally isolated from Brassica oleracea L. planting soil at Yuzhong County, Gansu Province, China.

Patulin (PAT) is a toxic secondary metabolite produced by certain species of Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus sp. on apples and pears. In this study, we investigated the effects of ascorbic acid and the combination of ascorbic acid and ferrous iron on degradation of PAT in 100% pure pear juice and apple juice using high-performance liquid chromatography UV detector (HPLC-UVD).