Research Publications (Food Safety)

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This work studies the activity concentration of natural radioactivity in 20 different types of rice, including imported rice and that produced locally. The rice samples were collected from markets and farms in Iraq, and then a natural radioactivity investigation was done in the environmental laboratory of the Kufa University, using gamma-ray spectrometer systems.

Ozone is widely used in food processing, for example, to decompose mycotoxins or pesticide residues, to extend the shelf life of products, and for sanitation. The objective of this study was to assess the possibility of expanding the application of ozone for oxidative degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The evaluation was conducted by ozonation of a benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) standard solution and smoked fish (sprats) contaminated with PAHs.

Experiments were conducted to assess the influence of storage practices on mycotoxin incidences in stored maize and groundnuts in Kilosa District, Eastern Central Tanzania. Factorial experiments were used to test the effects of processing, storage conditions, and protectants at 3-month intervals for 12 weeks. Temperature and relative humidity data were recorded by using data loggers.

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In this study, bonito fish (Sarda sarda Bloch, 1793) were irradiated at 3 or 5 kGy, packaged, frozen, and stored at −20 ± 2°C for 12 months. During storage, the microbiological, physical, and chemical changes of the fish flesh were then assessed. Increasing the irradiation dose to 5 kGy provided greater inhibition of mesophilic and psychotropic aerobic bacteria (P < 0.05).

Food safety is an essential public health issue for all countries. This study was the first attempt to design and develop a home food safety questionnaire (HFSQ), in the conceptual framework of the PRECEDE (predisposing, reinforcing, and enabling constructs in educational diagnosis and evaluation) model, and to assess its validity and reliability. The HFSQ was developed by reviewing electronic databases and 12 focus group discussions with 96 women volunteers.

Increased consumer demand for convenience and ready-to-eat food, along with changes to consumer food purchase and storage practices, have resulted in an increased reliance on refrigeration to maximize food safety.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration 2013 Model Food Code, it is the duty of a food establishment to disclose and remind consumers of risk when ordering undercooked food such as ground beef. The purpose of this study was to explore actual risk communication behaviors of food establishment servers.

Eggs continue to be significant in terms of the world economy and human nutrition. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of foodborne pathogens in a cross section of egg production types in China and to examine the virulence features of the isolated pathogens. Three hundred eggs from three provinces were tested for Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Campylobacter. Two eggs were positive for Salmonella, one was positive for both E. coli and S.

Pathogen environmental monitoring programs (EMPs) are essential for food processing facilities of all sizes that produce ready-to-eat food products exposed to the processing environment. We developed, implemented, and evaluated EMPs targeting Listeria spp. and Salmonella in nine small cheese processing facilities, including seven farmstead facilities. Individual EMPs with monthly sample collection protocols were designed specifically for each facility.

Vibrio spp. have emerged as a serious threat to human health worldwide. V. parahaemolyticus, V. cholerae, and V. vulnificus pose a considerable public health risk in Tunisia because they cause sporadic and epidemic foodborne infections associated with the consumption of raw or undercooked contaminated seafood. More recently, toxR-positive V. alginolyticus was also reported to be a potential source of contaminated seafood.

The determination of Shiga toxin (ST) subtypes can be an important element in the risk characterization of foodborne ST-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) isolates for making risk management decisions.

Genomic antimicrobial resistance (AMR) prediction tools have the potential to support foodborne illness outbreak investigations through their application in the analysis of bacterial genomes from causative strains. The AMR marker profile of a strain of interest, initially identified in outbreak-associated clinical samples, may serve as the basis for customization of selective enrichment media, facilitating its recovery from samples in a food safety investigation.

Salmonella continues to be a problem associated with low-moisture foods, particularly given enhanced thermal resistance at lower water activity (aw). However, there is a scarcity of thermal inactivation models accounting for the effect of aw. The objective of this study was to test multiple secondary models for the effect of product (wheat flour) aw on Salmonella enterica Enteritidis phage type 30 thermal resistance.

A six sigma fishbone analysis approach was used to develop a machine learning model in SAS, Version 9.4, by using stepwise linear regression. The model evaluated the effect of a wide variety of variables, including slaughter establishment operational measures, normal (30-year average) weather, and extreme weather events on the rate of Salmonella-positive carcasses in young chicken slaughter establishments.

This study aimed at identifying explanatory variables that were associated with Campylobacter and Escherichia coli concentrations throughout processing in two commercial broiler slaughterhouses. Quantative data on Campylobacter and E. coli along the processing line were collected.

Public health concerns over the emergence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria have increased recently. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of antimicrobial resistant Enterobacteriaceae in shell eggs purchased from small poultry farms and farmers' markets. A total of 504 eggs were pooled to make 252 composite samples, consisting of 2 eggs per composite. The microbial quality of shell eggs was determined by standard quantitative, biochemical, and PCR techniques.

During September to October, 2006, state and local health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated a large, multistate outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections. Case patients were interviewed regarding specific foods consumed and other possible exposures. E. coli O157:H7 strains isolated from human and food specimens were subtyped using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analyses (MLVA).

Muireann K. Smith, Lorraine A. Draper, Pieter-Jan Hazelhoff, Paul D. Cotter, R. P. Ross, Colin Hill

Alejandro Huerta-Uribe, Zoe R. Marjenberg, Nao Yamaguchi, Stephen Fitzgerald, James P. R. Connolly, Nuria Carpena, Hanna Uvell, Gillian Douce, Michael Elofsson, Olwyn Byron, Rudi Marquez, David L. Gally, Andrew J. Roe

Fusarium graminearum is the predominant causal species of Fusarium head blight in Europe and North America. Different chemotypes of the species exist, each producing a plethora of mycotoxins. Isolates of differing chemotypes produce nivalenol (NIV) and deoxynivalenol (DON), which differ in toxicity to mammals and plants. However, the effect of each mycotoxin on volatile emissions of plant hosts is not known.

Shiga toxin (Stx) 2e of Stx-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is the primary virulence factor in the development of pig edema disease shortly after weaning. Stx2e binds to the globo-series glycosphingolipids (GSLs) globotriaosylceramide (Gb3Cer, Galα1-4Galβ1-4Glcβ1-1Cer) and globotetraosylceramide (Gb4Cer, GalNAcβ1-3Galα1-4Galβ1-4Glcβ1-1Cer), the latter acting as the preferential Stx2e receptor.

Vibrio cholerae has caused seven cholera pandemics since 1817, imposing terror on much of the world, but bacterial strains are currently only available for the sixth and seventh pandemics. The El Tor biotype seventh pandemic began in 1961 in Indonesia, but did not originate directly from the classical biotype sixth-pandemic...

Routine dietary consumption of foods that contain aflatoxins is the second leading cause of environmental carcinogenesis worldwide. Aflatoxin-driven mutagenesis is initiated through metabolic activation of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) to its epoxide form that reacts with N7 guanine in DNA. The resulting AFB1-N7-dG adduct undergoes either spontaneous depurination or imidazole-ring opening...