Research Publications (Food Safety)

Milk and cheese contaminated with Prototheca sp. have zoonotic importance and constitute public health significance to the consumers. In this study, a total of 300 random raw milk and cheese samples were collected from Qena city markets, Egypt, to detect Prototheca sp. Fifty-five of the total 58 isolates of Prototheca were isolated from raw milk and cheese, respectively. The isolates were identified conventionally and microscopically.

Foodborne Pathogens and Disease , Vol. 0, No. 0.

Elaine M. S. Dorneles, Graciela K. Lima, Andréa Teixeira-Carvalho, Márcio S. S. Araújo, Olindo A. Martins-Filho, Nammalwar Sriranganathan, Hamzeh Al Qublan, Marcos B. Heinemann, Andrey P. Lage

Publication date: Available online 9 September 2015

Author(s): Linda Falgenhauer, Hiren Ghosh, Beatriz Guerra, Yancheng Yao, Moritz Fritzenwanker, Jennie Fischer, Reiner Helmuth, Can Imirzalioglu, Trinad Chakraborty

Saxitoxins (STX), neurotoxic alkaloids, fall under the umbrella of Paralytic Shellfish Toxins (PSTs) produced by marine dinoflagellates and freshwater cyanobacteria. The genes responsible for the production of saxitoxin have been proposed, but factors that influence their expression and induce toxin efflux remain unclear. Here we characterise the putative STX NorM-like MATE transporters SxtF and SxtM.

Bacterial proteases contribute to virulence by cleaving host or bacterial proteins to promote survival and dissemination. Omptins are a family of proteases embedded in the outer-membrane of Gram-negative bacteria that cleave various substrates, including host antimicrobial peptides, with a preference for cleaving at dibasic motifs. OmpT, the enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) omptin, cleaves and inactivates the human cathelicidin LL-37.

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) are human pathogens that require initial adhesion to the intestine in order to cause disease. Multiple adhesion factors have been identified in E. coli strains and among them, the long polar fimbriae (Lpf), a colonization factor associated with intestinal adhesion. The conditions of Lpf expression are well understood in enterohemorrhagic E.

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) produced by the anaerobic bacterium Clostridium botulinum are the most potent biological substances known to mankind. BoNTs are the agents responsible for botulism, a rare condition affecting the neuromuscular junction, causing a spectrum of diseases from mild cranial nerve palsies to acute respiratory failure and death.

Publication date: 23 December 2015
, Volume 215
Author(s): Hyun-Sun Seo, Larry R. Beuchat, Hoikyung Kim, Jee-Hoon Ryu

Publication date: 23 December 2015
, Volume 215
Author(s): Prashant Singh, Azlin Mustapha

Publication date: Available online 3 September 2015

Author(s): H.W. Barkema, M.A.G. von Keyserlingk, J.P. Kastelic, T.J.G.M. Lam, C. Luby, J.-P. Roy, S.J. LeBlanc, G.P. Keefe, D.F. Kelton

Publication date: October 2015
Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 84
Author(s): Assunta Raiola, Gian Carlo Tenore, Lara Manyes, Giuseppe Meca, Alberto Ritieni

Abstract

Foodborne Pathogens and Disease , Vol. 0, No. 0.

Abstract

Publication date: 23 December 2015
, Volume 215
Author(s): Ewa Pacholewicz, Apostolos Liakopoulos, Arno Swart, Betty Gortemaker, Cindy Dierikx, Arie Havelaar, Heike Schmitt

Fungus-growing termites rely on symbiotic microorganisms to help break down plant material and to obtain nutrients. Their fungal cultivar, Termitomyces, is the main plant degrader and food source for the termites, while gut bacteria complement Termitomyces in the degradation of foodstuffs, fixation of nitrogen, and metabolism of amino acids and sugars.

Broiler chicken litter was kept as a stacked heap on a poultry farm, and samples were collected up to 9 months of storage. Chicken litter inoculated with desiccation-adapted Salmonella cells was heat-treated at 75, 80, 85, and 150°C. Salmonella populations decreased in all these samples during heat treatment, and the inactivation rates became lower in chicken litter when storage time was extended from 0 to 6 months.

The foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes is able to survive and grow in ready-to-eat foods, in which it is likely to experience a number of environmental stresses due to refrigerated storage and the physicochemical properties of the food. Little is known about the specific molecular mechanisms underlying survival and growth of L. monocytogenes under different complex conditions on/in specific food matrices.

Common salt (NaCl) is frequently used by the food industry to add flavor and to act as a humectant in order to reduce the water content of a food product. The improved health awareness of consumers is leading to a demand for food products with reduced salt content; thus, manufacturers require alternative water activity-reducing agents which elicit the same general effects as NaCl. Two examples include KCl and glycerol.

Synthetic genes based on deduced amino acid sequences of the NAD-dependent DNA ligase (ligA) and CTP synthetase (pyrG) of psychrophilic bacteria were substituted for their native homologues in the genome of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis phage type 13a (PT13a). The resulting strains were rendered temperature sensitive (TS) and did not revert to temperature resistance at a detectable level.

Human norovirus (NoV) is responsible for over 90% of outbreaks of acute nonbacterial gastroenteritis worldwide and accounts for 60% of cases of foodborne illness in the United States. Currently, the infectivity of human NoVs is poorly understood due to the lack of a cell culture system.

Publication date: Available online 4 September 2015
Food and Chemical Toxicology
Author(s): Richard M. Evans, Martin Scholze, Andreas Kortenkamp

Aerobic spores pose serious problems for both food product manufacturers and consumers. Milk is particularly at risk and thus an important issue of preventive consumer protection and quality assurance. The spore-former Bacillus cereus is a food poisoning Gram-positive pathogen which mainly produces two different types of toxins, the diarrhea inducing and the emetic toxins. Reliable and rapid analytical assays for the detection of B.