Research Publications (Food Safety)

Aims
To develop and evaluate cross-priming amplification (CPA) combined with immuno-blotting for detection of coagulase-positive Staphylococci including Staphylococcus aureus.

Publication date: 15 November 2015
, Volume 187
Author(s): Juan Xu , Lili Ma , Dong Jiang , Shiping Zhu , Fuhua Yan , Yunxia Xie , Zongzhou Xie , Wenwu Guo , Xiuxin Deng

Publication date: 15 November 2015
, Volume 187
Author(s): Mohammad Behbahani , Parmoon Ghareh Hassanlou , Mostafa M. Amini , Fariborz Omidi , Ali Esrafili , Mehdi Farzadkia , Akbar Bagheri

Publication date: June 2015
, Volume 72
Author(s): Ana García-Moraleja , Guillermina Font , Jordi Mañes , Emilia Ferrer

This perspective on hepatitis A in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) presents epidemiological data on new cases and outbreaks and vaccination policies. Hepatitis A endemicity in the EU/EEA ranges from very low to intermediate with a decline in notification rates in recent decades. Vaccination uptake has been insufficient to compensate for the increasing number of susceptible individuals. Large outbreaks occur.

We report an outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis phage type 14b (PT14b) in the United Kingdom (UK) between May and September 2014 where Public Health England launched an investigation to identify the source of infection and implement control measures. During the same period, outbreaks caused by a Salmonella Enteritidis strain with a specific multilocus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) profile occurred in other European Union Member States.

Publication date: Available online 23 April 2015 Food Bioscience Author(s): Sandrina A. Heleno , Raíssa Carolina Ferreira , Amilcar L. Antonio , Maria-João R.P. Queiroz , Lillian Barros , Isabel C.F.R. Ferreira Mushrooms contain a multitude of biomolecules with nutritional and/or biological activity. Among the bioactive molecules, phenolic compounds and tocopherols are the most responsible for their antioxidant activity.

Understanding of the colonization process of epithelial bacteria attached to the rumen tissue during rumen development is very limited. Ruminal epithelial bacterial colonization is of great significance for the relationship between the microbiota and the host and can influence the early development and health of the host.

Analysis of the genome of Bacillus halodurans strain C125 indicated that two pathways leading from a cytosine deoxyribonucleotide to dUMP, used for dTMP synthesis, were encoded by the genome of the bacterium. The genes that were responsible, the comEB gene and the dcdB gene, encoding dCMP deaminase and the bifunctional dCTP deaminase:dUTPase (DCD:DUT), respectively, were both shown to be expressed in B.

We hypothesized that interactions between fusarium head blight-causing pathogens and herbivores are likely to occur because they share wheat as a host plant. Our aim was to investigate the interactions between the grain aphid, Sitobion avenae, and Fusarium graminearum on wheat ears and the role that host volatile chemicals play in mediating interactions. Wheat ears were treated with aphids and F.

Mesophilic and psychrotrophic organism viable counts, as well as high-throughput 16S rRNA gene-based pyrosequencing, were performed with the aim of elucidating the origin of psychrotrophic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in a ready-to-eat (RTE) meal manufacturing plant. The microbial counts of the products at the end of the shelf life were greatly underestimated when mesophilic incubation was implemented due to overlooked, psychrotrophic members of the LAB.

IncA/C plasmids are broad-host-range plasmids enabling multidrug resistance that have emerged worldwide among bacterial pathogens of humans and animals. Although antibiotic usage is suspected to be a driving force in the emergence of such strains, few studies have examined the impact of different types of antibiotic administration on the selection of plasmid-containing multidrug resistant isolates.

The use of a yeast cell wall extract derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Actigen®) has been proposed as an alternative to in-feed antibiotics. This experiment was conducted to investigate the efficacy of yeast cell extract as an alternative to zinc bacitracin or salinomycin using a necrotic enteritis challenge model. A feeding study was conducted using 480-day-old male Ross 308 chicks assigned to 48 floor pens. A 2 x 4 factorial arrangement of treatments was employed.

This study aimed to determine the aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) binding capacity of a beer fermentation residue (BFR) containing Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells, and the efficacy of BFR to ameliorate the toxic effects of AFB1 on performance, serum biochemistry, and histology of broilers. The BFR was collected from a microbrewery, and the yeast cells were counted, dried, and milled before it was used in the study.

The effect of global antibiotic use practices in livestock on the emergence of antibiotic resistant pathogens is poorly understood. There is a paucity of data among African nations, which suffer from high rates of antibiotic resistant infections among the human population. Escherichia (29.5%), Staphylococcus (15.8%), and Proteus (15.79%) were the dominant bacterial genera isolated from chicken litter from four different farms in Zaria, Nigeria, all of which contain human pathogenic members.

In this study, a dual priming oligonucleotide (DPO)-based multiplex PCR assay was developed for the specific detection of four foodborne diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) in food, including enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) O157:H7 and enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC). Species-specific DPO primers were designed based on rfbE, LT, ipaH and bfpA genes for EHEC O157:H7, ETEC, EIEC and EPEC, respectively.

The physical, optical, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of jellyfish protein (JFP) films with added transglutaminase (TGase) and wasabi extract (WE) were studied. Among the plasticisers, 30% sorbitol was the most desirable. The optimal physical properties of the JFP films were obtained when 15 U transglutaminase g−1 JFP was added. The incorporation of WE affected the physical properties of the JFP films.

Cellulose is the most abundant organic polymer on Earth. In bacteria, cellulose confers protection against environmental insults and is a constituent of biofilms typically formed on abiotic surfaces. We report that, surprisingly, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium makes cellulose when inside macrophages. We determine that preventing cellulose synthesis increases virulence, whereas...

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a natural antimicrobial agent (Pronat) on selected quality indicators during the shelf life of vacuum-packed frankfurters made from jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) muscle. Frankfurters with and without Pronat (0.1%) were vacuum-packed and stored at 2–4C for up to 28 days.

The occurrence of outbreaks of Cronobacter sakazakii causing necrotizing meningitis in China highlights the need for strain characterization of this pathogenic species. In this study, SMM system was utilized to mine for new molecular markers of C. sakazakii. One C. sakazakii-specific CDS (>ref|NC_009778.1|:c1077329-1076055) with a length of 1,275 bp was used to design a primer set. A PCR assay was developed and optimized to detect C. sakazakii.

Noroviruses are the most common causative agent of viral gastroenteritis in humansand are responsible for major foodborne illnesses in the United States. Filter-feeding molluscan shellfish exposed to sewage-contaminated waters bioaccumulate viruses, and if consumed raw, transmit the viruses to humans and cause illness.

The study investigated fresh tomato fruits (Roma VF variety) prepared into paste, proportioned into different samples with each receiving different concentrations of ginger, ginger and garlic powder (2 and 4% w/w) and stored over a period of 8 weeks. The total viable (TVC), lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeast counts of the samples were enumerated on a weekly basis while the pure microbial isolates were identified.

Adrianna Raczkowska, Joanna Trzos, Olga Lewandowska, Marta Nieckarz, Katarzyna Brzostek

The role of chromosomal toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems, ubiquitous within the genomes of free-living bacteria, is still debated. We have scanned the Vibrio cholerae N16961 genome for class 2 TA genes and identified 18 gene-pair candidates. Interestingly, all but one are located in the chromosome 2 superintegron (SI). The single TA found outside of the SI is located on chromosome 1 and is related to the well-characterized HipAB family known to play a role in antibiotic persistence.

Publication date: Available online 17 April 2015

Author(s): Gerjo J. de Knegt , Irma A.J.M. Bakker-Woudenberg , Dick van Soolingen , Rob Aarnoutse , Martin J. Boeree , Jurriaan E.M. de Steenwinkel