Research Publications (Food Safety)

Pesticides are currently extensively used in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and environmental hygiene, and their residues have become a global environmental problem, which can easily form combined pollution with heavy metals.

As global warming increases the geographical range and frequency of Vibrio parahaemolyticus infections, its formation of biofilms providing bacteria greater resistance to stress and contributing to the persistence of pathogens, is threatening the seafood industry. V. parahaemolyticus has a number of advantages leading to biofilm formation.

Patulin (PAT) is a common toxin in fruit juice, and adsorption is the most commonly used patulin removal method. The safety, adsorption capacity, and separation capacity of the adsorbent are the most important considerations. As a low-cost and biocompatible microbial material, bacterial cellulose gel membranes (BCMs) have many hydroxyl active sites that are readily modified, and BCMs are also stable, which facilitates their separation from aqueous solution.

Background Cereal grains are an important for the nutrition of both humans and animals, and contribute to the nutrition cycle in different ways. Chemical contaminants are important to be monitored in food due to their direct effects on human health.

Background The Clear Safety Salmonella method was modified to improve sample preparation, PCR reagents, library preparation, flow cell quality control, library loading mix, priming mix, and sequencing kit reagents and steps. Objective To evaluate the modified Clear Safety Salmonella method (manual and automated) via independent and method developer validation studies according to current AOAC INTERNATIONAL Validation Guidelines.

Background The Clear Safety Listeria method utilizes polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and targeted next-generation sequencing technology to detect Listeria species (L. monocytogenes, L. innocua, L. ivanovii, L. marthii, L. grayi, L. welshimeri, and L. seeligeri) in hot dogs and on selected environmental surfaces. Objective The aim was to validate the candidate method according to current AOAC guidelines.

Background The candidate method, SMARTCHEK Salmonella spp. Detection Kit assay is designed for rapid detection of Salmonella spp. in select food matrixes, for use in conjunction with the Genesystems Rapi:chipTM and GENECHECKER UF-300 real-time PCR system. Objective The independent laboratory evaluation consisted of an inclusivity and exclusivity study, product consistency study, robustness study, stability study, and a matrix study.

Background Alternaria toxins are ubiquitous contaminants in highly consumed food products. Therefore, they are candidates to be regulated by EU legislation. In this context, the availability of reliable analytical methods is a keystone both for protecting the health of citizens and smooth functioning of the European market.

Background Exposure of Apis mellifera to neonicotinoid insecticides is one of the factors attributed to the recent decline in A. mellifera populations resulting in economic and ecological losses due to loss of pollination services. Honeybees can get exposed to neonicotinoids like imidacloprid directly in the field at the time of application as well as during consumption of pollen and nectar from treated plants.

Background Natural contamination with mycotoxins in dried distiller’s grains with solubles (DDGS) as a mainstream animal feed ingredient poses a risk to animal health. Objective A regulatory method was needed for the agency to simultaneously detect 11 mycotoxins of high regulatory priority in DDGS. Methods A DDGS sample (10 g) was extracted twice with acetonitrile-water under mildly acidic condition.

Background In Guangdong Province of China, the climate is very wet, so there are many different fungi living in aquatic feeds, which produce mycotoxins. These compounds contaminate agricultural products worldwide and present a great threat to human health. It is necessary to determine their contamination level in aquatic feeds.

Background At present, plant growth regulators (PGRs) are widely used in agricultural and forestry production. PGRs, like traditional pesticides, have certain toxicities. Naively excessively applying them will cause the acute and chronic poisoning of humans and animals and potentially harm human health.

Background The Thermo Scientific™ SureTect™ Salmonella species PCR Assay utilizes Solaris™ reagents for performing PCR for the rapid and specific detection of Salmonella species in a broad range of foods and select environmental surfaces. Objective The aims were to demonstrate the reproducibility of the Thermo Scientific SureTect Salmonella species PCR Assay in a collaborative study using a challenging matrix, cocoa powder, and to extend the scope of the method.

Cold stress adversely affects plant production, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Banana (Musa acuminata) is sensitive to cold stress and suffers chilling injury (CI) when stored under 11°C, causing abnormal fruit softening. However, the mechanism underlying the abnormal fruit softening due to CI remains obscure.

From field to consumer, global loss and wastage of fruit and vegetables are thought to be around 37% (Spang et al., 2019). Controlling ripening and limiting damage to fruits are important strategies for minimizing these losses.

Sesame Sesamum indicum L. is a major oil-based seed crop that has been widely cultivated and consumed in Pakistan. Unfortunately, sesame is highly prone to Aspergillus fungal growth in the field, and under inappropriate storage conditions can become contaminated with aflatoxins, the most potent carcinogen found in nature.

During the spring of 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), states and local public health agencies responded to a multistate outbreak of gastrointestinal illnesses caused by multiple   Salmonella   serovars and associated with consumption of kratom, a product harvested from a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia. The outbreak included 199 case-patients reported by 41 U.S.

Bacillus cereus spores have the ability to adhere to solid surfaces, including stainless steel, a material widely used in food industries. Adhesion of spores allows for recontamination during food processing, and the cleaning and disinfection are largely used by industries to control them.

Cereal grains are usually ensiled to improve their nutritional value and are one of the main sources of feed for dairy cattle. However, during storage, grains can be contaminated with toxicogenic fungi. Sorghum is one of the most economically important cereals in the world. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate the influence of storage duration and tannin and moisture contents on toxicogenic fungal populations in sorghum grain storage.

by Akira Sakamaki, Masaaki Takamura, Norihiro Sakai, Yusuke Watanabe, Yoshihisa Arao, Naruhiro Kimura, Toru Setsu, Hiroyuki Abe, Takeshi Yokoo, Hiroteru Kamimura, Shunsuke Tsubata, Nobuo Waguri, Toru Ishikawa, Hirokazu Kawai, Soichi Sugitani, Tomomi Sato, Kazuhiro Funakoshi, Masashi Watanabe, Kentarou Igarashi, Kenya Kamimura, Atsunori Tsuchiya, Yutaka Aoyagi, Shuji Terai

Hong Kong oyster (Crassostrea hongkongensis) is one of the main species of economic shellfish cultivated in the coastal areas of southern China. The cultivation of this shellfish may be adversely impacted by Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a harmful pathogenic bacterium for many mariculture species, as it usually exists on the surface of Hong Kong oysters.

The survivability and thermal resistance of L. monocytogenes was determined in dry and hydrated nonfat dry milk (NFDM) and whole milk powder (WMP) during 180 days of storage. The hydrated milks were prepared from stored, inoculated milk powders on the day of D- and z-value analyses. The overall L. monocytogenes population in milk powders was 7.0 log cfu g-1 on day 1, which reduced by ∼2.2 log cfu g-1 at the end of storage.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of the mycotoxins that occur frequently in wheat and considered a serious threaten to health. Cold plasma was used as an efficient approach for DON degradation in this study. The influences of working gas type, voltage and processing time of cold plasma system on DON degradation were investigated. It was found that 83.99% of DON solid standard could be degraded after 8 min treatment at 50 kV in air atmosphere.

Salmonella is the leading cause of zoonotic foodborne illnesses worldwide and a prevalent threat to the poultry industry. For controlling contamination, the use of chemical sanitizers in combination with biological compounds (e.g., enzymes) offers a solution to reduce the chemical residues.

The dynamics mechanisms regulating the growth and AFB1 production of Aspergillus flavus during its interactions with maize kernels remain unclear. In this study, shortwave infrared hyperspectral imaging (SWIR-HSI) and synchrotron radiation Fourier transform infrared (SR-FTIR) microspectroscopy were combined to investigate chemical and spatial-temporal changes in incremental damaged maize kernels induced by A.