Research Publications (Food Safety)

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) constitute a broad range of bioactive compounds in diverse organisms, including fish. They are effector molecules for the innate immune response, against pathogens, tissue damage and infections. Still, AMPs from African Catfish, Clarias gariepinus, skin mucus are largely unexplored despite their possible therapeutic role in combating antimicrobial resistance.

The aim of the work was to monitor the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in cold-smoked fish products (trout, salmon, and sea bass) marketed in Italy. Cold-smoked sea bass is a new product that has not yet been commercialized and was collected from the production facility. Monitoring data have shown that cold-smoked products can be contaminated by L. monocytogenes, the presence of which has been highlighted mainly by enrichment culture (presence in 25 g).

Many novel tigecycline-inactivating enzymes encoded by tet(X) variants from different bacteria were discovered since the plasmid-mediated tet(X3) and tet(X4) genes conferring high-level resistance to tigecycline in Enterobacterales and Acinetobacter were reported. However, there have been no comprehensive studies of the prevalence of different tet(X) variants in poultry farms.

Author(s): Qiao He, Lianjiao Zhang, Zhehao Yang, Tian Ding, Xingqian Ye, Donghong Liu, Mingming Guo

Author(s): Addisalem Mesfin, Carl Lachat, Arnau Vidal, Siska Croubels, Geert Haesaert, Melody Ndemera, Sheila Okoth, Tefera Belachew, Marthe De Boevre, Sarah De Saeger, Limbikani Matumba

To improve the insecticidal activity of (+)-nootkatone, a series of 42 (+)-nootkatone thioethers containing 1,3,4-oxadiazole/thiadiazole moieties were prepared to evaluate their insecticidal activities against Mythimna separata Walker, Myzus persicae Sulzer, and Plutella xylostella Linnaeus.

Phomopsins are mycotoxins mainly infesting lupines, with phomopsin A (PHOA) being the main mycotoxin. PHOA is produced by Diaporthe toxica, formerly assigned as toxigenic Phomopsis leptostromiformis, causing infections in lupine plants and harvested seeds. However, Diaporthe species may also grow on other grain legumes, similar to Aspergillus westerdijkiae as an especially potent ochratoxin A (OTA) producer.

The discovery of new antimicrobials is the prime target in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. The continuous search for new lead compounds from bacteria of untapped and extreme ecosystems such as mangroves is currently being undertaken. This study describes the metabolite profiling of the Streptomyces euryhalinus culture extract. Previously, Streptomyces euryhalinus was isolated from the mangrove forest of Indian Sundarbans as a novel microorganism.

Antimicrobial resistance represents one of the main threats to healthy ecosystems. In recent years, among the multidrug-resistant microorganisms responsible for nosocomial infections, the Enterococcus species have received much attention. Indeed, Enterococcus have peculiar skills in their ability to acquire resistance genes and to cause severe diseases, such as endocarditis. This study showed the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance rate of Enterococcus spp.

Journal of Food Science, EarlyView. The antibacterial and antifungal effects of six plant-derived essential oils (EOs) and two types of citrus extracts (CEs) were studied against two pathogenic bacteria (Salmonella Typhimurium and Escherichia coli O157:H7) and three fungi (Aspergillus niger, Penicillium chrysogenum, and Mucor circinelloides).

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. Increasing concerns toward food safety and public health have rendered the use of synthetic chemicals in agricultural environments unacceptable. A shift toward biologically safe approaches has been considered a preferred strategy within the food handling chain and has received increasing attention over the past years in managing undesirable microbial growth.

International Journal of Food Science & Technology, Accepted Article. The effect of microwave roasting parameters (300, 450 and 600 W; 5, 10 and 15 min) on acrylamide content in sorghum grain was determined using High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)-photo diode array (PDA) detector coupled with C-18 column.

Author(s): Cheleste M Thorpe, Amanda R Pulsifer, Marcia S Osburne, Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja, John M Leong

Author(s): Deepak Kukkar, Preeti Kukkar, Sherif A. Younis, Ki-Hyun Kim

Author(s): Jing Wang, Yue Jiang, Ruo-Yun Ji, Zhen-Yu Wang, Meng-Jun Lu, Han Wu, Cai-Yue Mei, Qiu-Chun Li, Xinan Jiao Colistin and tigecycline are regarded as the last-resort antibiotics for the treatment of serious clinical infections caused by enxtensively drug-resistant Gram-negative organisms, particularly carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae and Acinetobacter isolates, but the emergence and spread of plasmid-mediated colistin (mcr) or tigecycline [tet(X) and tmexCD1-toprJ1] res

Author(s): Elahe Abedi, Kiana Pourmohammadi, Mehran Sayadi

Author(s): Baigang Zhang, Hairong Liang, Ke Huang, Jinliang Li, Dongmei Xu, Chenghui Huang, Yi Li

Author(s): Aparajhitha Sudarsan, Kevin M. Keener Leafy greens are ideal hosts for pathogens like Salmonella enterica and E. coli O157:H7. In the current study, baby spinach leaves inoculated with Salmonella enterica serovars and E. coli 25,922 (an E. coli O157:H7 surrogate) were subjected to a high voltage atmospheric cold plasma (HVACP) with 100% nitrogen gas at high humidity at 80 kV for 5 min in the indirect exposure.

Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article.

Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Accepted Article. Brucellosis is a zoonotic and contagious infectious disease caused by Brucella spp, which causes substantial economic losses to animal husbandry and leads to severe public health problems. Brucella have evolved multiple strategies to escape host immunity and survive within host cells. Elucidating the immune evasion strategies during Brucella infection will facilitate the control of brucellosis.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a pulse consumed all over the world, representing a good source of protein, as well as fat, fiber, and other carbohydrates. As a result of the growing global population the demand for the protein component of this pulse is increasing and various approaches have been proposed and developed to extract same.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Gaseous and volatile active compounds are versatile to enhance safety and preserve quality of agri-food products during storage and distribution. However, the use of these compounds is limited by their high vapor pressure and/or chemical instability, especially in active packaging (AP) applications.

Author(s): Ning-Xia Xiong, Jie Ou, Lan-Fen Fan, Xu-Ying Kuang, Zi-Xuan Fang, Sheng-Wei Luo, Zhuang-Wen Mao, Shao-Jun Liu, Shi Wang, Ming Wen, Kai-Kun Luo, Fang-Zhou Hu, Chang Wu, Qing-Feng Liu

Author(s): Kye-Hwan Byun, Sang Ha Han, Min Woo Choi, Si Hong Park, Sang-Do Ha

Author(s): Mingli Wei, Yuan Li, Bowei Yu, Lei Liu, Qiang Xue, Yanjun Du