Research Publications (Food Safety)

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Honey is a natural food of worldwide economic importance. Over the last decades, its potential for food, medical, cosmetical, and biotechnological applications has been widely explored. One of the major safety issues regarding such applications is its susceptibility to being contaminated with bacterial and fungi spores, including pathogenic ones, which may impose a hurdle to its consumption in a raw state.

Most bacteria are protected from environmental offenses by a cell wall consisting of strong yet elastic peptidoglycan. The cell wall is essential for preserving bacterial morphology and viability, and thus the enzymes involved in the production and turnover of peptidoglycan have become preferred targets for many of our most successful antibiotics.

Plasmodium vivax is the most widespread human malaria parasite, in part because it can form latent liver stages known as hypnozoites after transmission by female anopheline mosquitoes to human hosts. These persistent stages can activate weeks, months, or even years after the primary clinical infection; replicate; and initiate relapses of blood stage infection, which causes disease and recurring transmission.

by Jessica L. Kelliher, Caroline M. Grunenwald, Rhiannon R. Abrahams, McKenzie E. Daanen, Cassandra I. Lew, Warren E. Rose, John-Demian Sauer

by Getu Diriba, Habteyes Hailu Tola, Ayinalem Alemu, Bazezew Yenew, Dinka Fikadu Gamtesa, Abebaw Kebede

Background

Cows typically defecate while standing. Freestalls are designed to position standing cows such that their feces fall into the alley. Cows sometimes defecate while lying down, increasing the risk that feces contaminate the stall surface. We conducted 2 studies investigating cow-level and environmental factors associated with defecating while recumbent.

Cellular ionic concentrations are a central factor orchestrating host innate immunity, but no pathogenic mechanism that perturbs host innate immunity by directly targeting metal ions has yet been described. Here, we report a unique virulence strategy of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis (Yptb) involving modulation of the availability of Mn2+, an immunostimulatory metal...

Author(s): Lili Liu, Xiangling Liu, Liangyou Zhao, Yuan Liu

Author(s): Massimo Venditti, Mariem Ben Rhouma, Maria Zelinda Romano, Imed Messaoudi, Russel J. Reiter, Sergio Minucci

Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (APDT) employs a photosensitizer, light, and molecular oxygen to treat infectious diseases via oxidative damage, with a low likelihood for the development of resistance. For optimal APDT efficacy, photosensitizers with cationic charges that can permeate bacteria cells and bind intracellular targets are desired to not limit oxidative damage to the outer bacterial structure.

In the present study, the potential role of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and nitric oxide (NO) has been well recorded in the induction of cadmium (Cd) stress tolerance in cyanobacteria. In this regard, H2O2 and SNP (sodium nitroprusside, NO donor), were applied to Nostoc muscorum and Anabaena sp. exposed to Cd (6 µM) stress, to analyze different physiological and biochemical parameters.

The large-scale rapid monitoring of heavy metal pollution has become a hot topic due to increasing contamination of Tailings soil by heavy metal. In order to explore the possibility of using soil spectrum to estimate the content of heavy metals in soil and realize the rapid monitoring of soil heavy metals in the Yangshanchong tailings area in Tongling, China. The spectral reflectance of soil and the content of heavy metals (Cr, Ni, Zn) in soil were determined.

Campylobacter jejuni was isolated from diarrheic people, river water (Oldman River watershed), wastewater, and drinking water over a 1-year period in southwestern Alberta (2008–2009). High rates of campylobacteriosis were observed during the study period (≥115 cases/100 K). Infections occurred throughout the year, with peaks in late summer and early autumn. Most infections occurred in people living in Lethbridge. Campylobacter jejuni was not isolated from municipal drinking water.

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. Vibrio vulnificus is one of the major cause of foodborne illness related to seafood consumption. This study aimed to develop monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to enable rapid detection and monitoring food contamination of this pathogen. Five groups of MAbs against V. vulnificus were generated from a mouse immunized with a clinical isolate of V. vulnificus, heat and formalin-inactivated whole cells. The first two groups of MAbs were species-specific to V.

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of dielectric-barrier discharges plasma (DBDP) treatment against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Staphylococcus aureus in different types of food matrix. Dried julienned squid (DS), squid powder (SP), beef jerky (BJ), and beef powder (BP) were inoculated with E. coli O157:H7 or S. aureus and treated with DBDP. The treatment voltage varied at 6.11, 9.25, and 11.86 kV.

Letters in Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. The present study was conducted to detect the occurrence of beta-lactamase and biofilm-producing-E. coli and Salmonella in apparently healthy broiler birds reared in household and contract poultry farms. In total, 150 cloacal swabs were collected from apparently healthy broiler birds of various age groups reared in backyard (n=100) and contract farms (n=50) inWest Bengal (India).

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. Watercored apple is a type of fruit with unique flavor and visual appearance. However, the watercore feature of apples will gradually disappear or develop internal disorders during storage, which would compromise their commercial value.

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. Hydroponics was considered an effective method to practice sustainable agriculture. However, very few studies were carried out related to the microbial and heavy metal safety assessment of hydroponically grown produce. So the microbial and heavy metal quality of hydroponically grown produce needs to be paid attention.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Calcium (Ca) is a key micronutrient of high relevance for human nutrition that also influences the texture and taste of dairy products and their processability. In bovine milk, Ca is presented in several speciation forms, such as complexed with other milk components or free as ionic calcium while being distributed between colloidal and serum phases of milk.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Anthocyanins (ACN) are natural pigments that produce bright red, blue, and purple colors in plants and can be used to color food products. However, ACN sensitivity to different factors limits their applications in the food industry.

There is a growing global concern regarding the rise of antimicrobial resistance among Ureaplasma spp. isolates. However, studies on the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles, resistance mechanisms, and clonality of Ureaplasma spp. clinical isolates are still limited and cover only some geographic regions.

The increasing frequency of S. aureus antimicrobial resistance has spurred interest in identifying alternative therapeutants. We investigated the S. aureus-inhibitory capacity of B. velezensis strains in mouse and bovine models. Among multiple B. velezensis strains that inhibited S. aureus growth in vitro, B. velezensis AP183 provided the most potent inhibition of S. aureus proliferation and bioluminescence in a mouse cutaneous wound (P = 0.02).

Background: Currently, there are no specific biomarkers for drug-induced liver injury (DILI), and the diagnosis of DILI is based mainly on the exclusion of other causes of liver dysfunction and the recognition of potential causative drugs. Hepatitis E virus (HEV) diagnosis is not routinely enrolled in many countries, and HEV infection could be misdiagnosed as DILI.

Palladium (Pd), due to its unique catalytic properties, is an industrially important heavy metal especially in the form of nanoparticles. It has a wide range of applications from automobile catalytic converters to the pharmaceutical production of morphine. Bacteria have been used to biologically produce Pd nanoparticles as a new environmentally friendly alternative to the currently used energy-intensive and toxic physicochemical methods.

Background