Research Publications (Food Safety)

Listeriolysin S (LLS) is a thiazole/oxazole–modified microcin (TOMM) produced by hypervirulent clones of Listeria monocytogenes. LLS targets specific gram-positive bacteria and modulates the host intestinal microbiota composition. To characterize the mechanism of LLS transfer to target bacteria and its bactericidal function, we first investigated its subcellular distribution in LLS-producer bacteria....

Author(s): Ahmed F. Abdelhamid, Hala F. Ayoub, Eman A. Abd El-Gawad, Mohamed F. Abdelghany, Mohsen Abdel-Tawwab

Author(s): Huiping Dai, Shuhe Wei, Irena Twardowska, Qing Zhang

Author(s): Shannon M. Cruzen, Hayriye Cetin-Karaca, Rodrigo Tarté, Joseph G. Sebranek, James S. Dickson Pork bellies were injected with four different alternative curing brines. The bellies were inoculated on the surface and at a depth of 1 cm with multiple strains of Clostridium perfringens, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella enterica. The bellies were processed using either a standard process cycle or an interrupted process cycle to simulate a process deviation.

Author(s): Qingqing Zhang, Weiming Xiao, Yuqin Wu, Yunxue Fan, Wenhaotian Zou, Kang Xu, Yi Yuan, Xuejin Mao, Yuanxing Wang

Author(s): Noorfatimah Yahaya, Zi-ao Huang, Binjun Yan, David D.Y. Chen

Introduction. Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces quorum sensing signalling molecules including 2-alkyl-4-quinolones (AQs), which regulate virulence factor production in the cystic fibrosis (CF) airways.

The aim of this study was to assess the glycogen content in the muscle and liver tissues of the climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) exposed to sublethal concentrations of Cd and Pb over 28 days of exposure and 14 days of depuration. Muscle and liver glycogen levels in A. testudineus after Pb or Cd treatment were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than that of A. testudineus in the control group during the exposure phase.

Fusarium spp. cause diseases and yield and quality losses in cereal crops. They are known to occur in alternative hosts such as weeds. The aims of the present study were to isolate Fusarium spp. from stems, leaves, and inflorescences of different mono- and dicotyledonous weeds and to evaluate the pathogenicity of obtained species in barley and wheat.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. The occurrence of nonenzymaticbrowning in fruit juices during storage is a major quality defect. It negatively affects consumer acceptance and consumption behavior and determines the shelf-life of these products. Although nonenzymatic browning of fruit juices has been the subject of research for a long time, the exact mechanism of the nonenzymatic browning reactions is not yet completely understood.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Due to its advantagessuch as ionic crosslinking, pH responsiveness, excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability and low price, alginate has become one of the most important natural polysaccharides extensively used in constructing desired delivery systems for food bioactive ingredients. In this review, the fundamental knowledge of alginate as a building block for construction of nutraceutical delivery systems is introduced.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Biosensors need to meet the rising food industry demand for sensitive, selective, safe, and fast food safety quality control. Disposable colorimetric sensors based on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and localized surface plasmon resonance are low-cost and easy-to-perform devices intended for rapid point-of-need measurements.

Bacillus cereus is a well-characterized human pathogen that produces toxins associated with diarrheal and emetic foodborne diseases. To investigate the possible transmission of B. cereus on lettuce farms in China and determine its enterotoxicity, (I) a total of 524 samples (lettuce: 332, soil: 69, water: 57, manure: 57, pesticide: 9) were collected from 46 lettuce farms in five Chinese provinces, (II) multilocus sequence typing (MLST) was used to classify B.

The emergence of drug-resistant bacteria is increasing rapidly in all parts of the world, and the need for new antibiotics is urgent. In our continuous search for new antimicrobial molecules from under-investigated Arctic marine microorganisms, a marine fungus belonging to the family Lulworthiaceae (Lulworthiales, Sordariomycetes, and Ascomycota) was studied.

The increasing occurrence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) extended-spectrum β-lactamase- (ESBL) and/or AmpC β-lactamase- (AmpC) producing Enterobacterales in irrigation water and associated irrigated fresh produce represents risks related to the environment, food safety, and public health. In South Africa, information about the presence of ESBL/AmpC-producing Enterobacterales from non-clinical sources is limited, particularly in the water–plant-food interface.

Acinetobacter baumannii is a problematic nosocomial pathogen owing to its increasing resistance to antibiotics and its great ability to survive in the hospital environment, which is linked to its capacity to form biofilms. Structural and functional investigations of post-translational modifications, such as phosphorylations, may lead to identification of candidates for therapeutic targets against this pathogen. Here, we present the first S/T/Y phosphosecretome of two A.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a zoonotic infectious disease broadly distributed worldwide, causing a range of diseases with clinical outcomes ranging from self-healing infections to chronic disfiguring disease. The effective immune response to this infection is yet to be more comprehensively understood and is fundamental for developing drugs and vaccines.

Hypothesis generation is a critical, but challenging, step in a foodborne outbreak investigation. The pathogens that contaminate food have many diverse reservoirs, resulting in seemingly limitless potential vehicles. Identifying a vehicle is particularly challenging for clusters detected through national pathogen-specific surveillance, because cases can be geographically dispersed and lack an obvious epidemiologic link.

by Lu Sun, You Li, Ichiro Misumi, Olga González-López, Lucinda Hensley, John M. Cullen, David R. McGivern, Mami Matsuda, Ryosuke Suzuki, Ganes C. Sen, Asuka Hirai-Yuki, Jason K. Whitmire, Stanley M. Lemon

by David Hughes, Wisit Thongkum, Kukiat Tudpor, Niruwan Turnbull, Nachalida Yukalang, Vanphanom Sychareun, Thang Van Vo, Latt Latt Win, Alan Watkins, Sue Jordan

Pathogen emergence is a complex phenomenon that, despite its public health relevance, remains poorly understood. Vibrio vulnificus, an emergent human pathogen, can cause a deadly septicaemia with over 50% mortality rate. To date, the ecological drivers that lead to the emergence of clinical strains and the unique genetic traits that allow these clones to colonize the human host remain mostly unknown.

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli are an important pathogen causing food poisoning. The rapid detection of viable E. coli O157 in vegetables and fruits at single-cell level is critical because of the low infective dose of this pathogen. In this study, an immunomagnetic flow cytometry (IMFC)-based method was developed to detect E. coli O157 in lettuce and strawberries inoculated with 1 CFU/25 g. This method developed immunomagnetic (IM)-beads to capture E. coli O157 cells.

Foodborne illness is a continuing public health problem in the United States. Seven pathogens—Campylobacter, Clostridium perfringens, Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, nontyphoidal Salmonella, norovirus, and Toxoplasma gondii—are estimated to cause >90% of the foodborne illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths attributed to 31 known pathogens.

Author(s): Wei Jia, Zibian Fan, Qingyun Shi, Rong Zhang, Xin Wang, Lin Shi

Author(s): Humberto Araújo Almeida, Janaína Guernica Silva, Isabela Goulart Custódio, Decio Karam, Queila Souza Garcia