Research Publications (Food Safety)

Author(s): Carolina de Miguel, Alejandra Cirera

Author(s): Maria Alessia Schouten, Silvia Tappi, Virginia Glicerina, Pietro Rocculi, Simone Angeloni, Manuela Cortese, Giovanni Caprioli, Sauro Vittori, Santina Romani

This manuscript reviews 18 years of voluntary recalls for commercially sold tuna in the United States. This recall information is a valuable indicator of the failure to implement procedures for food safety. The voluntary recalls involve fresh, frozen, processed, hermetically sealed and retorted in a shelf stable pack (i.e., canned tuna), and formulated into other tuna products.

Escherichia albertii  is an emerging foodborne pathogen. Owing to its distribution in river water,  it is important to determine the presence of  E. albertii  in aquaculture-related foods. In this study, we investigated the distribution of  E. albertii  in retail oyster samples.

Mycotoxins are toxic contaminants in foods and feeds that are naturally occurring and largely unavoidable. Determining their contents in these products is essential to protect humans from harm. Immunoassays of mycotoxins have been well-established because they are fast, sensitive, simple, and cost-effective. However, a major limitation of immunoassays is the requirement of toxic mycotoxins as competing antigens, standards, or competing tracers.

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), used as a surfactant in consumer and industrial products, is frequently found in biosolids from wastewater treatment plants. When present in biosolids applied to croplands, PFOA has potential to contaminate feed and fodder used by livestock, but the extent of PFOA transfer from soil to plants is not well characterized. A single dose of [ 14 C]-PFOA was applied to unplanted soil or soil containing growing alfalfa.

Abstract

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. Food safety concerns associated with products purchased at farmers' markets have arisen, highlighting the growing need for farmers' market consumer and producer awareness of potential public health issues.

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. Campylobacter frequently contaminates chicken. Trisodium phosphate (TSP) is used for chicken decontamination; however, reduction of chemical preservatives is desirable. This study analyzed the efficacy of two commercial citrus-based products (CitroSan [CS] and Citrol-K Ultra [CK]) alone and in combination with TSP for reduction of Campylobacter in vitro and in chicken.

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. Culture-based Salmonella isolation consists of nonselective pre-enrichment, followed by selective enrichment in Rappaport–Vassiliadis (RV) or tetrathionate (TT) broths, and subsequent plating on selective indicator agar. This study aimed to assess the recovery of two strains belonging to serovars Montevideo (strain ATCC-8387) and Typhimurium (strain ATCC-14028) when grown together in different media.

Plant diseases are important issues in agriculture, and the development of effective and environment-friendly means of disease control is crucial and highly desired. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are known as potential alternatives to chemical pesticides because of their potent broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and because they have no risk, or have only a low risk, of developing chemical-resistant pathogens.

The composition of microbial communities can directly affect fruit quality, health status, and storability. The present study characterized the epiphytes and endophytes of “Hongyang” and “Cuiyu” kiwifruit at harvest under grown under open-field (OF) and rain-shelter (RS) cultivation systems. Disease incidence in kiwifruit was significantly lower (p < 0.05) under the RS system than it was under the OF system.

Beneficial 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase-producing bacteria promote plant growth and stress resistance, constituting a sustainable alternative to the excessive use of chemicals in agriculture. In this work, the increased plant growth promotion activity of the ACC deaminase-producing Pseudomonas thivervalensis SC5, its ability to limit the growth of phytopathogens, and the genomics behind these important properties are described in detail. P.

The study tested the hypothesis that harboring high levels of histo-blood group antigen-expressing Enerobactero cloacae is a risk factor for norovirus diarrhea. The fecal E. cloacae abundance in diarrheic norovirus positive (DNP), non-diarrheic norovirus negative (NDNN), diarrhea norovirus negative (DNN), and non-diarrhea norovirus positive (NDNP) infants was determined by qPCR, and the risk of norovirus diarrhea was assessed by logistical regression.

by Meher Hassan, Muhammad Israr, Simeen Mansoor, Syeda Amna Hussain, Faiza Basheer, Azizullah Azizullah, Shafiq Ur Rehman

by Walid Elmonir, Haitham Elaadli, Anan Amer, Hammed El-Sharkawy, Mohamed Bessat, Samy F. Mahmoud, Mustafa Shukry Atta, Wael F. El-Tras

by David A. Wilkinson, Matthew Edwards, Jackie Benschop, Shahista Nisa

Certain cheeses can be legally produced in the United States using raw milk, but they must be aged for at least 60 d to reduce pathogen risks. However, some varieties, even when aged for 60 d, have been shown to support growth of Listeria monocytogenes or survival of Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC).

“I've sometimes referred to one’s scientific career as a sort of random walk,” says Michael E. Mann, referring to a mathematical model. “There have been a number of significant junctures where I shifted direction, but it feels like it’s been leading somewhere.” In 1999, Mann was the lead author on...

Author(s): Şeyda Ceylan Cömert, Erdoğan Özgür, Lokman Uzun, Mehmet Odabaşı

The contamination of mycotoxin zearalenone (ZEN) in foods has been reported worldwide, resulting in potential risks to food safety. However, the toxic mechanism of ZEN on neurodegenerative diseases has not been fully elucidated. Therefore, this study conducted in vivo ZEN neurotoxicity assessment on Parkinson’s disease (PD)-related dopaminergic neurodegeneration and mitochondrial dysfunction using Caenorhabditis elegans.

Acrylamide has been reported as an important dietary risk factor from carbohydrate-rich processing food. However, systemic biological effects on the serum metabolomics induced by acrylamide have poorly been understood. In the present study, we evaluated the metabolic profiles in a rat serum after exposure to acrylamide using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography combined with quadrupole-orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Vibrio cholerae O1 is the aetiological agent of the severe diarrhoeal disease cholera. Annually, there are an estimated 1–4 million cholera cases worldwide and over 140 000 deaths. The primary mode of disease transmission is through the consumption of water or food contaminated with the bacterium.

Consumption of prawns as a protein source has been on the rise worldwide with seafood identified as the predominant attributable source of human vibriosis. However, surveillance of non-cholera Vibrio is limited both in public health and in food.

Vibrio species are important environmental-related bacteria responsible for diverse infections in humans due to consumption of contaminated water and seafood in underdeveloped areas of the world.