Research Publications (Food Safety)

Occurrence of multidrug resistant Enterobacteriaceae in livestock is of concern as they can spread to humans. A potential introduction route for these bacteria to livestock could be animal feed. We therefore wanted to identify if Escherichia spp., Enterobacter spp., Klebsiella spp., or Raoutella spp. with transferable resistance to extended spectrum cephalosporins, carbapenems or colistin could be detected in the environment at feed mills in Sweden.

In this study, the contamination of arsenic, cadmium, nickel and vanadium in the surface sediments of Khazar Abad, in the southern part of the Caspian Sea was analyzed in 2019 using ecotoxicological indices.

Soil lead (Pb) contamination is one of the environmental problems facing the modern world. Sources of Pb in soil include industrial activities such as mining and smelting processes, agricultural activities such as application of insecticide and municipal sewage sludges, and urban activities such as use of lead in gasoline, paints, and other materials.

Background Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic heavy metal. Its emission is suspected to be further increased due to the dramatic application of ash to agricultural soils and newly reclaimed ones. Thereby, Cd stress encountered by plants will exacerbate. Acute and chronic exposure to Cd can upset plant growth and development and ultimately causes plant death.

by Nehal A. Erfan, Mohamed S. Mahmoud, Hak Yong Kim, Nasser A. M. Barakat Nanofibrous morphology and the doping technique can overcome the problem of electron/hole fast recombination and improve the activity of titanium oxide-based photocatalysts. In this study, nanoparticulate and nanofibrous forms of CdTiO3-incorporated TiO2 were synthesized with different cadmium contents; the morphology and composition were determined by SEM, TEM, EDX, and XRD techniques.

In Japan, little has been reported on cadmium (Cd) concentration in upland soils, and its relation to Cd concentration in crops and vegetables other than rice. Cd concentration in the surface soils and potato tubers of growers’ fields in two main potato production areas in Japan with contrasting soil types (Andisols and Inceptisols) was investigated. Soil and tuber samples were obtained from 90 growers’ fields with variable management histories.

Citric acid content is a critical quality determinant in citrus (Citrus spp.) fruits. Although arsenic (As) can effectively reduce citric acid content to improve citrus fruit quality, it can have adverse environmental effects. The discovery of nontoxic substitutes is hampered by the incomplete elucidation of the underlying mechanisms of As action in citrus fruits.

It is well known that lead-induced neurotoxicity is closely related to oxidative stress. According to previous reports, wheat germ peptides (WGPs) isolated from wheat germ have been shown to have potent antioxidant capacity. This study hypothesized that WGPs could protect PC12 cells from lead-induced oxidative stress.

With the large-scale use of plastic products in daily life and the progress of industrial production, it has had a serious impact on the soil environment. To identify the effect of heavy metal and microplastics on the development of plants, we examined the changes of physiological and biochemical indexes of Brassica chinensis var. chinensis under different concentrations of heavy metal cadmium and polyethylene stress with a pot experiment.

Rapid industrialization and urbanization have caused serious cadmium (Cd) pollution in soil. Tartary buckwheat is an important pseudocereal crop with the potential ability to tolerate various stresses. However, the responses to Cd stress in this species are unclear.

Background Grafting can effectively reduce cadmium (Cd) accumulation in Solanaceae fruits.

The Plant Journal, EarlyView. Genetic variation is an important determinant of gene transcription, which in turn contributes to functional and phenotypic diversity. Identification of the genetic variants controlling gene expression and alternative splicing in crops responding to cadmium (Cd), an important issue for food safety and human health, is of great value to improve our understanding of Cd accumulation-related genes.

Nitrogen (N) deposition plays a significant role in soil cadmium (Cd) phytoremediation, and poplar has been considered for the remediation of contaminated soil because of its enormous biomass and strong Cd resistance.

Cadmium (Cd) contamination of paddy soil affects safe crop production. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of plant biostimulant amino acid fertilizer on the phytoremediation capability of an emergent accumulator plant Nasturtium officinale R. Br. for Cd-contaminated paddy soils. A pot study was carried out to study the effects of different concentrations of amino acid fertilizer on the Cd accumulation of N. officinale grown in Cd-contaminated paddy soil.

The increasing contamination of soil with arsenic (As), and salinity has become a menace to food security and human health. The current study investigates the comparative efficacy of plain biochar (BC), and silicon-nanoparticles doped biochar (SBC) for ameliorating the As and salinity-induced phytotoxicity in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) and associated human health risks.

The appearance of transferable oxazolidinone resistance genes poses a major challenge to public health and environmental safety. These genes not only lead pathogenic bacteria to become resistant to linezolid but also reduce sensitivity to florfenicol, which is widely used in the veterinary field.

The increasingly serious pollution of microplastics and heavy metals is likely to affect the efficacy of flavonoids synthesized by dandelion in natural medicine fields.

Cadmium (Cd) toxicity not only affects plant growth and development, but also affects human health through the food chain. Several studies have demonstrated that Selenium (Se) alleviates Cd stress in plants; however, whether and how Se-alleviated Cd stress by regulating the structure of soil microbial community remain largely unclear.

Cadmium (Cd) contamination of agricultural soils poses a potential public health issue for humans. Phytoremediation-based accumulating plants are an effective and sustainable technology for Cadmium remediation of contaminated agricultural soil. The rhizosphere microbiome can promote the growth and Cadmium accumulation in hyperaccumulators, but its taxonomic and functional traits remain elusive.

Lead (Pb) has been concerned as one of the most severe hazardous contaminants, because it can cause pyroptosis in multiple tissues of mammals and birds. Melatonin (Mel) has attracted much interest for its role in governing intestinal injury via 

Cadmium (Cd) is a noxious heavy metal widely dispersed in aquatic systems. Parental Cd exposure of fish species at environmental concentrations has been shown to cause deformities and stunted growth in their offspring. However, the long-term effects and the mechanisms underlying parental Cd exposure in fish species on Cd sensitivity in their offspring remain unclear.

Plant-specific TIFY [TIF(F/Y)XG] proteins serve important roles in the regulation of plant stress responses. This family encodes four subfamilies of proteins, JAZ (JASMONATE ZIM-domain), PPD (PEAPOD), ZML (Zinc-finger Inflorescence-like), and TIFY. In this work, a total of 16 JAZ, 3 PPD, 7 ZML, and 2 TIFY genes were found in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) at the genome-wide level.

The presence of heavy metals (HMs) in the environment represents a serious environmental problem. In this regard, this work was conceived with the aim of finding, among indigenous microorganisms, the species and their combinations with the best biosorption activity for the following HMs: zinc, lead, cadmium, copper, and nickel.

Environmental lead pollution mainly caused by previous anthropogenic activities continuously threatens human health. The determination of bioavailable lead is of great significance to predict its ecological risk. Bacterial biosensors using visual pigments as output signals have been demonstrated to have great potential in developing minimal-equipment biosensors for environmental pollutant detection.

Halometabolites, usually produced in marine environment, are an important group of natural halogenated compounds with rich biological functionality and drugability and thus play a crucial role in pharmaceutical and/or agricultural applications. In the exploration of novel halometabolites from marine microorganisms, the growing number of halogenated compounds makes it necessary to fully present these metabolites with diverse structures and considerable bioactivities.