Research Publications (Food Safety)

Cadmium is toxic to the kidney through mechanisms involving oxidative stress and inflammation. We studied reciprocal crosstalk among the oxidative stress, inflammation, and the nuclear Nrf2 pathway in cadmium-induced nephrotoxicity on HK-2 human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells.

Human listeriosis outbreaks are often associated with food products, which could be contaminated, at the same time, also by different clones of Listeria monocytogenes. This emphasize the need to type more than one L. monocytogenes isolate found in a single food or environmental sample. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the presence of different L. monocytogenes strains in food and food production environment in order

More than 80% terrestrial plants establish mutualistic symbiosis with soil-borne arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). These fungi not only significantly improve plant nutrient acquisition and stress resistance, but also mitigate heavy metal phytotoxicity, Furthermore, the extraradical mycorrhizal mycelia can form common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs) that link roots of multiple plants in a community.

This study aimed to determine the growth potential (δ) of L. monocytogenes (CLIST 3974, CLIST 3969, and CLIST 4162) and S. enterica [S. Typhimurium (ATCC SM 14028), S. Enteritidis (SM 64), and S. Montevideo (SM 129)] in the presence of a pool of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with antimicrobial activity in Frescal and semi-hard Minas microcheeses.

Vibrio cholerae O1 and O139 isolates deploy cholera toxin (CT) and toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP) to cause the diarrhoeal disease cholera.

Chlorine disinfectants have been widely used in the poultry supply chain but this exposure can also result in the development of bacterial tolerance to chlorine and this is often linked to antibiotic cross-resistance. The objectives of this study were to investigate sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) tolerance of Salmonella isolated from poultry supply chains and evaluate cross-resistance.

Shigella flexneri is a waterborne and foodborne pathogen that can damage human health. The exopolysaccharides (S-EPS) produced by S. flexneri CMCC51574 were found to promote biofilm formation and virulence. In this research, the crude S-EPS produced by S. flexneri CMCC51574 were separated into three main different fractions, S-EPS 1-1, S-EPS 2-1, and S-EPS 3-1. The structure of the S-ESP 2-1 was identified by FT-IR, ion chromatography analysis, methylation analysis, and NMR analysis.

Two yellow-pigmented bacterial strains, LZ-14 T and ABI-LZ29, were isolated from the cultivable phycosphere microbiota of the highly toxic marine dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella LZT09 and demonstrated obvious microalgae growth-promoting potentials toward the algal host. To elucidate the taxonomic status of the two bioactive bacterial strains, they were subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic characterization.

Salmonella spp. causes foodborne diseases related to the consumption of contaminated foods, especially poultry products. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of Salmonella spp. serovars in raw eggs from supermarkets and street food markets in southern Brazil, to analyze virulence genes, resistance profiling to antimicrobials and sanitizers, and to determine the susceptibility of the isolates to Butia odorata extract.

This study evaluated high pressure processing (HPP) for achieving greater than 5-log reduction of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in shiikuwasha (Citrus depressa Hayata) juices and compare quality parameters, including microbiological safety, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavanones (TFC), and polymethoxylated flavones, browning, volatile aromatic, and physicochemical properties of HPP-treated juice with those of high-temperature short-time pasteurized juice.

This article is the third in a series of historical reviews on sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), exploring why agricultural production and irrigation schemes are underperforming, and how this contributes to high levels of food insecurity. The expression ‘food security’ emerged in 1974 following the Sahel and Darfur famines. Despite SSA being a net agricultural exporter, food insecurity has persisted and is increasing.

The study presents a systematic review of published scientific articles investigating the effects of interventions aiming at aflatoxin reduction at the feed production and animal feeding phases of the milk value chain in order to identify the recent scientific trends and summarize the main findings available in the literature. The review strategy was designed based on the guidance of the systematic review and knowledge synthesis methodology that is applicable in the field of food safety.

The number of reports associated with wood dieback caused by fungi in the Botryosphaeriaceae in numerous perennial crops worldwide has significantly increased in the past years. In this study, we investigated the interactions between the canker pathogen Neofusicoccum parvum and the almond tree host (Prunus dulcis), with an emphasis on varietal resistance and host response at the cell wall biochemical and histological levels.

Electrospinning has the advantages of simple manufacturing equipment, a low spinning cost, wide range of spinnable materials, and a controllable mild process, which can continuously fabricate submicron or nanoscale ultrafine polymer fibers without high temperature or high pressure. The obtained nanofibrous films may have a large specific surface area, unique pore structure, and easy-to-modify surface characteristics.

During infection, bacteria use an arsenal of resistance mechanisms to negate antibiotic therapies. In addition, pathogenic bacteria form surface-attached biofilms bearing enriched populations of metabolically dormant persister cells. Bacteria develop resistance in response to antibiotic insults; however, nonreplicating biofilms are innately tolerant to all classes of antibiotics. As such, molecules that can eradicate antibiotic-resistant and antibiotic-tolerant bacteria are of importance.

A solid-phase micro extraction (SPME) coupled high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) strategy was explored for trace concentrations of dicamba, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), and picloram residues simultaneous determination from complex matrix of food samples.

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most common environmental pollutants, which has a long biological half-life. Maternal Cd-exposure in the natural environment causes steroidogenesis defects resulting in spermatogenesis disorder in male offspring.

This study evaluates state-of-the-art machine learning models in predicting the most sustainable arsenic mitigation preference. A Gaussian distribution-based Naïve Bayes (NB) classifier scored the highest Area Under the Curve (AUC) of the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (0.82), followed by Nu Support Vector Classification (0.80), and K-Neighbors (0.79).

This experiment was conducted to evaluate whether a commercial mycotoxins-binder, XL, could effectively attenuate the negative effects of Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on growth performance, immunological function, and intestinal health in birds.

Domoic acid (DA), the causative agent of amnesic shellfish poisoning, is produced by select organisms within two distantly related algal clades: planktonic diatoms and red macroalgae. The biosynthetic pathway to isodomoic acid A was recently solved in the harmful algal bloom–forming diatom Pseudonitzschia multiseries, establishing the genetic basis for the...

Risk assessment of soil metal pollution based on total metal contents might give overestimates by neglecting the bioaccessibility of the pollutants to soil biota. Physiologically-based extraction tests (PBET) are in vitro methods for evaluation of bioaccessibility of soil pollutants.

Imazethapyr (IM) is a chiral herbicide with two enantiomers, with a much stronger herbicidal effect of R-IM than S-IM. Pesticide residues are a common problem, and multi-generation cultivation method can reveal the consequences of long-term pesticide residues. Methods This study verified the effects of R-IM on the growth of Arabidopsis thaliana and rhizosphere microorganisms by treating A.

Alexandrium pacificum, which produces the paralytic shellfish toxin (PST) saxitoxin (STX), is one of the causative species of paralytic shellfish poisoning outbreaks in coastal areas of Korea. In this study, we developed a chip-based digital PCR (dPCR) method for A. pacificum detection and tested it for monitoring in Jinhae-Masan Bay. Using the sequence of an A.

Mycotoxins such as zearalenone (ZEN), deoxynivalenol (DON) and T-2 toxin (T-2) are the most poisonous biological toxins in food pollution. Mycotoxin contaminations are a global health issue. The aim of the current study was to use porcine Leydig cells as a model to explore the toxic effects and underlying mechanisms of ZEN, DON and T-2. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of ZEN was 49.71 μM, and the IC50 values of DON and T-2 were 2.49 μM and 97.18 nM, respectively.

The loss of fresh produce along the supply chain represents a significant contributor to environmental and economic burden. Although technological advances in distribution and storage have provided a means to reduce the loss of fresh produce, in resource-limited settings, these technologies may not be available. One attractive approach to help address this limitation is to use edible coatings to protect fresh produce from biotic and abiotic factors that cause food deterioration.