Research Publications (Food Safety)

Aflatoxins (AFs) are secondary metabolites that represent serious threats to human and animal health. They are mainly produced by strains of the saprophytic fungus Aspergillus flavus, which are abundantly distributed across agricultural commodities.

Climate change will increase the co-occurrence of Fusarium verticillioides and Aspergillus flavus, along with their mycotoxins, in European maize. In this study, the expression profiles of two pathogenesis-related (PR) genes and four mycotoxin biosynthetic genes, FUM1 and FUM13, fumonisin pathway, and aflR and aflD, aflatoxin pathway, as well as mycotoxin production, were examined in kernels and in artificial medium after a single inoculation with F. verticillioides or A.

Antitoxin, the only licensed drug therapy for botulism, neutralizes circulating botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT). However, antitoxin is no longer effective when a critical amount of BoNT has already entered its target nerve cells. The outcome is a chronic phase of botulism that is characterized by prolonged paralysis.

In response to new stringent regulations in Canada regarding the use of antibiotics in animal production, many farms have implemented practices to produce animals that are raised without antibiotics (RWA) from birth to slaughter. This study aims to assess the impact of RWA production practices on reducing the actual total on-farm use of antibiotics, the occurrence of pathogens, and the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

The three-armed cluster-randomized trial ARena (sustainable reduction of antibiotic-induced antimicrobial resistance) aimed to foster appropriate antibiotic use and reduce overprescribing in German ambulatory care to counter antibiotic resistance. Multi-faceted interventions targeted primary care physicians, teams and patients. This study examined the effectiveness of the implementation program. ARena was conducted in 14 primary care networks with 196 practices.

Antibiotics are frequently used for treating urinary tract infections (UTI) in dogs and cats. UTI often requires time-consuming and expensive antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). Alternatively, clinicians can employ Flexicult Vet, an affordable chromogenic agar with added antibiotics for in-clinic AST.

The aim of this study was to assess the virulence, antimicrobial resistance and biofilm production of Escherichia coli strains isolated from healthy broiler chickens in Western Algeria. E. coli strains (n = 18) were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption–ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Susceptibility to 10 antibiotics was determined by standard methods. Virulence and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) genes were detected by PCR.

Salmonella continues to be a major food and public health burden worldwide that can threaten human health via eating contaminated meats, particularly those originating from chicken. In this study, the antimicrobial resistance profiles, epidemiological characteristics of resistance genes, and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE-XbaI) typing of 120 non-Pullorum/Gallinarum Salmonella isolates recovered from chicken embryos in Henan province were determined.

The antimicrobial resistance is a topic of global interest in the treatment of wound infections. The goal of this retrospective study was both the identification of the microorganisms responsible for wound infections and the determination of their drug susceptibility pattern. The study was performed from 2017 to 2019 and included 239 patients.

Gram-negative pathogens represent an urgent threat due to their intrinsic and acquired antibiotic resistance. Many recent drug candidates display prominent antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria being inefficient against Gram-negative pathogens. Ultrahigh-throughput, microfluidics-based screening techniques represent a new paradigm for deep profiling of antibacterial activity and antibiotic discovery.

Escherichia coli is a common bacterium in the intestines of animals, and it is also the major important cause of toxic mastitis, which is an acute or peracute disease that causes a higher incidence of death and culling of cattle. The purpose of this study was to investigate E. coli strains isolated from the raw milk of dairy cattle in Northern China, and the antibacterial susceptibility of these strains and essential virulence genes.

Quorum sensing (QS) and biofilm formation inhibition activity of esculetin on Aeromonas hydrophila SHAe 115 were evaluated. Exposure to esculetin at 25, 50, and 100μg/ml significantly inhibited the production of protease and hemolysin, the formation of biofilms and attenuated the swarming motility of A. hydrophila SHAe 115. Biofilm forming inhibition was also observed through confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscope.

Background
The Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) represented a great risk to public health. In this study, 60 STEC strains recovered from broiler and duck fecal samples, cow’s milk, cattle beef, human urine, and ear discharge were screened for 12 virulence genes, phenotypic and genotypic antimicrobial resistance, and multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA).

ABSTRACT Influenza A virus (H1N1), a swine-origin influenza A virus, causes seasonal epidemics that result in severe illnesses and deaths. Leonurine has been reported to function as an anti-inflammatory agent with protective effects on nervous, urinary and cardiovascular systems. However, the therapeutic effects of leonurine on the pneumonia caused by H1N1 infection remain unclear.

by Courtney E. McDougal, Zachary T. Morrow, Tighe Christopher, Seonyoung Kim, Drake Carter, David M. Stevenson, Daniel Amador-Noguez, Mark J. Miller, John-Demian Sauer

by Saray Gutiérrez, Julia Fischer, Raja Ganesan, Nina Judith Hos, Gökhan Cildir, Martina Wolke, Alberto Pessia, Peter Frommolt, Vincenzo Desiderio, Vidya Velagapudi, Nirmal Robinson Regulation of cellular metabolism is now recognized as a crucial mechanism for the activation of innate and adaptive immune cells upon diverse extracellular stimuli. Macrophages, for instance, increase glycolysis upon stimulation with pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs).

by Gila Lustig, Sandile Cele, Farina Karim, Anne Derache, Abigail Ngoepe, Khadija Khan, Bernadett I. Gosnell, Mahomed-Yunus S. Moosa, Ntombi Ntshuba, Suzaan Marais, Prakash M. Jeena, Katya Govender, John Adamson, Henrik Kløverpris, Ravindra K. Gupta, Rohen Harrichandparsad, Vinod B. Patel, Alex Sigal

Fungi Eurotium spp. are the main biological agents that ferment the leaves of the Camellia sinensis tea bush to form a popular food product, postfermented tea. The fungus E. cristatum, stored in the collection of the Gause Institute of New Antibiotics under the number INA 01267, was isolated and identified from a briquette of Fujian Chinese tea. The species identification was carried out based on morphocultural characteristics and DNA sequencing.

Author(s): Yixuan Pang, Yuanqing Cao, Jingjing Han, Yating Xia, Zixin He, Lihong Sun, Jun Liang

Author(s): Daniela Andrade Neves, Wellington da Silva Oliveira, Mateus Henrique Petrarca, Maria Isabel Rodrigues, Helena Teixeira Godoy

Author(s): Xiangxiang Sun, Ahmed S.M. Saleh, Zhuangzhuang Sun, Xiangzhen Ge, Huishan Shen, Qian Zhang, Xiuzhu Yu, Li Yuan, Wenhao Li

Norfloxacin (NOR) is a type of fluoroquinolone broad spectrum antimicrobial drug capable of treating bacterial infections leading to adverse reactions and a reduction in the efficiency for treating infection in humans. To ensure consumer safety, a facile and sensitive immunoassay using personal glucose meter (PGM) was developed for the detection of NOR in animal-derived foods in this study.

A magnetic nanoparticle (MNP)-based lateral flow immunochromatography assay (LFIA) was established to detect fluoroquinolones (FQs) in milk. This method is an improvement of traditional Au nanoparticle (AuNP)-based LFIA. Compared with AuNP-labeled antibody, the combination between MNPs and antibody is stronger and more stable, and the preparation process is convenient.

A total of 220 birds of age ranging from 3 to 14 weeks old were collected from several backyards and different farms in Sharkia Governorate, Egypt, and surveyed for the presence of fowl cholera. Twenty Pasteurella multocida from chickens (15/145, 10%) and ducks (5/75, 6%) were bacteriologically isolated, and it was shown that the infection was significantly related to age and breed.

In the past 12 years, several case reports have clearly demonstrated that Wohlfahrtiimonas chitiniclastica is capable of causing sepsis and bacteremia in humans. However, since most clinicians are not familiar with this species, little is known about its pathogenicity and treatment options while it is as rare but underestimated human pathogen.