Research Publications (Food Safety)

The medicinal plants, like Alhagi maurorum, has received great attentions, especially by food scientists and manufacturers as natural food preservatives due to their antimicrobial and antioxidant activities.

The antibacterial effect of volatile compounds in millets and cereal by‐products was investigated. Hexane extracts of rice bran (RB), corn cob (CC), green (GM), and yellow millets (YM) showed antibacterial activities against Escherichia coli ATCC 35150, Bacillus cereus ATCC 14579, Helicobacter pylori MH179991, and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 13150 with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranging from 2.5 to 5 mg/ml.

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of type of milk, fermentation time, temperature, and stirring conditions on the antibacterial activity of fermented milk by kefir grains. All fermentation conditions had a significant effect on the antibacterial activity of kefir samples against four bacteria, except for the effect of temperature on the diameter of the inhibition zone of Shigella dysenteriae.

Eudragit RS100 nanoparticles containing Baccharis dracunculifolia DC essential oil (N‐EO) was developed by the nanoprecipitation method. N‐EO presented an average diameter of 151.6 nm, zeta potential (ζ) of +51.7 mV, and encapsulation efficiency of 99.4%. The antibacterial activity of N‐EO and free essential oil (EO) was evaluated in BHI broth against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella Enteritidis.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the possible synergistic interactions on antibacterial and antioxidant efficacy of two plant essential oils (EOs) Eucalyptus caesia Benth and Dracocephalum multicaule Montbr & Auch in vitro and in pear slices.

Bacillus cereus spores pose a challenge to the food industry owing to their ability to germinate in food during storage and produce toxins. The objective of the current study was to investigate the effect of pulsed electric field (PEF) at low electric field strength (i.e., 7.3, 8.1, 8.8 and 9.4 kV/cm) and moderate temperatures (65, 70, 75 and 80°C) on B. cereus spores.

Some biological activities of dihydroquercetin (DHQ), including antioxidative, antibacterial and anticancer activities, and the oxidative stability of butter oil supplemented with DHQ were evaluated. The DPPH* radical‐scavenging activity was high for DHQ, with an IC50 of 63.83 ± 3.11 μg/ml, compared to that of Trolox, which had an IC50 of 117.02 ± 5.19 μg/ml, over the concentrations studied (10–100 μg/ml).

This study evaluated the inactivation effect of the ultrasonic treatment combined with acidic electrolyzed water (AEW) on Bacillus cereus. Ultrasound treatment for 10 min induced 0.69 log CFU/ml reduction of B. cereus in sterile saline, while AEW treatment resulted in 1.05 log CFU/ml for the same time. Simultaneous ultrasound and AEW treatment reduced 1.98 log CFU/mL which had synergistic effect for 10 min at 20°C.