Search results for "FOOD SAFETY"
showing 10 items of 208 documents
Incidence of microbial flora in lettuce, meat and Spanish potato omelette from restaurants
2001
A total of 370 samples including lettuce, meats (beef, pork and chicken) and Spanish potato omelette from restaurants were studied to evaluate the incidence of Escherichia coli, E. coli O157:H7,Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp.,Yersinia enterocolitica, enterococci and some micro-organisms that can cause spoilage orcan be usedas indicators for food safety. Escherichia coliand enterococci were harboured with the highest incidence in lettuce, whereas incidence of Staphylococcus aureus was higherin meat than in the other foods studied. Enterobacter cloacae and Klebsiella pneumoniaewere isolated from the three food groups. Chryseomonas luteola, Enterobacter sakazakii, Klebsiella ozaenae, Mo…
Isolation and Characterization of Listeria monocytogenes Phage vB_LmoH_P61, a Phage With Biocontrol Potential on Different Food Matrices
2020
The high mortality rate associated with Listeria monocytogenes as well as its ability to adapt to the harsh conditions employed in food processing have ensured that this pathogen has become a significant concern in the ready-to-eat food industry. Lytic bacteriophages are viruses that hijack their bacterial host’s metabolic mechanisms as a means to grow and replicate, subsequently leading to host cell death due to lysis. With emerging concerns related to the increasing numbers of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, bacteriophages may act as a suitable biocontrol alternative. This study reports the biological and genomic characterisation of the broad host range Listeria monocytogenes phage vB_Lmo…
Revised annual post-market environmental monitoring (PMEM) report on the cultivation of genetically modified maize MON 810 in 2013 from Monsanto Euro…
2015
Question number: EFSA-Q-2015-00432On request from: European Commission; Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA GMO Panel) assessed the results of the general surveillance activities contained in the revised annual post-market environmental monitoring (PMEM) report for the 2013 growing season of maize MON 810 provided by Monsanto Europe S.A. The supplied data do not indicate any unanticipated adverse effects on human and animal health or the environment arising from the cultivation of maize MON 810 cultivation in 2013. Similar methodological shortcomings to those observed in previous annual PME…
Human Biomonitoring of food contaminants in Spanish children: Design, sampling and lessons learned
2017
Abstract Human Biomonitoring (HBM) studies are highly useful for evaluating population exposure to environmental contaminants and are being carried out in increasing numbers all over the world. The use of HBM in the field of food safety, in a risk assessment context, presents a growing interest as more health-based guidance values (HBGV) in biological matrices are derived, and can be used in a complementary way to the external exposure approaches such as total diet studies or surveillance programmes. The aims of the present work are: i) to describe the methodological framework of the BIOVAL study, a cross-sectional HBM program carried out by the Health Department of the Regional Government …
Food safety in hospital: knowledge, attitudes and practices of nursing staff of two hospitals in Sicily, Italy.
2007
Abstract Background Food hygiene in hospital poses peculiar problems, particularly given the presence of patients who could be more vulnerable than healthy subjects to microbiological and nutritional risks. Moreover, in nosocomial outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease, the mortality risk has been proved to be significantly higher than the community outbreaks and highest for foodborne outbreaks. On the other hand, the common involvement in the role of food handlers of nurses or domestic staff, not specifically trained about food hygiene and HACCP, may represent a further cause of concern. The purpose of this study was to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and practices concerning food safet…
The additive dose method for dose estimation in irradiated oregano by thermoluminescence technique
2009
The ionizing radiation treatment of food is nowadays a worldwide recognized tool for food preservation, provided that proper and validated identification methods are available and used. The thermoluminescence (TL) technique is one of the physical methods recommended by the European Committee for Standardization to distinguish irradiated from not irradiated samples, for food containing silicate minerals as contaminants, such as spices and aromatic herbs, which are among the most frequently irradiated foods. The experimental results presented in this work show that, at least up to the highest tested doses (2 kGy), it is possible to set up a procedure to estimate the actual dose in the irradia…
Food Safety Through Application of an E-Learning Platform
2015
AbstractThe paper investigates the effectiveness of a continuing online education course for the professionals, who provides information on the food safety working group from "Lucian Blaga" University of Sibiu, formed by students (specialization: Engineering and Management in Public Food and Agro-tourism), persons looking for a job (unemployed) and people who works in the food industry. Piloting materials was made both face to face and online. The knowledges was measured using evaluation tests after each lesson and through a final assessment test. The results of the promotion rate was over 90%, which indicates a high efficiency in terms of piloting materials adapted by teachers from the "Lu…
Recent developments in the use of viability dyes and quantitative PCR in the food microbiology field.
2013
The increase in foodborne outbreaks highlights the need for rapid, sensitive and specific methods for food safety monitoring, enabling specific detection and quantification of viable foodborne pathogens. Real-time PCR (qPCR) combined with the use of viability dyes, recently introduced, fulfils all these requirements. The strategy relies on the use of DNA-binding molecules such as propidium monoazide (PMA) or ethidium monoazide (EMA) as sample pretreatment previous to the qPCR. These molecules permeate only membrane-compromised cells and have successfully been applied for different types of foodborne pathogens, including bacteria and viruses. Moreover, those dyes have been explored to monito…
Procedure for the Screening of Eggs and Egg Products to Detect Oxolonic Acid, Ciprofloxacin, Enrofloxacin, and Sarafloxacin Using Micellar Liquid Chr…
2019
A method based on micellar liquid chromatography was developed to determine oxolinic acid, ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, and sarafloxacin in eggs and egg products. The antimicrobial drugs were obtained in a micellar solution which was directly injected. The analytes were resolved using a C18 column and a mobile phase of 0.05 M sodium dodecyl sulfate—7.5% 1-propanol—0.5% triethylamine, buffered at pH 3 with phosphate salt, running under the isocratic mode. The signal was monitored by fluorescence. Validation was successfully performed according to the EU Commission Decision 2002/657/EC in terms of specificity, calibration range (LOQ to 1 mg/kg), linearity (R2 >
The use of multiplex PCR to detect and differentiate food- and beverage-associated microorganisms: a review.
2007
Regarding food safety, rapid detection of microbial species is crucial to develop effective preventive and/or adjustment measures. Classical methods for determining the presence of certain species are time-consuming and labor-intensive, hence, molecular methods, which offer speed, sensitivity and specificity, have been developed to address this problem. Multiplex PCR (MPCR) is widely applied in the various fields of microbiology for the rapid differentiation of microbial species without compromising accuracy. This paper describes the method and reports on the state-of-the-art application of this technique to the identification of microorganisms vehiculated with foods and beverages. The iden…