Search results for "foodborne"
showing 10 items of 57 documents
Antiviral activity of aged green tea extract in model food systems and under gastric conditions.
2018
Aged-green tea extract (GTE) is known to reduce the infectivity of hepatitis A virus (HAV) and murine norovirus (MNV), a human norovirus surrogate, in vitro and in washing solutions. Initially, the effect of aged-GTE was evaluated on virus like particles (VLPs) of human norovirus (HuNoV) genogroup I (GI) by a porcine gastric mucine (PGM)-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and on HuNoV GI suspensions by an in situ capture-RT-qPCR method, suggesting that HuNoVs are very sensitive to aged-GTE treatment at 37 °C. Moreover, the potential application of aged-GTE was evaluated using model foods and simulated gastric conditions. Then, aged-GTE samp…
[Abolishing mandatory routine medical and laboratory examination of food handlers may have influenced the reporting trends of foodborne diseases? Fre…
2012
The aim of this study is to compare notifications of foodborne diseases in Southern Italy, before and after abolishing mandatory medical and laboratory examination routine. Data were obtained from the National Epidemiological Report of Health Ministry, that includes the annual summaries of foodborne infectious illnesses notified in Italy. The average number of foodborne diseases per million inhabitants per year decreased after the abolishment of health card for all examined conditions. There was a statistically significant reduction in all Regions for Salmonellosis and in Basilicata, Calabria, Campania and Sicily for Brucellosis. Abolishing health card of food handlers workers did not incre…
Assessment of the microbiological quality of fresh produce on sale in Sicily, Italy: preliminary results
2015
Background Fresh produce occupies an increasingly important place in the human food supply because of its health-promoting nutritional properties. Most fresh produce is eaten raw or after minimal processing and, consequently, pathogen contamination can represent a serious health risk. There has been an increase in foodborne outbreaks and cases associated with fresh produce, but literature data about the prevalence of pathogen contamination are inconsistent. This study was undertaken to assess the hygienic quality and the prevalence of the most common bacterial pathogens in fresh produce sold in retail markets in Sicily. A total of 125 samples of different types of vegetables were examined b…
Food Processing and Foodborne Illness
2015
Food processing means manipulation of raw materials from plants or animals into food. Since agriculture and animal husbandry were established postharvest procedures were necessary to preserve for a longer time the increasing food supplies coming from the fields and domesticated animals. Food is one of the best culture medium for a lot of microorganisms and preventing food spoilage caused by enzymes and microorganisms is crucial. Deterioration of food is caused mainly by three natural processes: 1. Oxidation – vegetables after harvesting or meat after animal slaughtering get in contact with the oxygen in the air that makes them rancid and unpleasant. 2. Enzyme action – all food contains natu…
Green tea extract assisted low-temperature pasteurization to inactivate enteric viruses in juices.
2020
The current popularity of minimally processed foods is an opportunity for natural antimicrobial agents to be combined with mild heat treatments to act synergistically in reducing viral foodborne pathogens. Viral inactivation by heat-treatments (at 25, 40, 50 and 63 °C for 30 min) combined with aged green tea extract (aged-GTE) was initially evaluated in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) against murine norovirus (MNV-1) and hepatitis A virus (HAV) by cell culture, and against human norovirus by in situ capture RT-qPCR. The combination of aged-GTE and heat treatment at 50 °C for 30 min exerted strong antiviral activity, reducing by more than 5 log MNV-1 infectivity in PBS. Heating at 40 °C for …
Viability RT-qPCR to detect potentially infectious enteric viruses on heat-processed berries
2019
Berries have frequently been cited as causing gastroenteritis and acute hepatitis outbreaks due to enteric virus contamination, including human norovirus and hepatitis A virus (HAV). Model experiments were performed to evaluate the potential use of viability RT-qPCR to assess the thermal inactivation of norovirus genotype I (GI), GII, and HAV on raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. Initially, two viability markers, platinum chloride and propidium monoazide (PMAxx™), were compared using thermally inactivated norovirus GI and GII suspensions. The results showed better performance of PMAxx™ pretreatment in discriminating native and inactivated viruses. Thus, the pretreatment was optimize…
Vasospastic angina and scombroid syndrome: a case report
2012
Scombroid syndrome is a fish poisoning characterised by the onset of symptoms compatible with a pseudoallergic reaction; it is rarely also responsible of signs and symptoms of acute coronary syndromes, as demonstrated in this case report.
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…
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…
Misidentification ofDiphyllobothriumSpecies Related to Global Fish Trade, Europe
2014
To the Editor: Diphyllobothriosis, infection by tapeworms of the genus Diphyllobothrium (Cestoda: Diphyllobothriidea) (1), is a well-known disease of humans. In Europe, infections caused by 3 species of Diphyllobothrium have recently been reported in humans: D. latum is considered to be the principal species infecting persons in Europe (1); 4 cases of D. dendriticum infection and 6 cases of D. nihonkaiense infection have also been reported (2,3). Except for those caused by D. latum, which is autochthonous in northeastern Europe and subalpine lakes, most of the cases in Europe have been imported or caused by consumption of fish imported from areas to which the parasites are endemic (1,3,4). …