NFS Journal最新文献

Histamine producing foodborne pathogens pose a major microbiological risk in the overall seafood products. Specifically, negative health effects of histamine poisoning from seafood products after processing is a food safety and human health concern globally. Therefore, it is essential to advance sustainable and inexpensive post-harvest processing strategies to counter this serious food safety and health challenge and to improve overall food quality of common seafood product like tuna fish. Based on these food safety and health quality needs, the aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the combination of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum BY-45 and salt concentration to control histamine formation in vitro and in vivo on sample filet of tuna fish during processing to reduce this microbiological associated health risk. Isolation and identification of histamine forming bacteria in tuna loin and optimal storage temperature for inhibiting histamine formation was determined with L. plantarum BY-45 treatment. In this study, Escherichia coli belonging to Enterobacteriaceae family was found to be the predominant histamine forming bacteria contaminating our tuna samples. This contamination was suspected to happen during handling after catch and prior to landing at Benoa harbor, Bali for further processing. However, the rate of histamine formation was significantly suppressed (<1 ppm) at temperature of ≤2°C, which was significantly lower than 79.73–88.33 ppm that was produced at 4°C. Additionally, in response to LAB and salt combination, histamine formation by E. coli was totally suppressed. The results of this study were consistent in the in vivo assay on loins of tuna samples. Overall, this study provides the foundation to reduce microbiological food safety risk from histamine poisoning by foodborne pathogens in tuna, and beneficial LAB based strategy can be targeted to achieve wider food safety and health quality benefits in processed seafood.

Background

Complementary foods are provided to newborns and early children to replace breast milk, which, after six months of exclusive breastfeeding, is no longer adequate to meet the child's nutritional needs. However, foods like dairy, grains like maize, sorghum, and millet, as well as nuts like groundnuts, which are frequently suggested as supplemental foods have all been linked to aflatoxin contamination. Understanding how caregiver preparation and storage practices of complementary flour affect children's aflatoxin exposure is crucial.

Objective

To determine the prevalence of dietary exposure to aflatoxin and its associated factors in children aged 6–23 months complemented with cereal-based foods in the Bukombe District of Geita Region in Tanzania.

Methodology

An analytical cross-sectional study was used to survey 342 households of children aged 6–23 months. Fifty complementary flour samples from 50 of the total households were chosen at random and tested for aflatoxin using the HPLC technique and standard methods. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to assess parents'/caregivers' food handling and preparation practices and the amount of food consumed. The obtained results were used to estimate aflatoxin dietary exposure of children in the study.

Results

Most of the children (86%) were exposed to aflatoxin through diet with a median value of 0.3 μg/kg-bw/day mainly linked to age and breastfeeding status. The majority of the exposed (86%) were above the reference limit of 0.04 μg/kg-bw/day. Most parents (98.5%) chose maize as the main component of complementary flour, either on its own or mixed with other cereals and winnowing and dehulling as the most and least common practices with the proportion of 78.9% and 9.4% respectively. Furthermore, a majority (88%) of flour samples were contaminated with aflatoxin B1 and total aflatoxin with log mean values of 1.2 ± 0.81 and 1.5 ± 0.68 μg/kg respectively which were above the Tanzania reference limit of 5 μg/kg and 10 μg/kg respectively. Contamination was significantly (p < 0.05) associated with location (Fisher's exact value = 6.68, p = 0.036), source of cereals (Fisher's exact value = 56.4 p = 0.025), and storage time (Fisher exact value = 23.8, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

In view of the findings, aflatoxin contamination in flours used for complementary feeding was beyond tolerable limits, hence increasing the risk of children's dietary exposure. This suggests that strengthening strategies to control aflatoxin contamination of maize throughout the food chain and teaching parents about preparation and storage methods that reduce aflatoxin in cereals/flour are important.

This study intends to explore the antihyperglycemic effect and the possible hypoglycemic mechanism of garlic (Allium sativum L.) polysaccharide (GP) using an animal model. Kunming mice were fed with GP (1.25, 2.5, 5.0 g/kg‧bw) for five weeks after insulin resistance (IR) engendering by a high-oil-high-sugar diet and streptozotocin (STZ). Intragastric administration of GP effectively improved the disease of polyphagia and polydipsia in diabetic mice. The fasting blood glucose (FBG) in the high-dose GP (DGH) group was meaningfully 42% lower than that in the diabetic model (DC) group showing its hypoglycemic effect. GP might manipulate hepatic glycogen metabolism by regulating the content of glucokinase (GK), glycogen synthase (GS), and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK). Results showed that GP with a low relative molecular weight (MW) of 2.0 kDa consisted predominately of a 2,1-β-D-Fruf backbone with 20.7% side chains owning the structure-effect on hypoglycemia indicating it could be a potential supplement for the intervention and management of hyperglycemia.

Sous-vide is a cooking technique which is considered safe for food preparation, however, the recommended temperatures and times for preparing seafood and fish may not be sufficient to ensure safety, and additionally, thermal stress may cause changes in virulence and resistance. The objective of the present investigation was to determine the reduction of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from fish after sous-vide preparation. For this purpose flow cytometry was used. The impact of stress during the preparation of the fish-based dish using the sous-vide technique on the virulence potential and resistance profile was determined geno- and phenotypically. The study was conducted at four different temperatures, that are typical for fish preparation (42, 52, 57 and 60 °C) showing that none of them could be effective against L. monocytogenes. In addition, the investigation of changes in the virulence, phenotypic antibiotic resistance and gene expression showed that the stress during the preparation of sous-vide decrease virulence potential of the L. monocytogenes strains. It was observed that the greatest changes in antibiotic resistance profile were noted for tetracycline and notable changes were also observed for some strains in the case of fosfomycin and ciprofloxacin. Therefore it is important not to consider the sous-vide method as ensuring the microbiological quality of products, especially those with high contamination levels, and choose products of the best quality for processing.

Sea buckthorn berries contain numerous bioactive lipids such as fatty acids, carotenoids, tocols, and sterols. Among fatty acids, a high concentration of rare in nature palmitoleic acid is characteristic of sea buckthorn pulp oil. We previously showed the potency of pulp oil from the Luczystaja cultivar to augment glucose-induced insulin secretion in pancreatic β cells. Since the composition of sea buckthorn berries varies depending on the cultivar, here we compared the activity of oleosomes from Botaniczeskaja Ljubitelskaja, Golden Rain, Prozracznaja, Maryna and Luczystaja cultivars in two different pancreatic cell lines, a mouse MIN6 and human EndoC-betaH1. Besides the characterization of particle size and ζ-potential, we evaluated the influence of crude and digested oleosomes on cell viability, insulin secretion, and intracellular calcium mobilization. Additionally, the antioxidant activity measured with the 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS•+) radical cation-based assay was determined and compared.

Vitexin is a C-glycosylated flavonoid which has many biological activities. However, extremely low aqueous solubility and poor bioaccessibility of vitexin greatly limits its application. In this study, phytosome technology was applied to improve these limitations using soybean phosphatidylcholine (SPC) and egg yolk phosphatidylcholine (EPC) as carrier agents. The effect of types of carrier agents and ratios of vitexin to carrier agent on the physicochemical properties, solubility, and thermal stability of vitexin-loaded phytosomes was investigated. The phytosome produced using EPC showed high encapsulation yield of 97.60%, encapsulation efficiency of 98.27%, solubility of 89.15%, total phenolic content (TPC) of 114.44 mg GAE/g phytosome, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) of 15.77 mmol Trolox/g phytosome and DPPH radical scavenging activity of 9.49 mmol Trolox/g phytosome. The phytosomal preparations using the ratio of vitexin to EPC of 1:3 could improve physical and chemical properties of vitexin-loaded phytosomes. Furthermore, phytosome technology could promote greater bioaccessibility and antioxidant activity of vitexin under thermal and simulated gastrointestinal digestion conditions compared to unprocessed vitexin. The results suggest that phytosome technology has ability to overcome the limitation and enable the application of vitexin.

Scope and approach

The prevailing food integrity culture of four Belgian food companies was assessed through a validated method triangulation. The relation between the perceived food integrity climate, the performed food integrity and the companies' food fraud vulnerability was analyzed in view of employees' demographic characteristics (i.e. age, seniority, job function, contract type) and organizational characteristics (i.e. product type, service type, company size and certifications status).

Results and conclusions

Results from this semi-quantitative study revealed that all the participating companies recorded a positive food integrity culture, as their food integrity climate and performance were medium-high and their fraud vulnerability was medium-low. Minor differences among companies were identified depending on their specific organizational characteristics and employees' demographic characteristics. People integrity was the lowest-perceived food integrity dimension and specific food fraud control measures were lacking in the majority of the participating companies. Managers perceived their company's food integrity climate higher than the operators in contact with food, implying that employees in different job functions may hold differing perceptions of their company's climate. For the other demographic characteristics analyzed (age, seniority and contract type), a statistical correlation with the perceived food integrity climate was not revealed. Results suggest that product type, company size and certifications status may also promote (or hinder) the achievement of a positive food integrity culture. The applied food integrity culture method triangulation has demonstrated to assist food companies in acknowledging potential weaknesses in their food integrity climate, food integrity performance and food fraud control measures, allowing them to improve key human, operational, technical and managerial aspects to achieve an overall consolidated food integrity culture.

Introduction

High sugar consumption is associated with dental caries. The objective of this study was to determine the concentrations of sugar and other nutrients in sweetened, ultraprocessed foods from Bogotá, Lima, and Quito.

Methods

A descriptive study was conducted in which information was collected on the concentration of total sugars and other nutrients from a nutrition table of ultraprocessed foods with a sweet taste from the primary chain supermarkets in Bogotá, Lima, and Quito. The groups of registered foods were non-carbonated and carbonated drinks, nectar and fruit juices, fermented dairy products, other milk-based drinks, compotes, breakfast cereals, bakery products, confectionery, desserts, dried fruits and nut candies, and flavored powder. Descriptive analyses were conducted to determine the measures of central tendency.

Results

In the present study, information was collected on 1830 products. A median total sugar content of 11.0 (7.0–17.0) grams/portion was identified in sweetened foods from Bogotá, while the median was 10.3 (6.0–14.7) in Lima and 9.0 (5.0–15.00) in Quito. Approximately 80% of foods from Bogotá and approximately 70% of foods from Lima and Quito exceed the maximum sugar concentration established in the resolutions passed by each country, which state the parameters and ranges to determine whether food is high in sugar. In addition, most of the registered foods in this study have a nonexistent or extremely low content of fiber, proteins, vitamins, and minerals.

Conclusions

A high percentage of foods with high sugar concentrations were found in Bogotá, Lima, and Quito, contributing to the risk of dental caries. This highlights the importance of odontologists educating patients on the proper selection of foods.