Journal of Consumer Protection and Food Safety最新文献

Aerial transport of pesticides during and after their application both over medium range distances and long distance may lead to residues on plants and soil far away from agricultural treatments. Therefore, the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety carried out a Germany-wide geographical analysis to identify monitoring sites which could be used for a representative German-wide monitoring. The identified sites reflect climate areas with different meteorological conditions, land coverage and pesticide use. By using a geographical information system, five different areas were identified representing the climatic and agricultural conditions of pesticide use in Germany. Since the required measuring technique needed a certain infrastructure, using already existing measuring sides was considered to be most efficient in order to use them for a German-wide monitoring. In a second step, agro-meteorological weather stations with distances of < 100 m, 100–1000 m and > 1 km in the main wind direction from treated fields were identified within these areas. The identified areas reflect the main different conditions for aerial pesticide transport along with suitable weather stations to monitor pesticide residues in the air and its deposition on plants and soil all over Germany.

A cross-sectional study was carried out on 352 samples (120 fecal, 92 beef cut, and 140 environmental swabs) to investigate the occurrence of E. coli O157:H7 in raw beef and to assess its antimicrobial susceptibility profile in slaughterhouses and butcher shops in Bishoftu town, Ethiopia. The samples were enriched by modified tryptone soy broth supplemented with novobiocin (mTSB + N) at the ratio of 1:9 BPW to mTSB + N and incubated overnight at 41.5 ± 0.5 ̊C (24 h). Latex agglutination was performed for confirmation of E. coli O157:H7 using an RIM E. coli O157:H7 latex test kit. The isolates were further tested for their resistance against antimicrobial susceptibility to 13 antimicrobials using the Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion method. Out of 352 samples, 14 (4.0%) were positive for E. coli O157:H7 serotype; of which, 28.6% (4/14), 21.4% (3/14), and 50% (7/14) were from fecal, beef, and environmental swab samples, respectively. A significant difference in the occurrences of the pathogen was observed among the sources of samples (p < 0.05). The antimicrobial susceptibility test revealed high resistance to 3 commonly used drugs: tetracycline (100%), erythromycin (92.8%), and ampicillin (64.3%). All E. coli O157 isolates were susceptible to azithromycin, cefotaxime, and chloramphenicol. However, of 14 isolates, 12 (85.8%) were resistant to ≥ 3 classes of antimicrobial agents. The current study warrants the need to implement appropriate hygienic measures in slaughterhouses and butcher shops to safeguard public health.

DBN9501 is a new maize transgenic event characterised by being resistance to insects and herbicides. To meet genetically modified (GM)-labeling requirements and monitor the unintended release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), developing a creditable and applicable method for identifying and quantifying GM events is essential. Herein we developed an event-specific method and validated it through inter-laboratory ring trials using blind samples. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of copy number ratio were confirmed at 0.05% and 0.1%, respectively. The quantitative bias ranged from  -3.52 to 10.38%, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) of the method was < 25%. Furthermore, the expanded uncertainty for the blind samples S1 − S5 was 0.22%, 0.10%, 0.05%, 0.03%, and 0.02%. These results demonstrated that the event-specific quantitative PCR method could identify and quantify GM DBN9501 for further routine lab analysis.

The measurement of pesticide content in pulses at various stages of the supply chain is important in order to manage the maximum residue level (MRL) set by different government agencies. The objective of this study was to develop a non-destructive detection system to determine the glyphosate content in 6 pulses (chickpea, yellow pea, red lentil, large green lentil, French green lentil, and black beluga lentil) based on Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Organically grown pulses were artificially spiked with glyphosate at 5 concentrations (0 mg/kg, 5 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg, 15 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg) and used for the development and testing of FTIR spectroscopy and associated chemometric models. Principal component analysis (PCA) led to the discrimination and clustering in the pulse samples based on the applied glyphosate levels. Various preprocessing and variable selection techniques were applied on the spectral dataset and partial least squares (PLS) regression was used to predict the glyphosate levels in pulses. The correlation coefficient for prediction (Rp²) of glyphosate was 0.93, 0.92, 0.96, 0.91, 0.96, and 0.92 for yellow pea, chickpea, large green lentil, red lentil, black beluga, and French green lentil, respectively with optimized preprocessing and variable selection techniques.

This article aims to present an updated discussion about the relevant aspects of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in food systems and challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic for food industries. To accomplish this review, data from relevant papers describing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security were retrieved from selected databases. The lessons learned by the food industry after facing the challenges for production, transport, storing, and trading, in order to protect food workers’ and consumers’ health during the COVID-19 pandemic are valuable for possible future epidemics. Managing this economic sector in the post-COVID-19 era is a new challenge. Food industries realized great strides in good hygiene practices that served as quick action tools to prevent dissemination of the virus among workers during food manufacturing and ensured food safety. In addition, lockdown measures in some countries showed the importance of food availability, revealing that food industry and food distribution are activities that cannot be paralyzed. Future studies are still necessary to improve the knowledge on the viability of SARS-CoV-2 in food materials and protection of the food chain against viruses.

Vibrio spp. are ubiquitous bacteria that are frequently discovered in aquatic environments. Globally, they are recognized as the primary cause of seafood-related illnesses. Over decades, vibrios have been a major health concern, and the number of cases is on the rise due to unhygienic eating habits and increasing demand for raw seafood. Among the 2 groups of Vibrio bacteria, the non-cholera Vibrio bacteria group mainly associate with seafood-borne illness. Though ~ 12 species have been recognized as causative agents of diseases in humans, horizontal gene transfer has attributed to an increase in emerging human pathogenic Vibrio spp. The assortment of virulence determinants contributes to the pathogenicity of vibrios. They carry specific genes to produce toxins and hemolysin, which are correlated with pathogenicity. In addition, the expanding antimicrobial use in humans and aquaculture resulted in a surge of resistant Vibrio strains found in shellfish. This has adversely affected the therapeutic results in the case of Vibrio infection. Thus, this article provides insight into the potential public health threat that may pose to seafood consumers as a consequence of the presence of virulence factors and antimicrobial resistance determinants in molluscan shellfish-borne vibrios.

This study aims to examine the formation of young consumers’ food waste reduction behaviour in a developing nation. The extended theory of planned behaviour model is used as a theoretical framework to establish the hypothesized relationships between the constructs in the given context. Data were collected from young consumers of India through a questionnaire-based survey. Covariance-based structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings of the study indicate the usefulness of extended theory of planned behaviour in predicting food waste reduction behaviour among young consumers in a developing country like India. The findings’ implications will help formulate and implant public policies for reducing food waste at the household level in developing countries to ensure food security and achieve sustainable development goals.

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