Food safety (Tokyo, Japan)最新文献

Changes in food production and distribution, including global distribution of foods, have affected the types of foodborne disease outbreaks that occur. As a result, outbreaks are frequently identified that cause illnesses affecting people across wide geographic regions. Pathogen subtyping is the most effective way to detect these outbreaks, by grouping together cases of foodborne illness that likely share a common source. Over the last decade, the use of whole genome sequencing-based subtyping methods for foodborne bacteria has rapidly expanded. These methods not only provide a much higher resolution view of the bacterial genome, but also open the door to improved sharing of genomic data internationally. We describe four recent outbreak investigations linked to globally distributed foods and other products in which international genomic data sharing played a key role in the investigation: a listeriosis outbreak linked to enoki mushrooms and three different salmonellosis outbreaks linked to onions, sesame paste, and small turtles. Although there are technical and cost barriers to expanding the use of whole genome sequencing and other high-resolution subtyping methods, advancements and accessibility in using these technologies are creating novel opportunities for widespread global implementation so that international collaborations can detect, investigate, and stop outbreaks and reduce the impact of foodborne illnesses globally.

Contamination of agricultural crops by aflatoxin, a potent carcinogenic fungal toxin, is a global issue that poses serious health risks to humans and livestock while inflicting significant economic damage on the agricultural sector. Specific inhibitors of aflatoxin production hold promise not only as effective agents for controlling aflatoxin contamination, but also as valuable tools for uncovering the regulatory mechanisms of secondary metabolism through the elucidation of their modes of action. Unexpectedly, inhibitors whose modes of action we have clarified were found to target mitochondrial components, rather than proteins directly involved in the aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway. In this article, we review inhibitors and inhibitory mixtures that act on mitochondria and explore the relationship between mitochondrial function and aflatoxin production through their modes of action.

Clostridium perfringens is one of most problematic foodborne bacteria in Japan. The number of outbreaks caused by C. perfringens has not decreased. To clarify the characteristics of outbreaks in Japan, data in Annual Statistics of Food Poisoning Japan from 2000 to 2022 published by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan was analyzed.

To evaluate the risk of anisakiasis, we investigated their prevalence in fillets of chub mackerel and blue mackerel in 2022 and 2023. The results indicated that the prevalence (percent of larvae-positive fillet samples) and abundance (number of larvae per 100 g fillet) of Anisakis larvae in fillets of chub mackerel were not significantly different between the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean. The prevalence and abundance of Anisakis larvae in blue mackerel were markedly lower than those in the chub mackerel.

Food Safety Commission of Japan (FSCJ) hosted a symposium entitled "Concept of Integrated Approaches to Testing and Assessment (IATA) Using New Approach Methods (NAMs) -Learning from the Study of Thyroid Hormone System and Developmental Neurotoxicity-" to deepen our understanding on the application of NAMs through practical examples. The symposium took place at FSCJ meeting room (Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo) on December 5th, 2024, attracting a total of 21 on-site attendees as well as 153 online participants. FSCJ Chairperson Dr. YAMAMOTO gave an opening remark. In the presentation 1, Dr. AKAHORI Yumi from the Chemicals Evaluation and Research Institute, Japan (CERI), who also serves as a member of FSCJ's Working Group on Assessment Methodology Development, presented a lecture titled "International Activities Related to NAMs." In the presentation 2, Dr. Mary Gilbert from the US EPA gave a lecture titled "Thyroid Disruption and Neurodevelopment in an Adverse Outcome Framework Translating NAMs- Filling in Gaps." In the Q&A session, participants discussed about the concept and definition of NAMs. In concluding the seminar, Dr. ASANO remarked that, given the active efforts to leverage NAMs abroad led by Europe and the US, FSCJ will continue to discuss various NAMs which would be accumulated internationally and their potential applications.

The intestinal pathogens Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli are the most common causes of foodborne bacterial gastroenteritis in humans. In Japan and globally, more than 90% of Campylobacter species isolated from patients with Campylobacter food poisoning are C. jejuni, whereas C. coli accounts for only a small percentage. This difference in isolation rates is considered to be due to differences in the ability of C. jejuni and C. coli to proliferate within the host. However, only a few studies have compared the growth of these two pathogens. To investigate the effect of C. jejuni on the proliferative ability of C. coli and vice versa, co-culture experiments were conducted. Similar strains were selected on the basis of their amino acid requirements for comparative purposes. C. jejuni grew on amino acid-rich media, indicating that its growth was not affected by the presence of C. coli. By contrast, the growth of C. coli was inhibited by C. jejuni. This suggests that the higher detection rate of C. jejuni may be due to its superior growth capacity rather than its initial abundance. Further research on C. coli is required to better understand its role and behavior in the host and in different environments.

Food Safety Commission of Japan (FSCJ) conducted a risk assessment of a feed additive, cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL), referring to the submitted documents for feed additive designation. FSCJ assessed anacardic acid in May, 2024 as an active substance of this formulation, concluded that this substance would not have a negative effect on human health as long as normally used as a feed additive. This additive was administered to cattle after mixing it into their feed in residue study. CNSL was, however, not detected in either tissues or milk. FSCJ thus recognized that humans would not have detectable amounts of CNSL from food through the feed additive. FSCJ concluded that negligible effects on human health as long as used ordinally as a feed additive.

Food Safety Commission of Japan (FSCJ) conducted a risk assessment of anacardic acid (CAS No. 11034-77-8) in response to the request from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) in line with the application for a new designation of cashew nutshell liquid (CNSL) as a feed additive. Anacardic acid, a major substance of CNSL, is an alkyl phenol suppressing methane production in the first rumen of cattle. Submitted documents for the feed additive designation was used for the current evaluation. The data used in the assessment include fate in animals (cattle and others), tissue residues (cattle), genotoxicity, acute toxicity (mice), and subacute toxicity (mice). FSCJ determined the non-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) of 600 mg/kg bw per day for the females and 1,000 mg/kg bw per day (the maximum dose) for the males. Although chronic toxicity and carcinogenicity studies for anacardic acid have not conducted, possible concerns of chronic effects would be anticipated from the results of the subacute toxicity study, and also considering the low residue of anacardic acid and the long-term food experience of cashew nuts containing the anacardic acid. In Japan, CNSL containing anacardic acid has been applied as a feed ingredient to livestock since 2012. No safety issue has been reported on livestock or their products due to this feed ingredient. FSCJ concluded that anacardic acid would not harm human health through the residues in food as long as used ordinally as a feed additive.

Food Safety Commission of Japan (FSCJ) conducted a risk assessment of pentoxazone (CAS No. 110956-75-7), an oxazolidine herbicide, based on submitted documents. A request for reevaluation was made under the Agricultural Chemical Regulation Act. Additional information was submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, which included data on fate in livestock (goats and chickens), genotoxicity, and related published scientific literatures. Major adverse effects of pentoxazone were observed in the liver (hepatocellular hypertrophy) and urinary bladder (proliferative lesions including mucosal epithelial hyperplasia). Adverse effects were observed on neither fertility, teratogenicity, nor biologically significant genotoxicity. The lowest no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) obtained from these studies was 23.1 mg/kg bw per day in the one-year chronic toxicity study in dogs. FSCJ specified an acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 0.23 mg/kg bw per day by applying a safety factor of 100 to this NOAEL.

A novel idea of statistical analytical procedure for the level of detection (LOD) was demonstrated by its successful application to qualitative test methods for Salmonella, SALX System and NIHSJ-01. Salmonella cells of a hydrogen sulfide-producing strain FSD287 and a non-hydrogen sulfide-producing strain FSD347 were added to beef and shrimp food samples using a cell sorter to achieve bacterial cell concentration of 1, 5, and 10 cfu/25g-test portion (tp). The colony forming probability (CFP) of the added cells was estimated by means of 10×10 sorting plates. All of test portions containing FSD287 or FSD347 were decided to be positive by SALX System. NIHSJ-01 using CHROMagar® Salmonella (CHS) decided test portions of each of both strains to be positive, while NIHSJ-01 using desoxycholate hydrogen sulfide lactose (DHL) agar decided selectively only FSD287-test portions to be positive. All blank test portions were negative. To evaluate the level of detection at 95% probability (LOD₉₅), in addition to test results, we introduced virtual results of blank conditions approaching zero. As a result, LOD₉₅ for every case was estimated to be lower than 0.326 cfu/tp indicating that both methods were able to detect 1 cfu/tp at higher than 95% probability. Therefore, our protocol for statistical analysis for LOD was feasible for the verification of the test methods that meet the requirement of detecting small number (minimum 1 cfu/25g-tp) of target micro-organisms in food test portions.