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Microbial Contamination in Foods

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 7747

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Food and Nutrition, Kookmin University, Seoul 02707, Korea
Interests: food safety; bacteriophage; endolysin; active packaging; edible coating; film; antimicrobial; microorganism; antiviral
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Food Science and Technology, Division of Applied Food System, Seoul Women’s University, Seoul 01797, Republic of Korea
Interests: antibiotics-resistant bacteria; biofilm; meat products; food safety; food quality; endolysin; foodborne pathogen detection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Food and Animal Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Gangwon-do 25354, Korea
Interests: food safety; food quality; bacteriophage; endolysin; antibiotic resistance; safety engineering; novel strategy; antimicrobial peptide

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The need to enhance microbial safety and quality of foods, without compromising their nutritional, functional, and sensory characteristics, has created an increasing world-wide interest in innovative technologies for food preservation. Emerging food processing technologies, including physical, chemical, and biological methods, have been developed by both industry and academia during the last few decades in the attempt to meet the demand of safe food of high quality. These emerging technologies could also significantly shorten food processing time and reduce operational costs, while being environmentally friendly compared to conventional food processing technologies, eventually benefiting the food industry. However, each new technology has its own limitations and thus requires research to be applied at a commercial level. For these reasons, researchers are working toward the development and optimization of new food processing technologies.

This Special Issue will focus on the development of promising approaches to enhance food safety. It will collect both basic science and applied research studies as well as review articles on these topics, presenting technical advances and their practical utilization.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Development and characterization of biocontrol agents those could control hazardous elements in foods
  • Modeling of experimental devices for the removal of contaminants in foods
  • Investigation of biomarkers or biosensors which could detect contaminants in foods
  • Migration studies to control processing/packaging-induced contaminants
  • Thermal/non-thermal food processing methods to enhance food safety and quality

Dr. Yoonjee Chang
Dr. Jaewoo Bai
Dr. Jihwan Chun
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • foodborne pathogens
  • microbial inactivation
  • detection
  • novel technologies
  • food safety engineering
  • packaging
  • coating
  • shelf life

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 1961 KiB  
Article
Agents of Campylobacteriosis in Different Meat Matrices in Brazil
by Micaela Guidotti Takeuchi, Roberta Torres de Melo, Carolyne Ferreira Dumont, Jéssica Laura Miranda Peixoto, Gabriella Rayane Aparecida Ferreira, Mariana Comassio Chueiri, Jocasta Rodrigues Iasbeck, Marcela Franco Timóteo, Bárbara de Araújo Brum and Daise Aparecida Rossi
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(10), 6087; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph19106087 - 17 May 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1528
Abstract
We aimed to identify the prevalence of thermophilic species of Campylobacter in meats of different species available on the Brazilian commercial market and to determine the genetic diversity, antimicrobial resistance and virulence potential of the isolates. A total of 906 samples, including chicken, [...] Read more.
We aimed to identify the prevalence of thermophilic species of Campylobacter in meats of different species available on the Brazilian commercial market and to determine the genetic diversity, antimicrobial resistance and virulence potential of the isolates. A total of 906 samples, including chicken, beef and pork carcasses and chicken and beef livers, were purchased in retail outlets, and prevalences of 18.7% (46/246), 3.62% (5/138), 10.14% (14/138), 3.62% (5/138) and 4.47% (11/132), respectively, were identified, evidencing the dissemination of genotypes in the main producing macro-regions. Of all isolates, 62.8% were classified as multidrug resistant (MDR), with resistance to amoxicillin-clavulanate (49.4%), tetracycline (51.8%) and ciprofloxacin (50.6%) and co-resistance to macrolides and fluoroquinolones (37.1%). Multivirulent profiles were identified mainly in isolates from chicken carcasses (84.8%), and the emergence of MDR/virulent strains was determined in pork isolates. All isolates except those from chicken carcasses showed a high potential for biofilm formation (71.4% luxS) and consequent persistence in industrial food processing. For chicken carcasses, the general virulence was higher in C. jejuni (54.3%), followed by C. coli (24%) and Campylobacter spp. (21.7%), and in the other meat matrices, Campylobacter spp. showed a higher prevalence of virulence (57.2%). The high rates of resistance and virulence reinforce the existence of strain selection pressure in the country, in addition to the potential risk of strains isolated not only from chicken carcasses, but also from other meat matrices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Contamination in Foods)
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14 pages, 1814 KiB  
Article
A Rapid and Sensitive Europium Nanoparticle-Based Lateral Flow Immunoassay Combined with Recombinase Polymerase Amplification for Simultaneous Detection of Three Food-Borne Pathogens
by Kai Chen, Biao Ma, Jiali Li, Erjing Chen, Ying Xu, Xiaoping Yu, Chuanxin Sun and Mingzhou Zhang
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(9), 4574; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18094574 - 26 Apr 2021
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2947
Abstract
Food-borne pathogens have become an important public threat to human health. There are many kinds of pathogenic bacteria in food consumed daily. A rapid and sensitive testing method for multiple food-borne pathogens is essential. Europium nanoparticles (EuNPs) are used as fluorescent probes in [...] Read more.
Food-borne pathogens have become an important public threat to human health. There are many kinds of pathogenic bacteria in food consumed daily. A rapid and sensitive testing method for multiple food-borne pathogens is essential. Europium nanoparticles (EuNPs) are used as fluorescent probes in lateral flow immunoassays (LFIAs) to improve sensitivity. Here, recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) combined with fluorescent LFIA was established for the simultaneous and quantitative detection of Listeria monocytogenes, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and Escherichia coliO157:H7. In this work, the entire experimental process could be completed in 20 min at 37 °C. The limits of detection (LODs) of EuNP-based LFIA–RPA were 9.0 colony-forming units (CFU)/mL for Listeria monocytogenes, 7.0 CFU/mL for Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and 4.0 CFU/mL for Escherichia coliO157:H7. No cross-reaction could be observed in 22 bacterial strains. The fluorescent LFIA–RPA assay exhibits high sensitivity and good specificity. Moreover, the average recovery of the three food-borne pathogens spiked in food samples was 90.9–114.2%. The experiments indicate the accuracy and reliability of the multiple fluorescent test strips. Our developed EuNP-based LFIA–RPA assay is a promising analytical tool for the rapid and simultaneous detection of multiple low concentrations of food-borne pathogens. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Contamination in Foods)
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10 pages, 946 KiB  
Article
Inactivation of Indigenous Microorganisms and Salmonella in Korean Rice Cakes by In-Package Cold Plasma Treatment
by Joo Hyun Kang, Jaewoo Bai and Sea C. Min
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(7), 3360; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18073360 - 24 Mar 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2437
Abstract
The antimicrobial effects of in-package cold plasma (CP) treatment on Korean rice cakes (KRC) were evaluated. The CP treatment (25 kV) inactivated indigenous mesophilic aerobic bacteria by 0.8–1.0 log CFU/g, irrespective of the position of KRC in the package. The addition of a [...] Read more.
The antimicrobial effects of in-package cold plasma (CP) treatment on Korean rice cakes (KRC) were evaluated. The CP treatment (25 kV) inactivated indigenous mesophilic aerobic bacteria by 0.8–1.0 log CFU/g, irrespective of the position of KRC in the package. The addition of a shaking step during CP treatment increased the reduction in microbes by ~1 log CFU/g. The microbial inactivation efficiency increased significantly when the treatment time increased from 1 to 3 min. Microbial inactivation activity was highest for packages containing eight rice cakes. The optimized CP treatment achieved a 2.0 ± 0.1 log CFU/g reduction in indigenous bacteria. In addition, the optimum CP treatment inactivated indigenous yeast and molds and Salmonella in KRC by 1.7 ± 0.1 log CFU/g and 3.9 ± 0.3 log CFU/g, respectively. No significant changes in color and firmness were observed, and the surface temperature of KRC did not exceed 22 °C after CP treatment. Moreover, CP treatment damaged the cellular membrane of Salmonella, mainly by inducing lipid peroxidation. This study demonstrates the potential use of in-package CP treatment for the non-thermal microbial inactivation of KRC. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Contamination in Foods)
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