Limits In Assessing Microbiological Food Safety

1993 ◽  
Vol 56 (8) ◽  
pp. 725-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT L. BUCHANAN ◽  
CATHERINE M. DEROEVER

Scientific information pertaining to the incidence of foodborne disease and the sources of pathogenic microorganisms is often limited in relation to the knowledge needed to make informed microbiological food safety decisions. Inherent limitations in the current epidemiological reporting system constrain its usefulness for ascertaining the true incidence of foodborne disease. Additionally, current detection methods are insufficient to make real-time decisions on the microbiological safety of products. An integrated approach that combines enhanced epidemiological data, improved detection methods, detailed knowledge of the behavior of pathogens in food systems, and development of techniques for making quantitative risk assessments is essential for the development of a comprehensive, cost-effective strategy for assuring microbiologically safe foods.

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 19-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yakindra Prasad Timilsena ◽  
Jyotsna Shrestha Khanal ◽  
Anil Kumar Anal

Acrylamide is a thermally induced toxicant present in different processed foods in varying amount. Due to its detrimental effect on human health, it has become a major concern in public health and food safety. Various reports published recently have identified different processing techniques to reduce the level of this compound in the food. This paper aims to review and focuses on the mechanisms of acrylamide formation, the effects of different processing parameters such as pre-frying treatments, pH, temperature, time, types and the amount of raw materials, its toxicity level, and its detection methods in complex food systems. Toxicity levels of acrylamide have been found to be neurotoxic and carcinogenic. Food safety authorities including Codex Alimentarius Commission are in the process of reviewing their standards to fix the limit of acrylamide in processed foods. J. Food Sci. Technol. Nepal, Vol. 6 (19-30), 2010 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jfstn.v6i0.8256


Author(s):  
Craig W. Hedberg

This chapter describes food safety, in the context of both specific food products and entire food systems. The chapter describes various elements of food safety, how unsafe food causes adverse health effects, and what measures can be taken to prevent and control foodborne illness. The chapter emphasizes that public health surveillance for foodborne disease is the key to hazard identification. In particular, it emphasizes the role of public health surveillance as a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of our food safety systems, and to guide the development of prevention and control measures. The chapter describes in detail preventing food contamination, controlling amplification or spread of foodborne disease agents, and reducing or eliminating hazards.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maykel Hernández-Mesa ◽  
David Moreno-González ◽  
Carmen Cruces-Blanco ◽  
Ana M. García-Campaña

Vaccines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 707
Author(s):  
Afifah Machlaurin ◽  
Franklin Christiaan Karel Dolk ◽  
Didik Setiawan ◽  
Tjipke Sytse van der Werf ◽  
Maarten J. Postma

Bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG), the only available vaccine for tuberculosis (TB), has been applied for decades. The Indonesian government recently introduced a national TB disease control programme that includes several action plans, notably enhanced vaccination coverage, which can be strengthened through underpinning its favourable cost-effectiveness. We designed a Markov model to assess the cost-effectiveness of Indonesia’s current BCG vaccination programme. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were evaluated from the perspectives of both society and healthcare. The robustness of the analysis was confirmed through univariate and probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA). Using epidemiological data compiled for Indonesia, BCG vaccination at a price US$14 was estimated to be a cost-effective strategy in controlling TB disease. From societal and healthcare perspectives, ICERs were US$104 and US$112 per quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), respectively. The results were robust for variations of most variables in the univariate analysis. Notably, the vaccine’s effectiveness regarding disease protection, vaccination costs, and case detection rates were key drivers for cost-effectiveness. The PSA results indicated that vaccination was cost-effective even at US$175 threshold in 95% of cases, approximating the monthly GDP per capita. Our findings suggest that this strategy was highly cost-effective and merits prioritization and extension within the national TB programme. Our results may be relevant for other high endemic low- and middle-income countries.


2004 ◽  
Vol 87 (6) ◽  
pp. 1383-1390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip R Goodwin

Abstract The levels (1–2%) and increasing severity of allergic responses to food in the adult population are well documented, as is the phenomenon of even higher (3–8%) and apparently increasing incidence in children, albeit that susceptibility decreases with age. Problematic foods include peanut, milk, eggs, tree nuts, and sesame, but the list is growing as awareness continues to rise. The amounts of such foods that can cause allergic reactions is difficult to gauge; however, the general consensus is that ingestion of low parts per million is sufficient to cause severe reactions in badly affected individuals. Symptoms can rapidly—within minutes—progress from minor discomfort to severe, even life-threatening anaphylactic shock in those worst affected. Given the combination of high incidence of atopy, potential severity of response, and apparently widespread instances of “hidden” allergens in the food supply, it is not surprising that this issue is increasingly subject to legislative and regulatory scrutiny. In order to assist in the control of allergen levels in foods to acceptable levels, analysts require a combination of test methods, each designed to produce accurate, timely, and cost-effective analytical information. Such information contributes significantly to Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point programs to determine food manufacturers’ risk and improves the accuracy of monitoring and surveillance by food industry, commercial, and enforcement laboratories. Analysis thereby facilitates improvements in compliance with labeling laws with concomitant reductions in risks to atopic consumers. This article describes a combination of analytical approaches to fulfill the various needs of these 3 analytical communities.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1327
Author(s):  
Run Qin ◽  
Ping Li ◽  
Mingyi Du ◽  
Lianlian Ma ◽  
Yudi Huang ◽  
...  

Food safety issues caused by pesticide residue have exerted far-reaching impacts on human daily life, yet the available detection methods normally focus on surface residue rather than pesticide penetration to the internal area of foods. Herein, we demonstrated gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-immersed paper imprinting mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) for monitoring pesticide migration behaviors in various fruits and vegetables (i.e., apple, cucumber, pepper, plum, carrot, and strawberry). By manually stamping food tissues onto AuNP-immersed paper, this method affords the spatiotemporal visualization of insecticides and fungicides within fruits and vegetables, avoiding tedious and time-consuming sample preparation. Using the established MSI platform, we can track the migration of insecticides and fungicides into the inner region of foods. The results revealed that both the octanol-water partition coefficient of pesticides and water content of garden stuffs could influence the discrepancy in the migration speed of pesticides into food kernels. Taken together, this nanopaper imprinting MSI is poised to be a powerful tool because of its simplicity, rapidity, and easy operation, offering the potential to facilitate further applications in food analysis. Moreover, new perspectives are given to provide guidelines for the rational design of novel pesticide candidates, reducing the risk of food safety issues caused by pesticide residue.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Tonkin ◽  
Trevor Webb ◽  
Julie Henderson ◽  
Paul R. Ward ◽  
John Coveney ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Consumer trust in food systems is essential for consumers, food industry, policy makers and regulators. Yet no comprehensive tool for measuring consumer trust in food systems exists. Similarly, the impact that trust in the food system has on health-related food behaviours is yet to be empirically examined. The aim of this research was to develop a comprehensive instrument to measure trust in the food system (the Dimensions of Trust in Food Systems Scale (DOTIFS scale) and use it to explore whether trust in the food system impacts consumers’ health-related behaviours. Methods The DOTIFS scale was developed using sociological theories of trust and pre-existing instruments measuring aspects of trust. It was pilot tested and content validity was assessed with 85 participants. A mixed-methods exploration of the health-related behaviours of 18 conveniently sampled Australian consumers with differing trust scores determined by the DOTIFS scale was then conducted. During March–July 2019 shopping- and home-observations were used to assess participants’ food safety practices and exposure to public health fortification programs, while the CSIRO Healthy Diet Score determined their adherence to national dietary guidelines. Results The DOTIFS scale was found to have high comprehension, ease of use and content validity. Statistical analysis showed scale scores significantly trended as predicted by participants’ stated level of trust. Differences were found in the way individuals with more or less trust in the food system comply with national dietary guidelines, are exposed to public health fortification programs, and adhere to recommended food safety practices. Conclusions The DOTIFS scale is a comprehensive, sociologically- and empirically- informed assessment of consumer trust in food systems that can be self-administered online to large populations and used to measure changes in consumer trust over time. The differences in health-related behaviours between individuals with varying levels of trust warrant further investigation.


2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Louie ◽  
Nopporn Pathanapornpandh ◽  
Unchalee Pultajuk ◽  
Robert Kaplan ◽  
Ian Hodgson ◽  
...  

Acupuncture in combination with antiretroviral therapies is a potentially useful treatment for HIV-related symptom relief in resource-poor settings. Traditional Chinese medicine has a long history of being used to enhance immune function. In the setting of HIV, Chinese traditional medicine allows for symptom treatment without adding extra medications to a complex drug regime. This paper provides details of a project at Mae On Hospital in rural northern Thailand where allopathic/conventional treatments are used in tandem with acupuncture. A preliminary evaluation of the project suggests that an integrated approach to symptom relief is viewed positively by respondents receiving acupuncture, though further studies are required to confirm the association between acupuncture and symptom relief. The project also demonstrates the feasibility of developing a cost-effective acupuncture programme using local healthcare staff.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Erisman ◽  
Allison Leach ◽  
Albert Bleeker ◽  
Brooke Atwell ◽  
Lia Cattaneo ◽  
...  

Reducing nitrogen pollution across the food chain requires the use of clear and comprehensive indicators to track and manage losses. The challenge is to derive an easy-to-use robust nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) indicator for entire food systems to help support policy development, monitor progress and inform consumers. Based on a comparison of four approaches to NUE (life cycle analysis, nitrogen footprint, nitrogen budget, and environmental impact assessment), we propose an indicator for broader application at the national scale: The whole food chain (NUEFC), which is defined as the ratio of the protein (expressed as nitrogen) available for human consumption to the (newly fixed and imported) nitrogen input to the food system. The NUEFC was calculated for a set of European countries between 1980 and 2011. A large variation in NUEFC was observed within countries in Europe, ranging from 10% in Ireland to 40% in Italy in 2008. The NUEFC can be used to identify factors that influence it (e.g., the share of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in new nitrogen, the imported and exported products and the consumption), which can be used to propose potential improvements on the national scale.


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