The Power of Food Science and Technology and Nutrition for Sustainable Planet Health: Food Processing Saves Lives

Food processing includes a chain of events that starts in the farm and continues to the serving plate. These may include washing, dehydration, blanching, heat processing, and packaging, among others. While processing is essential for providing a safe food supply by eliminating harmful microorganisms and certain undesirable components, as well as revealing the desirable flavor of food, there has been much recent attempt to condemn food processing. Thus, loss of certain nutrients during processing and use of additives in ready to eat food as well as high levels of salt, sugar and fat/oil have been noted as being responsible for many non-communicable diseases due to increased incidence of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. These have all been categorised as ultra-processed food but attention to the definitions and details is most important.

Molecular Diagnostic Platforms for Specific Detection of Escherichia coli

Developing countries due to socio-economic conditions are more prone to frequent pathogenic outbreaks; inadequate sanitation and water quality monitoring are also responsible for such conditions. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to provide microbiologically safe food/water in order to protect public health. Several flaws in traditional culturing methods have sparked a surge in interest in molecular techniques as a means of improving the efficiency and sensitivity of microbiological food/water quality monitoring. Molecular identification of water contaminants, mainly Escherichia coli, has been extensively used. Several of the molecular-based techniques are based on amplification and detection of nucleic acids. The advantages offered by these PCR-based methods over culture-based techniques are a higher level of specificity, sensitivity, and rapidity. Of late, the development of a biosensor device that is easy to perform, highly sensitive, and selective has the potential to become indispensable in detecting low CFU of pathogenic E. coli in environmental samples. This review seeks to provide a vista of the progress made in the detection of E. coli using nucleic acid-based approaches as part of the microbiological food/water quality monitoring.

Training of Karamunting Fruit Processing as Natural Dyes in the PKK Group in Tarakan City

The agricultural sector is a source of income for residents in Tarakan City, especially SMEs that process agricultural products into various food products. These products are processed with synthetic dyes, which pose a health risk if consumed in excess overtime. Natural dyes from plants can be used to produce safe food products, one of which is Karamunting fruit. This training aims to provide knowledge as well as the practice of processing Karamunting fruit into natural food and beverage coloring. This training is aimed at partner institutions, namely the PKK group from RT 9 and RT 11 Pamusian Village, Central Tarakan District, Tarakan City. This activity is carried out using training and mentoring methods. The method used is the lecture method, with the practice being evaluated with a questionnaire to measure the effectiveness of the activities to increase the knowledge and skills of participants. The results of this activity are that 1) participants have a positive perception of the training provided; 2) participants gain new insights and knowledge about the benefits and efficacy of Karamunting fruit. 3) Participants gain new skills and experience; 4) Participants interested in expanding business opportunities for Karamunting fruit processing.

Application of a Bacteriophage–Sanitizer Combination in Post-Harvest Control of E. coli O157:H7 Contamination on Spinach Leaves in the Presence or Absence of a High Organic Load Produce Wash

Foodborne illness due to the consumption of contaminated products continues to be a serious public health issue. Bacteriophages might provide a natural and effective way to control and reduce the pathogenic bacterial population on food products. Researchers have conducted various experiments to prove their effectiveness against different pathogens and their ability to act as a natural intervention to control pathogen populations, especially in the food industry. In this study, a cocktail of bacteriophages (phages) was added to wash water in the presence of a high organic load along with commercially used sanitizers (chlorine or Sanidate 5.0) to study the efficacy of the phage–sanitizer combination in the challenge water. It was determined that in the absence of organic loads, the sanitizer by itself or the combination with phages significantly (p < 0.001) reduced the contamination by 3.00–5.00 log CFU/mL. In the presence of organic loads, the sanitizer by itself did not contribute to a significant reduction (p > 0.05) compared to the control. However, the sanitizer–phage combination led to a 3.00-log and 6.00-log reduction (p < 0.001) of the pathogen at the end of 3 and 6 h, respectively, in the presence of high organic loads. Therefore, utilizing a combination treatment (phage–sanitizer) might be one solution to reduce pathogen contamination in the food industry, especially the fresh produce industry, thus providing safe food for consumption.

Nano-Biopesticides as an Emerging Technology for Pest Management

With an increasing world population, the demand for quality food is rising. To meet safe food demand, it is necessary to double or maybe triple agriculture production. Annually, almost 25% of the world crop is destroyed due to pests. During the past few decades, different pesticides, including chemical, synthetic, biological, and botanical have been adopted to achieve adequate results against pests for agriculture interests and plant safety. Globally, more than 200,000 people died every year due to direct chemical and synthetic pesticides poisoning. But these pesticides did not achieve the desired results due to delivery problems, less stability, low biodegradability, less specificity, and high cost. To overcome these problems, the rapidly emerging field of nanotechnology is considered an important achievement in the agriculture sectors in order to improve pest mortality rates and crop production. The nano-biopesticides attained special attention against the insect pests due to their small size (1-100 nm), large surface area, high stability, cost-effectiveness, fever toxicity, and easy field application. The current chapter highlights the relevance of nano-biopesticides for pest insect management on several crops of agricultural concern. The mechanisms of action, delivery, and environmental sustainability of nano-biopesticides are also discussed in the present chapter.

Development, Validation, and Testing of a Self-Assessment Tool to Measure Food Safety Beliefs, Attitudes, and Behaviors in Healthcare Foodservice Operations

The neutropenic diet has long been a dietary prescription for immunocompromised patients. Its effectiveness and consistency, unfortunately, have been constantly challenged. Researchers and healthcare policymakers call for liberalization of neutropenic diet, which shifts risk management strategies from excluding claimed “high-risk” food items to focus on safe food handling. The responsibility of food safety falls on foodservice workers in a healthcare setting. The objective of this study was to develop and conduct psychometric testing to determine the validity and reliability of a self-assessment survey instrument tool targeting beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of safe food handling practices for healthcare foodservice workers. This survey validation study was conducted in four distinct phases. First, the tool was developed based on the Theory of Planned Behavior framework. After initial draft, the survey underwent content validity testing to establish face validity and test-retest reliability to measure temporal stability. Lastly, the 40-item survey was then pilot tested to assess internal consistency and construct validity. Pilot testing was conducted over a 16-month period on 211 healthcare foodservice workers across six acute care hospitals who serve immunocompromised populations. The original survey was comprised of 46 items. Six items were removed due to low content validity scores and temporal instability. Pilot testing revealed acceptable internal consistency (Chronbach’s alpha = 0.79). The linear regression model proved to be a good fit (p ≤ .0001) after assumptions were tested and met to predict behavior from attitude. A reliable and valid self-assessment survey instrument tool was developed for use in a healthcare foodservice operation. Results of this tool can help organizations pinpoint areas to improve food safety practices of foodservice workers who serve immunocompromised population.

Perspectives of integrated pest management in CDMX urban agriculture and impacts of SARS-CoV-2 health emergency

<p>The objective of this work was to determine the impact of COVID-19 on productive activities of farmers and extensionist, and the level of application of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in urban agriculture in Xochimilco, Milpa Alta, Tláhuac, Tlalpan, Magdalena Contreras and Cuajimalpa at Mexico City, a metropolitan area with a high SARS-CoV-2 positive cases. In 2020, a digital survey was applied to a total of 108 farmers and extensionists during the first COVID-19 epidemic wave. The sanitary emergency reduced the continuity of the extension service. However, this was carried out with digital technologies including photographs submitted by WhatsApp for pest diagnosis purposes. During the maximum COVID-19 peak (July, 2020), only 14% of farmers declined to sowing the summer fall season 2020. The majority established corn and, to a lesser extent, vegetables in mixed topologies. However, the activity of agricultural workers was reduced to 50%. Up to 75% of farmers reported losses of 20% derived from the epidemic. The major pest control strategy was mechanical, mainly for preventive purposes (67%) followed by chemical control (52%), biological at both preventive (8%) and curative (25%) levels, and the combination of more than one strategy in less than 10%. The data indicate an intuitive understanding of the IPM benefit, although the farmer is unaware of its principles. Faced with the growing demand for fresh, quality and safe food as a COVID-19 preventive strategy, urban agriculture has great development prospects by supplying local markets without transport problems caused by regional and global contingencies such as that caused by SARS[1]CoV-2. However, public and institutional policies of great vision are required. This work recognizes the work of farmers, as well as extensionists in favor of food security.</p>

Determining the effect of a multicomponent mixture on the quality of pastry products containing a mixture of germinated grains

A bun with a mixture of germinated cereals of wheat, oats, barley, and corn is an innovative product rich in dietary fiber, replaceable and essential amino acids, micro and macro elements, vitamins. In the process of germination, grains accumulate a large number of amylolytic and proteolytic enzymes, which worsen the structural and mechanical properties of the crumb of pastry products, as a result of which it becomes sticky and wrinkled. The experimental study reported in this work aimed to improve the organoleptic indicators and prolong the freshness of pastry products whose formulation includes a mixture of germinated grains. The expediency has been proven of using the polycomponent mixture "Solodok" (Ukraine) in the amount of 3.0 % to the mass of flour in the production of pastry products in whose formulation 50 % of flour was replaced with a mixture of germinated grains. The application of the polycomponent mixture "Solodok" has a positive effect on the organoleptic and structural-mechanical properties of the product crumb. The composition of the polycomponent mixture includes safe food additives and ingredients such as ground cinnamon, dry wheat gluten, apple pectin, and ascorbic acid. It has been proven that products with the addition of the polycomponent mixture retain freshness longer, which was confirmed by a lower rate of staleness, by 59.2 %, compared to control. The stale processes in the case of using a polycomponent mixture are inhibited due to the greater accumulation of dextrins compared to control. Thus, the total content of dextrins in a pastry product is 1.668 % to DM (dry matter) while in the bun "Tsilyushcha", it is 2.443 % to DM. The study results show the technological effectiveness of the use of the "Solodok" polycomponent mixture to slow down the staleness of products and provide products enriched with a mixture of germinated cereals with satisfactory consumer properties.

Zarys konstytucyjnych wytycznych dla polityki bezpieczeństwa żywnościowego państwa

Ensuring food security, i.e. achieving the state of relative physical and economic availability of safe food, is becoming one of the most critical challenges of the present day, both on the scale of individual countries and the entire world. In this context, a closer look at the limitations and guidelines resulting from the Constitution of the Republic of Poland for the directions of creating the national food security policy become a topical issue. So far, no consideration has been given to the constitutional legal framework for such a policy in Polish literature. Based on the analysis carried out, it has been indicated what guidelines for such a policy result from the crucial food security principle of protecting family farms and other provisions of the Polish constitution.