339 research outputs found
Novel food trends and climate changes: Impact on emerging food-borne bacterial pathogens
No full textRates of infection with foodborne bacterial pathogens and their attendant economic burden remain high in industrialized and developing countries, despite persistent efforts to increase the safety of the food supply from farm to fork. New pathogens, like non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and Arcobacter butzleri have been isolated during outbreaks; others, like Helicobacter pullorum, are emerging as foodborne human pathogens. Large consumption of fresh produce in healthy diets, increasing worldwide trade in food products and raw materials and climate changes are all among the key factors contributing to shifts in the traditional association of foodborne pathogens from foods of animal origin to other commodities and to the emergence or re-emergence of known and new pathogens
The challenge of defining risk-based metrics to improve food safety: Inputs from the BASELINE project
No full textIn 2002, the Regulation (EC) 178 of the European Parliament and of the Council states that, in order to achieve the general objective of a high level of protection of human health and life, food law shall be based on risk analysis. However, the Commission Regulation No 2073/2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs requires that food business operators ensure that foodstuffs comply with the relevant microbiological criteria. Such criteria define the acceptability of a product, a batch of foodstuffs or a process, based on the absence, presence or number of micro-organisms, and/or on the quantity of their toxins/metabolites, per unit(s) of mass, volume, area or batch. The same Regulation describes a food safety criterion as a mean to define the acceptability of a product or a batch of foodstuff applicable to products placed on the market; moreover, it states a process hygiene criterion as a mean indicating the acceptable functioning of the production process. Both food safety criteria and process hygiene criteria are not based on risk analysis. On the contrary, the metrics formulated by the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 2004, named Food Safety Objective (FSO) and Performance Objective (PO), are risk-based and fit the indications of Regulation 178/2002. The main aims of this review are to illustrate the key differences between microbiological criteria and the risk-based metrics defined by the Codex Alimentarius Commission and to explore the opportunity and also the possibility to implement future European Regulations including PO and FSO as supporting parameters to microbiological criteria. This review clarifies also the implications of defining an appropriate level of human protection, how to establish FSO and PO and how to implement them in practice linked to each other through quantitative risk assessment models. The contents of this review should clarify the context for application of the results collected during the EU funded project named BASELINE (www.baselineeurope.eu) as described in the papers of this special issue. Such results show how to derive POs for specific food/biological hazard combinations selected among fish, egg, dairy, meat and plant products
Mutant prevention concentration of ciprofoxacin, enrofoxacin and nalidixic acid against Campylobacter jejuni
No full textSelection and improving of fit-for-purpose sampling procedures for specific foods and risks (BASELINE)
No full textFood Safety Objectives (FSO) and Performance Objectives (PO) are new criteria complementing the existing concepts of microbiological criteria and MRL for many chemical contaminants. However, to achieve these objectives it is critically important a harmonisation of food safety control procedures.
BASELINE project intends to obtain the following objectives: 1) to review the sampling protocols currently used to determine the presence of biological and chemical risks in different food matrixes; 2) to model their propagation and development as a function of environmental and processing conditions; 3) to define specific sampling plans for different food matrixes by using a mathematical approach; 4) to select and optimise sampling protocols most suitable for risk analysis; 5) to validate and harmonise the protocols proposed in specific foodstuffs through ring trials; 6) to disseminate the outputs of the project, political driven for the EC, through a manual and specific training courses; 7) to improve European legislation on food safety by chemical and microbiological criteria and assist companies to meet their obligations with regards to food standards.
The BASELINE work plan has been divided in 9 work packages: WP1- management, WP2-WP6 sampling protocols for specific food matrixes, WP7-risk modelling, WP8-validation and harmonisation of sampling protocols, WP9-dissemination and training.
The major output of the project is to generate new knowledge on sampling schemes for risk assessment by using a mathematical approach for different groups of food products as seafood, eggs and egg products, fresh meats, milk and dairy products and plant products. The project results will be translated in clear recommendations to the EC and end users and they will have a significant impact on protecting human and veterinary health
Proposal of sampling protocols to verify possible performance objectives for Campylobacter species control in Italian broiler batches
No full textCampylobacteriosis represents the most important food-borne illness in the EU. Broilers, as well as poultry meat, spread the majority of strains responsible for human cases. The main aims of this study were to suggest an approach for the definition of performance objectives (POs) based on prevalence and concentration of Campylobacter species (spp.) in broiler carcasses; moreover, sampling plans to determine the acceptability of broiler batches at the slaughterhouses in relation to such POs were formulated. The dataset used in this study was the one regarding Italy composed during the European Food Safety Authority baseline survey which was performed in the EU in 2008. A total of 393 carcasses obtained from 393 different batches collected from 48 Italian slaughterhouses were included in the analysis. Uncertainty in prevalence and concentration of Campylobacter spp. on carcasses was quantified assuming a beta and log normal distribution. Statistical analysis and distribution fitting were performed in ModelRisk v4.3 (Monte Carlo simulation with 10,000 iterations). By taking the 50th percentile of prevalence distribution as safety limit, sampling plans were subsequently calculated basing on the binomial approach. Final values of number of samples were equal to 4 or 5 to test with qualitative analysis. Considering a limit of quantification of 10 colony forming units/g, a higher number of samples (i.e. 10-13) would be necessary to test using enumeration. An increase of the sensibility of the analytical technique should be necessary to achieve realistic and useful sampling plans based on concentration data
29th National Congress of the Italian Association of Veterinary Food Hygienists (AIVI), Bari, 11-13 September 2019
No full textThis abstract book contains the abstracts presented at the 28th National Congress of the Italian Association of Veterinary Food Hygienists (AIVI) | Bari, 11-13 September 201
Salmonella detection and aerobic colony count in deep-frozen carcasses of house sparrow (Passer domesticus) and starling (Sturnus vulgaris) intended for human consumption
No full textWild birds are potential vehicles of zoonotic pathogen transmission to humans. The zoonotic concern increases for small wild birds like house sparrows (Passer domesticus) and starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) which are hunted in developing countries and commercialised in Italy for human consumption. From June to October 2011, 330 house sparrows and 140 starlings were hunted and slaughtered. Deepfrozen carcasses were transported to Italy and stored for 6-8 months at -18°C. Aerobic colony count and Salmonella detection in carcasses were assessed following standard microbiological methods (ISO 4833:2003 and ISO 6579:2004, respectively). Carcasses of house sparrows showed higher levels of aerobic bacteria in comparison to starling carcasses (5.7 vs 3.2 log10 CFU/g). Moreover, 7 out of 11 lots of carcasses of house sparrows were positive for Salmonella. Among the 18 isolates of Salmonella, 14 were S. Typhimurium, 2 were S. Enteritidis, and 2 were not distinguishable. All of them were susceptible to antibiotics. All tested carcasses of starling were Salmonella negative. Deep-freezing was not efficient as a decontamination technique on carcasses of house sparrows
Mutant prevention concentration of ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin against Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhimurium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa
No full textMutant prevention concentration of ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin and nalidixic acid against Campylobacter jejuni
No full textModelling survival behaviour of Salmonella enterica ser. Enteritidis, Typhimurium and Tennessee on table eggs during storage at different temperatures
No full textQuantitative risk assessment studies on the health risk of Salmonella due to consumption of contaminated table eggs are based on the assumption that Salmonella is inside the egg and that the pathogen belongs to serovar Enteritidis. However different serovars of Salmonella may contaminate the surface of table eggs and spread to other foods at consumer's kitchen due to improper food handling. In the present study the survival behaviour of one strain each from Salmonella enterica serovars Enteritidis, Typhimurium and Tennessee on table egg surface during storage at 4, 8, and 20°C have been described. Besides, in those cases observed data were subjected for modelling; linear, log-linear tail and Weibull models were compared in terms of model fitting and model performance. Overall, in most cases, inactivation kinetics presented a linear trend on Salmonella behaviour so that Weibull and linear models adequately described observed data. Regarding log-linear tail models, though they presented a better fitting, their adequacy could not be assessed given the lack of data in the tail region. Regarding storage temperatures, 4°C was predicted to be the most inhibitory temperature for table eggs externally contaminated by a strain of S.enterica serovar Enteritidis. After 28 days of storage, a reduction of 4 log10cfu/g of eggshell on the S.enterica ser. Enteritidis load was registered at 4°C. S.enterica ser. Typhimurium and Tennessee showed higher survival rates at all tested temperatures. The results highlighted the importance of keeping constant the storage temperature of table eggs in order to reduce the risk of S.enterica ser. Enteritidis contaminating the surface of table eggs. However this temperature might not be the optimal one in view of S.enterica serovars other than Enteritidis
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