Ritual slaughter of goats is a common practice in South Africa if the relative proportion of informal slaughter is taken into account. Religious, traditional or customary slaughter is legal in terms of meat safety legislation in South Africa. However, it is suggested that there is lack of understanding of basic food safety and occupational health concepts, and that this exposes the community to a wide spectrum of meat related hazards and food-borne diseases. Many hazards that are associated with traditional or customary slaughter of goats in South Africa have not been identified and characterized. The aim of the study was to identify, characterize and assess the occupational health and food safety risks of the biological, chemical or physical hazards associated with traditional slaughter of goats, by investigating the cultural practices and informal food chains associated with goats in South Africa. The study area was the Tshwane Metropole. A descriptive study, a form of qualitative research that describes the nature and the distribution of the outcomes, was conducted with 105 purposively selected adult respondents of both sexes at taxi ranks and places where commuters gather informally. A survey in the form of structured interviews using questionnaires was used. The data was analyzed using a thematic analysis method in conjunction with a statistical analysis. The abattoir or formal goat slaughter process, was considered as a baseline standard for comparison of meat hygiene and occupational health safety during traditional slaughter of goats. The traditional slaughter pathway, from farm to fork was derived based on structured interviews and compared to legislated norms for slaughter in red meat abattoirs. It was found that there were existing regulations for slaughter of goats at abattoirs, despite the fact that no goat abattoirs exist any longer in South Africa. Physical, chemical and biological hazards associated with ritual slaughter were identified and characterized. Qualitative data was analysed using Epi-info 7 (Centre of Disease Control, Atlanta, USA) and Microsoft Excel 2010 ® (Microsoft Corporation, USA). The magnitude and likelihood of identified biological hazards was estimated using qualitative risk assessment, modified after the method suggested for BSE in Cattle by FAO (2009). Methods of ritual slaughter differed between groups, but there was little pre-slaughter examination for disease and stunning was not used. Exsanguination could be improved by hanging the carcass and a more structured approach to decreasing contamination of the carcass by ingesta, soil, leaves and dirt could be prioritized. It was recommended that veterinary services pay more attention to the health of goats in South Africa, as these are not regularly examined at post mortem, as are other livestock where routine surveillance for disease is carried out at registered abattoirs. Information on how to determine if a goat that is bought for slaughter is healthy, based on veterinary extension and communication, should be communicated to rural communities. A simple pamphlet or poster could be developed and distributed to commuters at taxi stops, or distributed by Animal Health Technicians in rural areas. Meat hygiene principles, linked to practical hygiene principles such as the WHO “five keys” should also be communicated within rural communities and applied to informal slaughter. The principles of good hygiene and meat safety, are, however, the same. Veterinary services could be involved in actual training of those who regularly slaughter goats to make sure that they cut the throat cleanly and the goat is exsanguinated properly. Welfare of goats during slaughter could be improved by paying more attention to humane transport and restraint as well as the use of sharp knives. Research needs to be done on a practical way of stunning under rural conditions. This however should not infringe upon people’s cultural norms and religious beliefs. / Dissertation (MMedVet)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Paraclinical Sciences / unrestricted

The Swedish Food Safety Authority is working to develop a new model for risk classification to classify food companies. An objective of the new risk classification model is to enable food companies to obtain reduced control time through third-party certifications. The purpose of this study was to map out the most common standards in the food industry and to evaluate how relevant they are for food safety legislation. An investigation was made of the content in four selected standards to assess how relevant they were for the food legislation. Surveys were designed to study how common the standards were. One survey was sent to municipalities in northern and southern regions in Sweden. Another survey was sent to companies and trade associations. There are significantly more municipalities that have heard about the selected standards than municipalities that have not. All trade associations stated that they knew one or more of the standards. The review of the standards reveals that the standards are relevant for compliance with food legislation. The standards cover the food legislation, such as product traceability, HACCP, and allergens. Trade associations and companies were more convinced about a decreased need for control through certifications in comparison with control authorities. In conclusion, a future national classification model should allow control authorities to determine when it is appropriate to reduce the need for control through third-party certification. Certification against the selected standards can be used to reduce control time, but a study needs to be done on how to use them.

Food-borne infections are a major source of mortality and morbidity. Salmonella causes the highest number of Food-borne bacterial infections in the US. This work contributes towards developing strategies to control Salmonella by (a) defining receptors used by Salmonella to adhere to and invade the host epithelium; (b) developing a host receptor based rapid detection method for the pathogen in food matrix; (C) and defining mechanisms of how probiotics can help alleviate Salmonella-induced cell death in the host epithelium. We developed a cell-cell crosslinking method to discover host-microbe receptors, and discovered three new receptor-ligand interactions. Interaction of Salmonella Ef-Tu with Hsp90 from epithelial cells mediated adhesion, while interaction of Salmonella Ef-Tu with two host proteins that negatively regulate membrane ruffling (myosin phosphatase and alpha catenin) mediated adhesion and invasion. We also showed the role of host ganglioside GM1 in mediating invasion of epithelial cells by Salmonella. Further we exploited pathogen affinity for immobilized gangliosides to concentrate them out of solution and from complex food matrices for detection by qPCR. A sensitivity of 4 CFU/ml (3 hours) in samples without competing microflora was achieved. Samples with competing microflora had a sensitivity of 40,000 CFU/ml. Next we screened several probiotic strains for pathogen exclusion potential and found that Bifidobacterium longum subspp. infantis showed the highest potential for Salmonella enterica subspp. enterica ser. Typhimurium exclusion in a caco-2 cell culture model. B. infantis shared its binding specificity to ganglioside GM1 with S. ser. Typhimurium. Further, B. infantis completely inhibited Salmonella-induced caspase 8 and caspase 9 activity in intestinal epithelial cells. B. infantis also reduced the basal caspase 9 and caspase 3/7 activity in epithelial cells in absence of the pathogen. Western blots and gene expression profiling of epithelial cells revealed that the decreased caspase activation was concomitant with increased phosphorylation of pro-survival protein kinase Akt, increased expression of caspase inhibiting protein cIAP, and decreased expression of genes involved in mitochondrion organization, biogenesis and reactive oxygen species metabolic processes. Hence, B. infantis exerted its protective effects by repression of mitochondrial cell death pathway which was induced in the presence of S. ser. Typhimurium.

Over the past decade, the Eastern Shore of Virginia (ESV) has been implicated in at least four outbreaks of Salmonellosis associated with tomato all originating from the same strain, Salmonella enterica serovar Newport.  In addition to S. Newport contamination, the devastating plant disease, bacterial wilt, caused by the phytopathogen Ralstonia solanacearum threatens the sustainability of ESV tomato production.  Bacterial wilt is present in most ESV tomato fields and causes devastating yield losses each year.  Due to the ESV\'s endemic population of R. solanacearum and S. Newport, the relationship between the two pathogens is of interest and has never been investigated.  Two separate studies were conducted to assess the relationship between these two bacteria.  One study consisted of a series of greenhouse trials that involved root-dip inoculations of tomato plants with one of four treatments: 1) S. Newport, 2) R. solanacearum, 3) a co-inoculation of S. Newport + R. solanacearum, and 4) a control group with no inoculation. Leaf, stem, and fruit samples were collected from the plants and S. enterica presence from the internal tissues was observed.  S. enterica was recovered from a low percentage of fruit and leaf samples.  There were significantly more stem samples from plants co-inoculated with S. Newport + R. solanacearum positive for S. enterica (17.46%) than from other treatments.  Another study examined the relationship between the two bacteria via vacuum infiltration inoculations of tomato fruit collected from commercial production fields on the ESV with S. Newport.  Tomato fruit were collected from plants expressing symptoms of bacterial wilt (symptomatic) and plants not expressing bacterial wilt symptoms (asymptomatic).  After fruit infiltration with S. Newport, recovery concentration of S. enterica from internal tissues was measured.  S. enterica populations were greater in fruit originating from asymptomatic (5.15 log CFU/g) versus symptomatic (4.91 log CFU/g) plants across five studies.  Fruit collected from asymptomatic plants had a significantly higher internal pH (4.60) than fruit collected from symptomatic plants (4.37).  These results suggest that R. solanacearum can influence S. enterica survival and transportation throughout the internal tissues of tomato plants as well as the influence internal tomato fruit pH, which could potentially impact S. Newport survival in the fruit. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

Broiler frames were treated with antimicrobial solutions of 0.5% cetylpyridinium chloride with CitrilowTM (CPC) or 0.1% peroxyacetic acid (PAA) for contact times of 30 to 120 sec and evaluated for their effectiveness at reducing the incidence of Salmonella spp. on broiler frames and decreasing Salmonellae counts on mechanically separated chicken meat (MSC). MSC samples were evaluated for pH, color, cook loss and protein bind. Results from the preliminary study indicated that 0.5% CPC at 60, 90, and 120 sec achieved higher reduction of Salmonellae on whole broiler frames than CPC at 30 sec or any PAA treatments. In contrast, PAA exposure for 60 sec had greater log reduction of Salmonella spp. on MSC than the other PAA or CPC treatments. On average, CPC treatments were lighter (CIE L*) (P<0.05) than PAA treatments, and PAA treatments were more red (CIE a*) and yellow (CIE b*) (P<0.05) than CPC treatments.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp) infection is commonly caused by the consumption of raw or undercooked shellfish. Raw oysters are associated with most Vp outbreaks. Pathogenic Vp express thermostable-direct hemolysin (tdh) and to some extent thermostable-related hemolysin (trh). Additionally, some pathogenic Vp express urease (uh). The objectives of this work were to discern any relationships between urease (uh) expression, tdh/trh expression, and hemolytic activity in pathogenic and non-pathogenic clinical strains, and to compare urease, motility, tdh/trh expression, and hemolytic activity in raw oyster isolates. This information would determine if urease could be used as a biomarker to detect pathogenic Vp. About 80% of pathogenic strains were uh+ and all non-pathogenic strains were uh-. Two oyster samples were uh+ and no tdh or trh was detected in raw oyster strains.

No description available.

<p>  </p> <p>Food safety researchers and extension workers are focused on educating the different actors of the supply chain, from farm to fork. To accomplish this, researchers identify areas of improvement and investigate the factors that cause or explain food safety behaviors. This thesis is divided into a systematic literature review with a meta-analysis and qualitative synthesis (Ch. 2), then two case studies that use predictive models to find top predictors of food safety behaviors (Ch.3 and 4). The systematic review (Ch.2) investigates online food safety educational programs and their effectiveness, barriers, and recommendations on different subpopulations of students, consumers, and food workers. The findings showed a limited effect on attitudes in the different subpopulations. Several areas for future research and recommendations for educators were identified. The first case study (Ch.3) developed predictive models of different food safety behaviors at ten time points throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings suggest an effect between changes in COVID-19 case numbers and how well attitudes related to COVID-19 can make predictions. Additionally, findings suggest the importance of attitudes when predicting food safety behaviors. Lastly, results identified that the belief that handwashing protects against foodborne illness was more important than the belief that handwashing protects against COVID-19 when predicting handwashing at most time points. These findings can identify insights into consumer behaviors during the pandemic and several possible areas for future research. The second case study (Ch. 4) developed predictive models of consumer flour handling practices and consumer awareness of flour-related recalls and how they are affected by the total number of flour-related recalls for a state where the consumer lives. Findings identified the importance of risk perceptions in predicting consumer flour handling practices. Results also showed that younger consumers were predicted to be more likely to be aware of flour recalls than consumers of older ages. Lastly, results show that the total number of flour-related recalls for a state where the consumer lives do not affect predictions. Findings identify potential challenges to recall communication and areas for future studies.</p>

No description available.

The fresh-cut produce industry has seen expansive growth in recent years, to meet consumer demand ready-to-eat (RTE) salads have included the use of non-traditional ingredients. Uncommon ingredients include beet greens, kale, broccoli stalk, and Brussels sprouts, since these ingredients have not historically been consumed raw, potential food safety issues should be reassessed. Current processing technologies include produce washes that can reduce microbial levels but do not eradicate all populations. The lack of a kill step in produce processing emphasizes the need to minimize pathogen contamination during production and growth during a product’s shelf life. Listeria monocytogenes, a leading cause of foodborne illness related deaths, continues to challenge the industry with recent outbreaks and recalls of fresh-cut produce. These events present the need to better understand L. monocytogenes growth potential in RTE produce during storage and distribution. Traditional salad greens have been researched extensively, however, limited knowledge is available on new inclusions. While temperature is known to strongly influence microbial growth, the effects of physical abuse during storage and distribution are unknown. The purpose of this study was to characterize L. innocua’s, a surrogate for L. monocytogenes, growth behavior in processed beet greens, kale, broccoli stalk, and Brussels sprouts when exposed to simulated physical and thermal abuses during storage and distribution. To evaluate L. innocua growth during storage and distribution produce samples were obtained from a local processor in retail packaging and surface inoculated. The samples were conditioned at 4℃ for 18h prior to being exposed to a series of physical abuses (compression, drop, and vibration) typical of storage and distribution. After abuse, produce was incubated at 4 or 8°C and sampled post-abuse through 16 and 11 days, respectively. Samples were enumerated for L. innocua, aerobic and psychrotrophic microorganisms, and lactic acid bacteria. To monitor growing conditions in each vegetable, product pH, water activity, and headspace (gas analysis), were observed at each time pull. The study found physical abuse had no significant effect on L. innocua, or microbiota growth regardless of vegetable or incubation temperature (P > 0.05). Vegetable intrinsic factors (pH, Aw, and headspace) did not seem to interfere in L. innocua or background microbiota growth during incubation. All vegetables supported L. innocua growth under 8℃. Growth of L. innocua was greatest in beet greens, followed by kale, broccoli stalk, and Brussels sprouts in descending order. Significant growth of L. innocua at 4 and 8ᵒC was seen on day 6 and 4 in beet greens, 11 and 6 in Brussels sprouts, 16 and 4 in kale, and 16 and 6 in broccoli stalk (P < 0.05). Overall, these results show the studied RTE vegetables can support L. monocytogenes growth during storage and distribution, especially under abusive temperatures, demonstrating the importance of prevention strategies during processing and refrigeration throughout RTE produce shelf life.