One of the factors that maintains fruit quality is its microbial flora. Fruit holds a natural non-pathogenic epiphytic microflora but can become contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms during export, causing either postharvest decay or possibly resulting in a food safety risk. In order to study microbial dynamics on fruit surfaces and the environment fruit moves through in the export chain, fruit washings were made, surfaces were sampled and total populations and diversities determined per cm2. Hygiene and safety levels for fruit export environments were hereby determined by sampling various points along the apple export chain, which included two farms and a harbour in South Africa and two harbours, two repacking facilities and two retail centres in Europe. In this first study of its kind, all the surfaces that were sampled exceeded the international standard for cleaning efficacy of food-processing equipment that is <5 cfu/cm2, while several areas exceeded the maximum acceptable index level of microbial air contamination of 22 cfu/h in food industries. Washing of containers on a harbour in South Africa did not have a significant impact on microbial populations. Regarding fruit quality, it was determined that apple microflora fluctuate throughout the export process and that postharvest pathogens that are known to cause great economic losses in the apple industry, proved to be of little significance in this investigation. The presence of six foodborne pathogens i.e. Shigella sonnei, Salmonella muenchen, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidi/s was monitored throughout the chain. Of these, only S. aureus and E. coli were recorded, although pathogenicity was not confirmed for the latter. Staphylococcus aureus was found in containers and at a retail centre in Europe, and S. aureus and S. epidermidis were recorded on apple surfaces for the first time. Escherichia coli was present in great numbers in fruit washing water on a farm in South Africa. Since the standard for food premises is very stringent and perhaps inapplicable for fresh fruit handling and holding facilities, future research should include development of a more realistic hygiene standard for fresh fruit environments. / Dissertation (MSc(Agric) : Plant Pathology)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Microbiology and Plant Pathology / unrestricted

In this study, 59 epidemiologically unrelated Salmonella strains isolated from foods in T&uuml / rkiye and 49 Salmonella strains obtained from National Salmonella Reference Laboratories of Germany were analysed. For the characterization of strains, analyses such as serotyping, phage typing, antibiotyping and molecular biological characterization were done. The strains exhibited 17 different serotypes with S. Enteritidis serotype and PT21 phage type being the most prevalent in Turkish isolates. The highest antimicrobial resistance was observed against NAL for Turkish strains, whereas it was against SUL for strains from German origin. Molecular typing of all strains exhibited different plasmid profiles and PFGE patterns. There were 1-4 plasmids/profile for Turkish strains and 1-7 plasmids/profile for German strains. The PFGE patterns revealed 42 different subgroups, having two major clusters with 44,3% arbitrary homology. Among 72 resistant strains, the most prevalent resistance genotypes were observed as blatem-1 (%56, AMP resistance) / floR (%100, CHL and FFC resistance) / aphA1 (%100, KAN and NEO resistance) / tet(A) (%53, TET resistance) / aadA1 (%82, SPE and STR resistance) / sulI (%78, SUL resistance). The class I integron variable region analyses exhibited 700 bp (1 strain), 1000 bp (37 strain), 1200 bp (16 strain) and 1600 bp (3 strain) integrons.

The withdrawal of water sources concluded the reuse of treated wastewaters, especially for non-potable purposes. Agricultural use of the reclaimed wastewaters is one of the reuse options. However health considerations of the reuse of reclaimed wastewaters for public related purposes are underestimated, since wastewaters contain a variety of microbial pathogens, which may be transmitted to workers and consumers through the crops irrigated. Of these, parasitic eggs have a special place, as they are capable of surviving in the soil for months or even years, depending on environmental conditions. There is insufficient accumulated information on the health related criteria for the reuse of treated wastewaters in Turkey. The aim of this study was therefore to determine the helminthic eggs in raw sewage and in effluents of ASKi municipal wastewater treatment plant in Ankara. The study involved examining to decide whether these organisms exist in the wastewaters at all, and if so in what concentrations. Modified Bailenger&rsquo / s method, which published in the &ldquo / WHO Laboratory Manual of Parasitological and Bacteriological Techniques&rdquo / and &ldquo / U.S.EPA ICR Microbial Laboratory Manual&rdquo / were used in developing the specific methods used in this study.

In this study, two symbiotic fungi of Southern Pine Beetle (SPB), Entomocorticium peryii and Entomocorticium sp.A were evaluated in terms of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) production. The effect of different inhibitors, inducers and assay parameters such as temperature and pH on enzyme activity were investigated and maximum PPO activity was observed at 30&deg / C, pH 8.0 and when tannic acid was used as an inducer. Copper-chelator salicyl hydroxamic acid (SHAM) and pcoumaric acid, both indicated as inhibitors of tyrosinase and catechol oxidase significantly reduced the activity. For biochemical characterization studies, the enzyme was concentrated by ultrafiltration. To determine type of the enzyme, activity staining after Native-PAGE was carried out. Type of polyphenol oxidase produced by E. peryii and E. sp.A was determined as catechol oxidase by activity staining. However higher activity was observed on hydroquinone (p-diphenol) rather than catechol (o-diphenol). The enzyme obeys Michealis-Menten kinetics with Km and Vmaxvalues being 10.72 mM hydroquinone and 59.44 U/ml for E. peryii and 8.55 mM hydroquinone and 73.72 U/ml for E. sp.A respectively..

Fresh produces, fruit juices and herbal teas used in our regular diet may have importance in the protective treatment of some infectious diseases. In this study, dietary produces were investigated for their antioxidant activities and antimicrobial activities against group A &szlig / -haemolytic streptoccoci. Streptococcus pyogenes, a member of the group A &szlig / -haemolytic streptococci, is a very dangerous pathogen, which may cause diseases such as tonsillopharyngitis, meningitis, rheumatic arthritis. Fruits and vegetables / onion, radish, carrot, plum, fruit juices / orange, peach, pomegranate, grape and teas / sage, anise, rosehip, chamomile were chosen as samples of regular daily diets. Dry extracts were obtained either by lyophilizing or fractionating in ethyl acetate. Antioxidant activities of extracts were examined by total phenolic content determination, and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging (DPPH) methods. Antimicrobial activities of extracts were studied by disk diffusion test, minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentration methods. Sage, plum, onion and radish displayed high radical scavenging activity with EC50 values of 0.043, 0.049, 0.148 and 0.414 mg/mL, respectively. Plum, sage, onion and radish were found high in total phenolic contents with &amp / #956 / g gallic acid equivalent of 50.506, 48.299, 44.427 and 13.135 in mg extract, respectively. High antimicrobial activities were obtained by onion, radish, anise, carrot and peach extracts as tested by disk diffusion method with respective 20, 16, 16, 14 and 14 millimeters clear growth inhibition zones. Carrot, onion and radish extracts were found as effective bacteriostatic and bactericidal agents with minimum inhibitory and bactericidal respective concentrations of 0.008, 0.125, 0.250 mg/mL and 0.06, 0.5, 1 mg/mL.

Although traditional microbiological methods are accepted standard for Salmonella detection, they are labor intensive and time consuming. Therefore, for food industry and public health, finding sensitive and rapid methods is required. As a rapid and reliable tool, Real-Time PCR is one of the most common methods in molecular detection and research area. The aim of the current study is to develop rapid, sensitive and quantitative Salmonella detection method using Real-Time PCR technique based on inexpensive, easy to produce, convenient and standardized plasmid based positive control for the first time. To achieve this, two plasmids were constructed as reference molecules by cloning two most commonly used Salmonella specific target regions &lsquo / invA and ttrRSBC&rsquo / into them. Standard curves were constructed for the plasmids and reproducibility, PCR efficiency, amplification efficiency values were calculated. To illustrate the applicability of the developed method, enriched (as used commonly for Salmonella detection with Real-Time PCR) 105 to 100 CFU/ml level (estimated by standard plate counts before enrichment) S. Typhimurium ATCC 14028 cultures were tried to detect and quantify, also compared with traditional culture method. In addition, detection limits of the developed technique were determined by serial dilution of DNA extracted from 105 CFU/ml level. The results revealed much faster detection ability of the developed plasmid based Salmonella detection method (in comparison to traditional culture method, ISO 6579:2004) allowing quantitative evaluation with perfect reproducibility, sensitivity (except for lower concentrations for invA target), detection limit, PCR efficiency, amplification efficiency for both invA and ttrRSBC targets. The detection and quantification ability of the method developed by using S. Typhimurium ATCC 14028 cultures were tested also with 15 Salmonella species using milk as a representative food. The results also revealed much faster (in comparison to traditional culture method, ISO 6579:2004) quantitative detection ability of the developed method. Thus, the developed method has great potential to be used in food industry for rapid and quantitative Salmonella detection.

Some yeast strains under certain conditions secrete polypeptide toxins which are inhibitory to sensitive fungal cells into the medium. These yeast strains are termed as killer yeasts and their toxins are designated as killer proteins or killer toxins. Killer proteins are classified into 11 typical types (K1-K11). These toxins have different killing mechanisms on sensitive cells. Some of them hydrolyze major cell wall component, beta-1,3- glucans. As mammalian cells lack cell walls research and development of novel highly selective antifungals are mostly focused on the agents which target the components of the fungal cell wall. K5 type killer protein was characterized in our labarotory previously. This protein is an exo beta-1,3-glucanase which is stable at pH&amp / #8217 / s and temperatures appropriate for its biocontrol usage. Beta-1,3-glucan hydrolyzing activity of the K5 type killer protein highlighted the potential use of this protein as a selective antifungal agent. According to CLSI methodology, antifungal activity of the K5 type yeast killer protein was tested against 6 fungal strains causing postharvest spoilage in citrus fruits and found to be effective on Botrytis cinerea, Penicillium digitatum, Penicillium italicum whereas non effective on Colletotrichum gloeosporoides, Phythophythora citrophthora, Alternaria citri. The MIC values of the toxin for B.cinerea, P.digitatum, P.italicum were found to be 16 mikrogram/ml while IC 50 values of the toxin were 2.12, 3.31, 2.57 mikrogram/ml respectively. The results showed that K5 type yeast killer protein would be used as a novel and selective agent against B.cinerea, P.digitatum and P.italicum.