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Presence, Co-Occurrence, And Daily Intake Estimates Of Aflatoxins And Fumonisins In Maize Consumed In Food-Insecure Regions Of Western Honduras, Luis Sabillón, Jackeline Alvarado, Alejandra Leiva, Rodrigo Mendoza, Raúl Espinal, John F. Leslie, Andreia Bianchini

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Foodborne mycotoxins are a significant food safety risk in developing countries. Our objective was to determine the occurrence of and exposure levels to aflatoxins (AFs) and fumonisins (FBs) in maize intended for human and animal consumption in food-insecure regions of western Honduras. Total AFs and FBs were quantified with a monoclonal antibody-based affinity spectrofluorimetric method. FBs were detected in 614/631 samples of maize destined for human consumption at 0.3 to 41 mg/kg (mean, 2.7 mg/kg). Of the 614 positive samples, 147 had FB levels exceeding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory threshold of 4.0 mg/kg. AFs were detected …

Effect Of High-Pressure Processing On The Microbial Load And Functionality Of Sugar-Cookie Dough, Luis Sabillón, Jayne E. Stratton, Devin Rose, Kent M. Eskridge, Andreia Bianchini

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Background and objectives: Refrigerated dough products have the potential to be a safety hazard to consumers because they could be consumed raw or undercooked. The objectives of this study were designed to evaluate the microbial and functionality changes in high pressured sugar-cookie dough as a function of a_w (0.80–0.87), pressure level (100–600 MPa), and holding time (1–6 min).

Findings: Endogenous microbial populations were marginally reduced (0.2–0.5 log CFU/g) by pressure treatments. However, treating the dough at 600 MPa for 6 min significantly reduced counts of inoculated Escherichia coli by as much as 2.0 log CFU/g. Increasing the a_{w …}

Heuristic And Hierarchical-Based Population Mining Of Salmonella Enterica Lineage I Pan-Genomes As A Platform To Enhance Food Safety, Joao Carlos Gomes-Neto, Natasha Pavlovikj, Carmen Cano, Baha Abdalhamid, Gabriel Asad Al-Ghalith, John Dustin Loy, Dan Knights, Peter C. Iwen, Byron D. Chaves, Andrew K. Benson

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The recent incorporation of bacterial whole-genome sequencing (WGS) into Public Health laboratories has enhanced foodborne outbreak detection and source attribution. As a result, large volumes of publicly available datasets can be used to study the biology of foodborne pathogen populations at an unprecedented scale. To demonstrate the application of a heuristic and agnostic hierarchical population structure guided pan-genome enrichment analysis (PANGEA), we used populations of S. enterica lineage I to achieve two main objectives: (i) show how hierarchical population inquiry at different scales of resolution can enhance ecological and epidemiological inquiries; and (ii) identify population-specific inferable traits that could provide …

Research Tools And Their Uses For Determining The Thermal Inactivation Kinetics Of Salmonella In Low-Moisture Foods, Soon Kiat Lau

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The reputation of low-moisture foods as safe foods has been crumbling over the past decade due to repeated involvement in foodborne illness outbreaks. Although various pasteurization technologies exist, a majority are thermal processes and have not been well-characterized for pasteurizing low-moisture foods. In addition, the nature of a low-moisture food matrix introduces various experimental complications that are not encountered in high-moisture foods. In this dissertation, the development, building instructions, and characterization of various open source tools for studying the inactivation kinetics of microorganisms in low-moisture foods are described. The first tool is the TDT Sandwich, a dry heating device for …

Tdt Sandwich: An Open Source Dry Heat System For Characterizing The Thermal Resistance Of Microorganisms, Soon Kiat Lau, Jeyamkondan Subbiah

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The determination of the thermal death kinetics of microorganisms has traditionally been performed with liquid baths which have some disadvantages such as liquid spillage and liquid infiltration into samples. The TDT Sandwich was developed as a free, open source alternative that utilizes dry heat. The system is capable of heating samples up to 140C and maintaining it within 0.2C of the target temperature. Other features of the TDT Sandwich include adjustable heating rates up to approximately 100C/min, real-time display and recording of temperature readings at a nominal rate of 5 Hz, an optional thermocouple for acquiring temperature of samples, built-in …

Mind The Gaps: How Can Food Safety Gaps Be Addressed In Developing Nations?, Jessie L. Vipham, Byron D. Chaves, Valentina Trinetta

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

As global food systems integrate, to meet the demands of a growing global population, safe and healthy agriculture value-chains will be essential to maintaining public health worldwide. In many ways, the current global food production landscape is made up of “mice and men.” Meaning that the food sector within and across most countries includes both large-scale corporate agriculture production and varying degrees of small-scale agriculture production; the variation being the interpretation of small scale, which is highly dependent upon the country. This structure presents challenges for the creation of effective food safety systems in many countries, and can contribute to …

Chapter 8 Keeping Wildlife Out Of Your Food: Mitigation And Control Strategies To Reduce The Transmission Risk Of Food-Borne Pathogens, Alan B. Franklin, Kurt C. Vercauteren

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In this chapter, we provide a general framework for developing strategies to mitigate the contamination of agricultural operations with pathogens carried by wildlife. As part of this framework, we present adaptive management as a viable approach to developing these strategies to reduce the uncertainty over time as to whether management methods are being effective. We provide the general steps to developing an adaptive management strategies as well as generic mitigation methods that can be applied to agricultural operations as part of an adaptive management strategy.

Food Safety Knowledge, Attitudes, And Behaviors Of Native American Families With Young Children: A Mixed Methods Study, Kara Vlasin-Marty, Paula Ritter-Gooder, Julie A. Albrecht

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Children are at increased risk for foodborne illness due to underdeveloped immune system. Limited research has been reported on food safety knowledge of Native American families with children 10 years of age and younger. This study was conducted to determine the food safety knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of the main food preparer in these families by collecting quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously in a mixed method approach. A food safety knowledge survey created using FightBAC!™ concepts was administered prior to focus groups discussions held in Native American communities using a script based upon the Health Belief Model. Quantitative data were …

Biosafety: Evaluation And Regulation Of Genetically Modified (Gm) Crops In The United States, Richard E. Goodman

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

This review of the safety assessment of genetically modified (GM) crops is focused primarily on the process and progress in the United States (US). It reviews the development of the safety evaluation process from the Asilomar conference in 1975 considering issues relevant to recombinant DNA technology, to discussions between the US government, academic and industrial scientists between 1984 and 1994 when the first GM crops were being field tested and evaluated commercial release for food and feed production. International guidelines were also reviewed for consistency with the US system. The overall process includes consideration of information relating to history of …

Disentangling Demand-Enhancing And Trade-Cost Effects Of Maximum Residue Regulations, Bo Xiong, John Beghin

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Maximum residue levels (MRLs) regulations in plant products can create unnecessary trade barriers on one hand and enhance demand via risk mitigation or quality assurance on the other. We stipulate a generalized gravity equation model to disentangle the effects of MRLs on the import demand and foreign exporters’ supply. Applying the framework to the MRLs on pesticides imposed by high-income OECD countries, we find that the MRLs jointly enhance the import demand and hinder foreign exporters’ supply. In addition, exporters from the less and least developed countries are more constrained by the MRLs than their competitors from the developed world.

Strategic Discussions For Nebraska: Opportunities For Nebraska -- Food Scarcity, Mary Garbacz

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

Strategic Discussions for Nebraska is a program in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources that produces an annual publication called Opportunities for Nebraska, focusing on a different topic each year. The publication is produced in hard copy and also is available online at www.sdn.unl.edu.

The content for each publication is produced by UNL students enrolled in a Magazine Writing course each spring semester, taught by the SDN coordinator. Students conduct interviews with UNL researchers and write stories for inclusion in the publication. The interviews are captured on video and are edited into video montages, …

Suggested Improvements For The Allergenicity Assessment Of Genetically Modified Plants Used In Foods, Richard E. Goodman

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Genetically modified (GM) plants are increasingly used for food production and industrial applications. As the global population has surpassed 7 billion and per capita consumption rises, food production is challenged by loss of arable land, changing weather patterns, and evolving plant pests and disease. Previous gains in quantity and quality relied on natural or artificial breeding, random mutagenesis, increased pesticide and fertilizer use, and improved farming techniques, all without a formal safety evaluation. However, the direct introduction of novel genes raised questions regarding safety that are being addressed by an evaluation process that considers potential increases in the allergenicity, toxicity, …

Modeling Heat Transfer During Cooling Of Ready-To-Eat Meat And Poultry Products Using Three-Dimensional Finite Element Analysis And Web-Based Simulation, Jihan F. Cepeda Jimenez

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations and Theses

The meat industry is required to comply with processing performance standards for preventing the growth of foodborne pathogens in products. These performance standards, established by the United States Department of Agriculture - Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) require a reduction of Salmonella spp (lethality standard) and limit the growth of sporeforming bacteria (stabilization standard) in certain processed meat products. In general, strategies used to comply with these standards are associated with thermal processing. Meat processors have difficulties complying with these performance standards. Moreover, thermal processing deviations are an issue in the meat industry that generate uncertainty regarding the safety …

Food Handling Practices, Knowledge And Beliefs Of Families With Young Children Based On The Health Belief Model, Adeline Lum

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Objective: To determine current food handling practices, knowledge and beliefs of primary food handlers with children 10 years old and the relationship between these components.

Design: Surveys were developed based on FightBac!™ concepts and the Health Belief Model (HBM) construct.

Participants: The majority of participants (n= 503) were females (67%), Caucasians (80%), aged between 30 to 49 years old (83%), had one or two children (83%), prepared meals all or most of the time (76%) and consumed meals away from home three times or less per week (66%).

Analysis: Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (rho) …

Regulation Of Enteric Endophytic Bacterial Colonization By Plant Defenses, A. Leonardo Iniguez, Yuemei Dong, Heather D. Carter, Brian M. M. Ahmer, Julie M. Stone, Eric W. Triplett

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Bacterial endophytes reside within the interior of plants without causing disease or forming symbiotic structures. Some endophytes, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae 342 (Kp342), enhance plant growth and nutrition. Others, such as Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. typhimurium), are human pathogens that contaminate raw produce. Several lines of evidence are presented here to support the hypothesis that plant defense response pathways regulate colonization by endophytic bacteria. An ethyleneinsensitive mutant of Medicago truncatula is hypercolonized by Kp342 compared to the parent genotype. Addition of ethylene, a signal molecule for induced systemic resistance in plants, decreased endophytic colonization in Medicago spp. …

G05-1573 Meat And Fabrication-Room Temperatures For Food Safety, Alejandro Amezquita, L. Wang, Harshavardhan Thippareddi, Dennis E. Burson, Curtis Weller

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Within the last 20 years, several meat-borne pathogenic microorganisms have emerged in the United States, causing numerous outbreaks of disease and death, as well as drastic economical losses.

Guidelines in this NebGuide are suggested for controlling temperature of meat and meat products in fabrication rooms so as to prevent detrimental growth of meat-borne pathogens.

Nf04-604 Barbecue Food Safety, Julie A. Albrecht

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Cooking outdoors was once only a summer activity shared with family and friends. Now more than half of Americans say they are cooking outdoors year round. So, whether the snow is blowing or the sun is shining brightly, it's imporant fo follow food safety guidelines to prevent harmful bacteria from multiplying and causing foodborne illness. Use these simple guidelines for grilling food safely.

G03-1520 Current Issues Affecting Youth Swine Shows, Rosie Nold

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

The original purpose of youth livestock shows was two-fold: 1) to provide an educational experience where young people could learn animal management practices, as well as personal/character development; and 2) to recognize the best animals in the industry.

This NebGuide addresses practices which have developed to enhance the appearance of a pig that is to be exhibited, but which may be detrimental to the commercial pork industry.

Ec98-454 Nutrition For The Older Adult, Wanda Koszewski, Carol Ray, Amy Sutton, Lisa Beretta

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Nutrition is important for everyone at any age and is one of the keys to healthy living. We are all overwhelmed with new information about nutrition each day. This publication focuses on nutrition topics specifically related to the elderly.

Fumonisins And Alternaria Alternata Lycopersici Toxins: Sphinganine Analog Mycotoxins Induce Apoptosis In Monkey Kidney Cells, Hong Wang, Clinton Jones, Janice Caiacci-Zanella, Todd Holt, David G. Gilchrist, Martin B. Dickman

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Fusarium moniliforme toxins (fumonisins) and Alternaria alternata lycopersici (AAL) toxins are members of a new class of sphinganine analog mycotoxins that occur widely in the food chain. These mycotoxins represent a serious threat to human and animal health, inducing both cell death and neoplastic events in mammals. The mechanisms by which this family of chemical congeners induce changes in cell homeostasis were investigated in African green monkey kidney cells (CV-1) by assessing the appearance of apoptosis, cell cycle regulation, and putative components of signal transduction pathways involved in apoptosis. Structurally, these mycotoxins resemble the sphingoid bases, sphingosine and sphinganine, that …

Ec95-817 Nebraska Agricultural Producers Preferences For National Agriculture, And Food Policy After 1995, A.L. (Roy) Frederick, Glenn A. Helmers, Steven L. Elmore

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Farmers' preferences are important in the development of farm bills. In that spirit, the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Nebraska Agricultural Statistics Service recently asked a random sample of agricultural producers about their preferences for the 1995 farm bill. Similar surveys were undertaken in 1984 and 1989, prior to the last two farm bills. Each Nebraska survey was part of a larger, national effort. This year, 15 states, scattered across all regions of the United States, participated.

The purpose of this report is to summarize Nebraska producers' views on key issues likely to be …

G94-1232 Food Safety Self-Inspection For Child Care Facilities, Julie A. Albrecht

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This NebGuide provides a checklist for a self-inspection to aid child care facilities in providing safe food for their clients.

Conduct a self-inspection of your food preparation skills by answering the following questions. Concentrate on one section at a time. Choose a time when food preparation is in progress. Check either "yes" or "no." Questions receiving a "no" answer indicate an area that you need to change.

G95-1233 Food Safety For Child Care Facilities, Julie A. Albrecht

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This NebGuide outlines proper techniques for providing safe food in child care facilities.

Children are at high risk for food-borne illnesses. Young children are particularly vulnerable to microbial food-borne diseases because of their under-developed immune systems.

In recent years, reports of food-borne illnesses have made headlines. Most of these outbreaks involved food prepared away from home. Many cases of food-borne illness go unreported because the symptoms are similar to the flu.

Foods contaminated with microorganisms are the cause of food-borne illnesses. Contaminated food does not, however, always taste bad, smell bad, or look bad. Therefore, it is almost impossible to …

Ec92-443 Let's Preserve: Fermented And Pickled Foods, Julie A. Albrecht

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Pickles and relishes are very popular as a condiment to serve with meals. They are easy to make; however, the steps are very important to follow to insure a safe product. Many vegetables can be pickled. Cucumbers and cabbage are the main vegetables that are pickled.

Two types of pickling methods can be used to make a variety of pickled products: fermented pickles and fresh-pack or quick pickles.