Food Biotechnology Commons^™

Understanding The Factors Affecting Microbiological Quality Of Wheat Milled Products: From Wheat Fields To Milling Operations, Luis E. Sabillón Galeas

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

Although regarded as a low-risk commodity, wheat flour-based mixes have been implicated in several food safety incidents. The present thesis is a compilation of five scientific manuscripts on the effect of weather variation, milling steps and implementation of pre-milling interventions on the microbiological quality and safety of wheat and milled products. The first manuscript is a review of the microbiological quality and safety of wheat-based products. Despite the low water activity, wheat flour may harbor dormant but viable microorganisms, which could lead to safety concerns when flour is used to produce refrigerated dough products. The second manuscript illustrates the effect …

Gmos: Are They A Regulatory Or Food Safety Issue?, Richard E. Goodman

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Most of the genetic diversity that has improved agricultural production throughout the history of farming was developed through natural mutations and selective breeding. However, since the early 1900s plant scientists have used chemical and radiation mutagenesis to increase genetic diversity (18). We know that the majority of mutations are harmful, and plant breeders work hard to select only those that are beneficial. This process has helped feed a growing human population, which is estimated to have been 300 million 2,000 years ago and is now more than 7 billion. However, methods used in the past to improve agricultural production are …

Feeding Alkaline Treated And Processed Crop Residue To Feedlot Cattle, Sarah Jean Peterson

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Chemical treatment and decreased particle size are methods used to improve digestibility and utilization of the available nutrients in low quality forages. Previous research has indicated that chemically treated corn residue can take the place of corn when included in finishing rations containing distillers grains. Also, decreasing particle size utilizing methods such as pelleting has been shown to improve DMI and ADG. However, limited research has been completed on use of chemical treatment and pelleting in growing and receiving rations. Also, an ideal distillers inclusion has not yet been identified when including alkaline treated stalks in finishing rations. Therefore, a …

Traceability Implementation In Organic Farming: Case Study, Chamomile Tea Production, Shaima Abdelfattah Ibrahim

Theses and Dissertations

Implementing a traceability plan in an herbal production plant is a complex task. In this study an attempt to integrate food safety, quality and traceability through the different stages of the organic German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) production chain was made. First, all the current relevant international laws, regulations and standards regarding traceability, safety and quality, with emphasis on how and why they are necessary for any food production chain, were set forward. Second, physico-chemical and microbiological analyses were run throughout the different processing stages of production, for four different Chamomile batches produced over the same season using the same farming …

Debaryomyces Hansenii: A Foodborne Yeast That Produces Anti- Candida Killer Toxin, Nabaraj Banjara

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

Candida yeasts are commensal members of the gastrointestinal, mucosal, oral and vaginal microbiota. Candida albicans and C. tropicalis can be found as a part of the normal human commensal flora, especially in all sections of the gastrointestinal tract. However, when the host defense system and microbiota are disturbed, Candida can become pathogenic and cause severe infection or candidiasis. Antifungal drugs used to treat candidiasis have been shown to result in treatment failures due to drug toxicity and/or development of resistance during long term antifungal therapy and, in recent years, the incidence of Candida infections has increased dramatically due to the …

Enzymatic Extraction Of High-Value Ingredients From Food Waste, Amit Jaiswal, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam

Conference papers

Food waste presents significant concerns with respect to economical, environmental and food security issues. Roughly, one-third of global food production equivalent to 1.3 billion tonnes per annum is wasted. EPA estimates that over 1 million tonnes of food waste is produced annually in Ireland. Common applications of food waste has been either direct disposal in landfill or as an animal feeds. In addition to the regulatory pressure of disposing food waste, there are significant opportunities for recovering a range of valuable compounds from food waste that could find valuable applications in the functional food and pharmaceutical sectors.

Numerous methods have …

Determination Of Master Compliance Curve For Extruded Semolina Pasta, Laura E. Emery, Martin Okos

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The dependence of the rate of relaxation of semolina pasta on moisture content and temperature and how it affects shrinkage during drying has not yet been determined. The purpose of this research was to develop an equation that relates moisture content and temperature in order to obtain a master curve for creep of the product. When found, this equation could help to optimize the drying process and increase the quality of the final pasta product. Semolina flour mixed with water and propionic acid to create a 35% wet basis product was extruded on a C.W. Brabender 2523 to obtain a …

Probiotics: Finding The Right Regulatory Balance, Diane E. Hoffmann, Claire M. Fraser-Liggett, Frank B. Palumbo, Jacques Ravel, Karen H. Rothenberg, Virginia Rowthorn

Faculty Scholarship

Some products marketed as drugs should be excused from Phase I trials, but safety and efficacy claims for dietary supplements should be more tightly regulated.

Kinetic Studies For The Preparation Of Probiotic Cabbage Juice: Impact On Phytochemicals And Bioactivity, Amit Jaiswal, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam

Articles

A kinetic study for the production of probiotic cabbage juice was carried out under controlled pH and dissolved oxygen using several strains of Lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Furthermore, effect of probiotic fermentation on polyphenolic content and antioxidant capacity was investigated. Results showed significant growth in Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus rhamnosus corresponding to 9.19, 9.47 and 10.6 log CFU/ml after 24 h of fermentation, which is satisfying criteria for a food product to be characterized as probiotic. Lactic acid (LA) was the major end product of the fermented cabbage juice attaining the concentrations of 6.97, 9.69 and 12.2 g/l …

An Evaluation Of The Nontarget Effects Of Transgenic Bacillus Thuringiensis Maize On Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi In The Soil Ecosystem, Tanya Elizabeth Amy Cheeke

Dissertations and Theses

My dissertation research examined the effect of the cultivation of insect-resistant Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) maize on the soil environment with a goal of understanding how to obtain a balance between technological advancement and maintenance of a healthy soil ecosystem. Although Bt plants may help to reduce pesticide use, conferring benefits to farm workers and the environment, there are still unresolved questions about how the cultivation of Bt plants affects soil organisms. For this dissertation project, I used 14 different genotypes of Bt maize and non-Bt maize (Zea mays) to investigate the effects of transgenic Bt plants on the colonization ability, …

Mutational Analysis Of Sse1 (Hsp110) Suggests An Integral Role For This Chaperone In Yeast Prion Propagation In Vivo, Ciara Moran, Gemma Kinsella, Zai-Rong Zhang, Sarah Perrett, Gary Jones

Articles

ABSTRACT The yeast Hsp110 chaperone Sse1 is a conserved protein that is a noncanonical member of the Hsp70 protein superfamily. Sse1 influences the cellular response to heat stress and has also been implicated in playing a role in the propagation of prions in yeast. Sse1 can seemingly exert its effects in vivo through direct or indirect actions by influencing the nucleotide exchange activity of canonical cytosolic Hsp70s. Using a genetic screen based on the inability to propagate the yeast [PSI+] prion, we have identified 13 new Sse1 mutants that are predicted to alter chaperone function through a variety of different …

Field Evaluation Of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Colonization In Bacillus Thuringiensis Toxin-Expressing (Bt) And Non-Bt Maize, Tanya E. Cheeke, Mitchell B. Cruzan, Todd N. Rosenstiel

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The cultivation of genetically engineered Bacillus thuringiensis toxin-expressing (Bt) maize continues to increase worldwide, yet the effects of Bt crops on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in soil are poorly understood. In this field experiment, we investigated the impact of seven different genotypes of Bt maize and five corresponding non-Bt parental cultivars on AMF and evaluated plant growth responses at three different physiological time points. Plants were harvested 60 days (active growth), 90 days (tasseling and starting to produce ears), and 130 days (maturity) after sowing, and data on plant growth responses and percent AMF colonization of roots at each harvest …

Development Of Value Added Products From Spent Kluyveromyces Marxianus Yeast, Rahul Sharma

Theses

Biochemical analysis of spent Kluyveromyces marxianus yeast confirmed the following composition on a dry matter basis: 43.16 % crude protein, 34.56 % total carbohydrate, 7.02 % RNA, and 13.12 % ash content. Carbohydrate components were shown to consist of 20.97 % β-glucan, 9.76 % mannan and 1.21 % chitin while protein characterisation confirmed this yeast’s protein to be a good source of essential amino acids. Total nitrogen, α-amino nitrogen, and descriptive sensory analysis was carried out on yeast extracts derived from yeast autolysis processes carried out at different pH and temperature values. Yeast extract obtained at 50ºC, pH 7.0 was …

A Single Point Mutation In The Listerial Betl Sigma(A)-Dependent Promoter Leads To Improved Osmo- And Chill-Tolerance And A Morphological Shift At Elevated Osmolarity, Ronald F. Hoffman, Susan Mclernon, Audrey Feeney, Colin Hill, Roy D. Sleator

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

Betaine uptake in Listeria monocytogenes is mediated by three independent transport systems, the simplest of which in genetic terms is the secondary transporter BetL. Using a random mutagenesis approach, based on the E. coli XL1 Red mutator strain, we identified a single point mutation in a putative promoter region upstream of the BetL coding region which leads to a significant increase in betL transcript levels under osmo- and chill-stress conditions and a concomitant increase in stress tolerance. Furthermore, the mutation appears to counter the heretofore unreported “twisted” cell morphology observed for L. monocytogenes grown at elevated osmolarities in tryptone soy …

Intellectual Property And Opportunities For Food Security In The Philippines, Jane Payumo, Howard Grimes, Antonio Alfonso, Stanley P. Kowalski, Keith Jones, Karim Maredia, Rodolfo Estigoy

Law Faculty Scholarship

By 2050, the Philippine population is projected to increase by as much as 41 percent, from 99.9 million to nearly 153 million people. Producing enough food for such an expanding population and achieving food security remain a challenge for the Philippine government. This paper argued that intellectual property rights (IPR) can play a key role in achieving the nation’s current goal to be food-secure and provided examples to illustrate that the presence of sound intellectual property (IP) helps foster research, development, and deployment of agricultural innovations. This paper also offered key recommendations about how the IP system can be further …

The Effect Of Freezing As A Storage Method On Anthocyanin Concentration In Blueberries, Marin E. Plumb

Undergraduate Honors Papers

Blueberries are rich in a water-soluble class of pigments known as anthocyanins which are known antioxidants. Antioxidants help prevent many diseases by stabilizing free radicals, but are prone to losses in food during storage. The goal of this study was to test the effect of freezing as a storage method on anthocyanin concentration and antioxidant activity over time. Blueberries from Canada and Argentina were frozen for up to 5 months and periodically tested for anthocyanin concentration and antioxidant activity. Anthocyanins were extracted using a mixture of methanol, acetic acid, and water, and evaporation under vacuum. They were separated using column …

Optimization Of Fermentation Conditions For The Utilization Of Brewing Waste To Develop A Nutraceutical Rich Liquid Product, Shilpi Gupta, Amit Jaiswal, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam

Articles

Utilization of brewers’ spent grain (BSG), for the development of a fermented liquid product rich in value-added phenolic compounds was investigated. Changes in and liberation of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity during fermentation of BSG was studied. The effect of various particle size (PS), solid liquid (SL) ratio, fermentation time and rotation speed was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) for the purpose of improving bacterial growth and the enhancement in the release of polyphenolic compounds. Contour maps generated using the response surface equation showed that the experimental variables significantly affected the response. A production of 10.4 log cfu/ml, 2.95 …

Combined Treatment With Mild Heat, Manothermosonication And Pulsed Electric Fields Reduces Microbial Growth In Milk., Rachel Halpin, O. Cregenzán-Alberti, P. Whyte, J.G Lyng, F. Noci

Articles

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in non-thermal milk processing. The objective of the present study was to assess the efficacy of two non-thermal technologies (manothermosonication; MTS, and pulsed electric fields; PEF) in comparison to thermal pasteurisation, by assessing the microbial levels of each of these milk samples post-processing. Homogenised milk was subjected to MTS (frequency; 20 kHz, amplitude; 27.9 μm, pressure; 225 kPa) at two temperatures (37 °C or 55 °C), before being immediately treated with PEF (electric field strength; 32 kV/cm, pulse width; 10 μs, frequency; 320 Hz). Thermal pasteurisation (72 °C, 20 s) was included …

Evaluation Of Endogenous Allergens For The Safety Evaluation Of Genetically Engineered Food Crops: Review Of Potential Risks, Test Methods, Examples And Relevance, Richard E. Goodman, Rakhi Panda, Harsha Ariyarathna

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The safety of food produced from genetically engineered (GE) crops is assessed for potential risks of food allergy on the basis of an international consensus guideline outlined by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (2003). The assessment focuses on evaluation of the potential allergenicity of the newly expressed protein(s) as the primary potential risk using a process that markedly limits risks to allergic consumers. However, Codex also recommended evaluating a second concern, potential increases in endogenous allergens of commonly allergenic food crops that might occur due to insertion of the gene. Unfortunately, potential risks and natural variation of endogenous allergens in non-GE …

The Effect Of Non-Thermal Processing Technologies On Microbial Inactivation: An Investigation Into Sub-Lethal Injury Of Escherichia Coli And Pseudomonas Fluorescens, Rachel Halpin, L. Duffy, O. Cregenzán-Alberti,, J.G Lyng, F. Noci

Articles

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in food processing technologies that could lessen the thermal impact on food products. In the present study, thermosonication (TS) and pulsed electric fields (PEF), applied individually or in combination (TS/PEF), were investigated to determine their effects on inactivation and sub-lethal injury of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Escherichia coli. TS was applied at a low (L) and high (H) wave amplitude (18.6 μm and 27.9 μm, respectively), while PEF was applied at a low and high electrical field strength (29 kV cm⁻¹ and 32 kV cm⁻¹, respectively). In addition, …

Cloning, Expression, And Characterization Of Ara H 3, A Major Peanut Allergen, Cathryn E. Garvey

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract There are eight foods that contribute to food allergies in the western world and peanut is the most common. Currently, there are no medical treatments that can cure an individual of food allergy, so avoidance of the allergic food is the only option. In the United States, there are three immunodominant allergic proteins accountable for patient sensitization to peanut, Arachis hypogea 1, 2, and 3 (Ara h 1, Ara h 2, Ara h 3). Therefore, research into why peanuts are more allergic than other foods that have homologous proteins is critical and may be obtained by studying the structural …

Response Surface Methodology Approach For The Optimization Of Lab Fermentation Using Vegetable Based Substrate, Amit Jaiswal, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam, Juan Valverde

Conference papers

In the present studies, an attempt was made to optimize the conditions for the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) fermentation using Irish York cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata alba subvar. conica) as a substrate. Prior to fermentation with Lactobacillus plantarum, York cabbage was blanched at 95°C for 12 min to inactivate surface microflora. To achieve an optimal fermentation condition which would result in higher release of phytochemicals and antioxidant capacity in the broth, Box-Behnken design integrating a desirability approach was used. The optimized factors (fermentation time 36h, solid/liquid ratio 0.25 g/ml and agitation rate 100 rpm) were used for …

Detection And Identification Of Salmonella Enterica, Escherichia Coli, And Shigella Spp. Via Pcr-Esi-Ms: Isolate Testing And Analysis Of Food Samples, Sarah E. Pierce, Rosalee S. Hellberg, Chorng-Ming Cheng, Kai-Shun Chen, Donna M. Williams-Hill, William B. Martin, Marc W. Allard

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

An assay to identify the common food-borne pathogens Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Shigella, and Listeria monocytogenes was developed in collaboration with Ibis Biosciences (a division of Abbott Molecular) for the Plex-ID biosensor system, a platform that uses electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy (ESI-MS) to detect the base composition of short PCR amplicons. The new food-borne pathogen (FBP) plate has been experimentally designed using four gene segments for a total of eight amplicon targets. Initial work built a DNA base count database that contains more than 140 Salmonella enterica, 139 E. coli, 11 Shigella, and 36 Listeria patterns and 18 other Enterobacteriaceae organisms. …

Superweeds And Suspect Seeds: Does The Genetically-Engineered Crop Deregulation Process Put American Agriculture At Risk, Margaret Sova Mccabe

Law Faculty Scholarship

The federal government’s regulatory approach to genetically engineered (GE) crops, known as “The Framework”, is now twenty-five years old. Despite two and half decades of a consistent regulatory regime, GE crop and food regulation remains controversial. This article suggests that regulatory science and its tenets of independence, transparency, and public science should guide reforms of The Framework so that it is an efficient and reliable regulatory system. The article has four parts: 1) it provides a brief overview of the history of GE crop regulation; 2)it describes the key attributes of The Framework and related regulatory documents, with particular focus …

Optimization Of Lactic Acid Fermentation Of York Cabbage For The Development Of Potential Probiotic Products, Amit Jaiswal, Shilpi Gupta, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam

Articles

In the present study, York cabbage was used as the sole substrate for the lactic acid (LA) fermentation with Lactobacillus plantarum. York cabbage was blanched at 95°C for 12min to inactivate surface microflora prior to fermentation. To achieve an optimal fermentation condition which would result in higher release of phytochemicals and antioxidant (AO) capacity in the broth, Box-Behnken design integrating a desirability approach was used. A second-order polynomial equation was developed indicating the effect of solute/liquid ratio, agitation rate and fermentation time on desired parameters. The optimized factors were used for fermenting York cabbage to obtain maximum bacterial growth, …

Studies On The Adherence Properties Of Plant Lectins And Bacterial Adhesins And Their Inhibition By Prebiotic Oligosaccharides And Bovine Colostrum Fractions, Maria X. Maldonado-Gomez

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

To initiate colonization and infection, most microbial pathogens must first recognize and adhere to cells in the host tissues. Adherence inhibition, therefore, can be used as a strategy for preventing infectious disease. In this research, we developed a simplified model using plant lectins and HEp-2 tissue culture cells to simulate bacterial adhesins-receptors interactions. The effect of lectin ligands and two prebiotic carbohydrates, galactooligosaccharide (GOS) and polydextrose (PDX) was measured with this approach. Lectins that were able to bind to the target cells were inhibited in the presence of the cognate ligands and at least one of the prebiotic carbohydrates. The …

Understanding Of Functions Of Selenoproteins And Dietary Selenium By Using Animal Models, Marina V. Kasaikina

Department of Biochemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Selenium (Se) is a trace element that is incorporated into proteins in the form of the 21^st amino acid, selenocysteine (Sec). Se supplementation was reported to have beneficial roles in prevention of cardiovascular and muscle disorders, cancer prevention and enhancement of the immune function. However, recent studies also showed that excessive dietary Se increases the risk of development of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Thus, better understanding of Se and selenoprotein functions is required. We used three approaches to address this problem.

First, we used high-throughput sequencing to examine composition of the gut microflora in mice maintained on selenium-deficient, selenium-sufficient, …

Angiostatin Like Peptides In Milk: Potential Development For Dairy Products Capable Of Cancer Prevention, Erin Stefanutti

Master's Theses

For the past 40 years, antiangiogenic approaches have been of major interest in the development of methods to cure and prevent cancer. Angiogenesis, the development of blood vessels from pre-existing vascularization, is essential for cancer growth and spread of metastasis through the delivery of nutrients and oxygen essential to sustain the metabolic activity of these malignant cells. Blocking access to blood will cause cancerous cells to assume a dormant state creating inactive micro-tumors innocuous to the host. Angiostatin, the internal fragment of the fibrinolytic zymogen plasminogen, has shown great potential in reducing cancer size and number of metastatic colonies in …

Quantitative Assessment Of The Shelf-Life Of Ozonated Apple Juice, Sonal Patil, Vasilis Valdramidis, Brijesh Tiwari, Patrick J. Cullen, Paula Bourke

Articles

Sterile apple juice inoculated with S. cerevisiae ATCC 9763 (10³ CFU/mL) was processed in a bubble column with gaseous ozone of flow rate of 0.12 L/min and concentration of 33-40 µg/mL for 8 min. The growth kinetics of S. cerevisiae as an indicator of juice spoilage was monitored at 4, 8, 12 and 16 ºC for up to 30 days. The kinetics were quantitatively described by the primary model of Baranyi and Robert’s and the maximum specific growth rate was further modeled as a function of temperature by the Ratkowsky type model. The developed model was successfully validated for …

The Effect Of Untreated And Enzyme-Treated Commercial Dairy Powders On The Growth And Adhesion Of Streptococcus Mutans, Rachel Halpin, D.B. Brady, E.D. O’Riordan, M. O’Sullivan

Articles

Dental caries is a common bacterial infection, but the progression of this disease can be delayed by preventing initial attachment of cariogenic bacteria such as Streptococcus mutans to tooth surfaces. This study firstly compares the effect of untreated (UT) and enzyme-treated (ET) dairy powders on the adherence of S. mutans to hydroxylapatite (HA), an analogue of tooth enamel. A fluorescence-based method was used to quantify adherence of S. mutans to HA both in the presence (S-HA) and absence (PBS-HA) of saliva. Secondly, binding of proteins present in the test materials to HA was quantified using bicinchonic acid assays and SDS-PAGE. …