3^rd International Conference on Food Microbiology & Nutrition November 29-30, 2018 Dublin, Ireland

Biography:

Judy Walsh completed a research study on the barriers to food security as part of her Doctoral Degree from the University of Victoria, Canada (June 2016). She is currently the Tenant Relations Manager for the Buttertubs Place Seniors Housing Project operated by Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society (Canada). She has worked in the non-profit human service field for over 40 years in a variety of settings. Her early career involved working with children, youth and families, and has spent the last twenty years working in supportive housing for individuals with mental health and addiction concerns, physical disabilities and seniors. She has to her credit written policy and procedure manuals for many organizations and has presented at provincial and national conferences. She has also facilitated many training sessions and is a Certified Instructor for BC Non-Profit Housing Association. She has been a Sessional Instructor at UBC Okanagan College, Vancouver Island University and North Island College, Canada respectively.

Abstract:

Using an explanatory case study design the author employed a community-based research method with a social justice perspective as a framework, to conduct a research project on the barriers to food security for single adults living in social housing. The objectives of the study are: (a) to examine the difference in the level of food security for housing projects located in an urban versus a rural community; (b) to examine the coping strategies that tenants employed to deal with the barriers; and (c) to examine which barriers have the greatest effect on the tenants. An explanatory matrix to illustrate the tenant identified barriers and the social structures that affect those barriers was used. Recommendations are made for integrating food security services and programs into social housing projects. The author argues that food security is a matter of public health and an integrative approach is needed. A shift on a larger policy scale is suggested, to promote the health and well-being of tenants in social housing. An adequate holistic perspective with an integrated, long-term strategy linking all the determinants of health would result in health-in-all policies. This strategy could reduce the existing health inequities that the tenants in social housing experience.

Biography:

Alessandro Di Cerbo obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnologies (2005) from the Vita Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy. He pursued his Master’s Degree in Medical Biotechnologies (2007) and PhD in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (2011) respectively. He has specialized in Clinical Biochemistry from the D Annunzio University of Chieti Pescara (Italy). His scientific activities are highly interdisciplinary, ranging from nanotechnology to nanomedicine, microbiology, nutrition and translational medicine. He has published more than 50 papers in reputed journals.

Abstract:

According to a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report the term "antimicrobial resistance" is referred to the change of a microorganism once exposed to antimicrobial drugs. Nowadays, antimicrobial resistance represents a serious concern particularly in two correlated fields, i.e. medical and agriculture. In poultry, for instance, antibiotics are used to promote growth and to treat, control and prevent overcrowding diseases. A routine exposure to antibiotics induces a selection for resistant bacteria that can persist on meat and in animal waste with a vertical transmission through maternal generations of breeding stocks. Such bacteria can get in contact with humans in food-animal production facilities, in meat processing plants but also consuming contaminated meat. Recently, Mueller et al. hypothesized that food allergens e.g. beef, fish and chicken could drag antibiotics and hormones thus representing the cause for the onset of dermatological symptoms in cats. Among pharmacologically active substances, tetracyclines (in particular oxytetracycline, OTC) and their metabolites present in meats and meat-based foods for humans and pets were considered and studied. We firstly hypothesized and observed the role of OTC as an underlying cause of some chronic inflammatory pathology. Due to its low cost and high efficacy, OTC is widely employed in the intensive farming of poultry, livestock and aquaculture. However, OTC has a high affinity for calcium, mainly present within bones, and a very low and long clearance in treated animals. Further, pet food production, which mainly relies on poultry by-products, also avails itself as an important percentage of bone meal (20-30%) with a consequent dragging of OTC residues that are frequently found within commercially available diets. Despite the setting of maximum residue limits in foods by Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization OTC residues may still persist since bone is not considered as an edible tissue, thus making pet food potentially dangerous. We evaluated the toxicity of OTC present within bones of only OTC-treated chicken according to standard withdrawal times and investigated the OTC form responsible for such toxicity