Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Judy Walsh
Nanaimo Affordable Housing Society, Canada
Keynote: Barriers to food security for tenants in social housing
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.
Keynote Forum
Alessandro Di Cerbo
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy
Keynote: Oxytetracycline-loaded food and toxic manifestations in humans and pets
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
- Food Policy | Food Poisoning | Food Safety Laws and Regulations | Food Safety | Food Spoilage
Location: Dublin Ireland
Session Introduction
Jackowska Tracz Agnieszka
Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland
Title: The scope of hazard analysis in food processing establishments according to Codex Alimentarius standards and requirements of private food safety management systems
Biography:
Jackowska Tracz Agnieszka, PhD, DVM, is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Food Hygiene and Public Health Protection at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW, Poland. She conducts research on the impact of various factors on the ability to reduce pathogens in food of animal origin and studies on the potential use of nanotechnologies to improve the hygiene of the production environment. Her field of specialization is hazard analysis and improvement of HACCP systems. She conducts classes and lectures for veterinary students and postgraduate students in the field of safety of animal origin products
Abstract:
Voltaire Sant Anna
State University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Title: Polyphenols, antioxidant, anti-hypertensive and antibacterial activity of Typha domingensis and its evaluation as a substitute to sodium chloride in food applications
Biography:
Sant Anna V pursued his Food Engineering; PhD in Chemical Engineering from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) respectively. He has published more than 40 papers dealing with food science and technology in reputed journals. Currently, he is working on mathematical modeling and optimization of relevant subjects for food industries.
Abstract:
The objective of the work is to perform the processing of cattail (Typha domingensis), an unconventional edible plant from southern Brazil, and to characterize it for its potential to be sodium chloride substitute in food applications. Samples of the plant palm heart were washed, dried at 60ºC, crushed and standardized in 1 mm aperture sieves. These samples were submitted to alcoholic extraction for spectrophotometric analysis of total polyphenols, flavonols, tartaric esters and antioxidant capacity of ABTS and DPPH radicals and anti-hypertensive activity; and aqueous extraction, for the evaluation of antibacterial activity. Dried cattail was also evaluated for its pH, apparent density, water and oil absorption capacity. Sensorial intensity tests were used to evaluate the saltiness power of cattail in relation to the use of light salt, using brown rice as a vehicle. The results show that the aqueous cattail extract did not inhibit the growth of Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella Enteritidis and Escherichia coli. The concentrations of total polyphenols, flavonols and tartaric esters were 1,160.53±82.04 mg of gallic acid equivalent, 35.71±2.18 mg of equivalent routine and 48.08±0.85 mg of equivalent coffee equivalent per dry bagasse, respectively. The alcoholic extract also showed the capacity to scavenge 97.56±1.37% and 88.14±15.41% of ABTS and DPPH radicals, respectively. Cattail extract anti-hypertensive activity was 75.59±3.69%. The cattail presented pH of 4.15±0.12, apparent density of 6.783±0.621 kg/m3, water absorption of 13.158±0.406 g and oil of 8.974±0.650 g per gram of dry plant. Sensory analysis indicated that it is possible to increase the concentration of cattail in the formulation of a light salt without losing its salting power (P>0.05). Thus, although more studies are needed, there is a strong evidence that cattail can be used as a functional ingredient in food applications and may be a substitute for sodium chloride for salting food.
Biography:
Hongmei Liao pursued her PhD from China Agricultral University of Food Science, P R China. Her interest lies in controling pathogen and spoiling microorganisms in food focused in this area. She has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals.
Abstract:
It was found that a small subpopulation of Salmonella typhimurium in pure culture was induced into a viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state during thermosonication (TS) processing in our previous study, though few known about the situation in real food and how bacteria were induced into that special state. Based on the speculation that free radicals generated during TS affected induction of VBNC, the relationship between them was investigated preliminarily. It was observed that higher intensity of TS treatment, such as higher power, elevated temperature and prolonged duration resulted in more viable S. typhimurium cells in carrot juice been inducted into VBNC state. The ESR spectra revealed three kinds of free radicals, including carbon centered (ethanol) radicals, hydroxyl radical and hydrogen protons were generated in carrot juice during TS processing. The intensity of free radicals was tied to the TS processing parameters and also influenced the occurrence of VBNC. A nonlinear sigmoidal curve of the intensity of free radicals VS the VBNC incidence index in three stages, including a slow phase (with free radicals intensity of 0~0.10), a rapid growth phase (with free radicals intensity ranged 0.10~0.14) and a final equilibrium phase (with free radicals intensity greater than 0.14), was observed and well fitted with the Boltzmann model. Moreover, the significance of free radicals generated during TS processing for induction of VBNC state was verified and confirmed with 0~200 mM sodium pyruvate. The obtained results may contribute to understand the complicated phenomenon and guide the application of TS as a decontamination technique.
Dara Fitzpatrick
University College Cork, Republic of Ireland
Title: BARDS: A new dimension in food ingredient and powder analysis
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Uncertainties in parameters of critical control points are major sources of contaminants in food products and establishing critical limits at control points to meet food safety and business objectives is a challenge and an important task for food manufacturers and the food industry. The study is aimed at designing multi-objective deterministic and probabilistic optimization systems, to obtain near-optimal critical limits at critical control points of food processing operations that will help prevent the risk of foodborne illness while keeping manufacturing cost as low as possible. With a hypothetical case study, we demonstrate how the systems can be used to obtain critical limits at process operations units of an integrated food manufacturing system and their impacts on of key performance indicators - contaminant concentration and manufacturing cost. By defining reliability as the likelihood that the optimization system will fail to meet desired level of key performance indicators – concentration of contaminant in the manufactured food product and manufacturing cost, reliability analyses were conducted to assess system performance using random parameters of critical control points. Results suggest that target concentration of contaminant, desired level of system reliability and the number of uncertain parameters of critical control points that are included in design affects both performance indicators. By restricting the fluctuation of uncertain parameters, low processing cost at higher reliability can be achieved. Result also show that contaminant concentration and its deviation are less in the probabilistic designed system. The demonstrated optimization approaches helped in evaluating the trade-off between reliability and economic benefit. The paper discusses the implication of both system designs and gave recommendation for future work. The study would contribute and provide insight into development of food safety system for other researchers in agriculture and food industries.
Silvia Andini
Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands
Title: The specificity of antimicrobial activity of Brassicaceae isothiocyanates
Biography:
Silvia Andini is currently a PhD student working in the Laboratory of Food Chemistry at Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands under supervision of Dr. Ir. Jean Paul Vincken (co-promotor) and Prof. Dr. Harry Gruppen (promotor). Her PhD research is about exploring novel natural antimicrobial compounds derived from Brassicaceae plants, with a particular interest in isothiocyanates (ITCs), the biologically active form of glucosinolates (GSLs), which are the major secondary metabolites in this plant family. In her PhD research, she has developed a novel analytical method to simultaneously analyze ITCs and GSLs by using LC-MS. Her research is focused on the quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) of ITCs as antimicrobials and revealing their mechanism of action
Abstract:
Statement of the Problem: Food preservation is an ongoing challenge to food industries, particularly with the increased interest in mild processing to preserve flavors and to meet consumer demand for natural preservatives. Application of plant-derived antimicrobial compounds has obtained renewed interest in this respect. Condiments are known to contain antimicrobial compounds, such as mustard and wasabi, both belonging to the Brassicaceae family. Allyl Isothiocyanate (AITC) is the active component in these condiments and is reported to possess antimicrobial activity. Chemically diverse ITCs can be obtained from their precursors, i.e. glucosinolates, and thus the antimicrobial activity of ITCs may vary. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the specificity of antimicrobial activity of various ITCs. Methodology: Broth microdilution assays were done to test 11 ITCs for their antimicrobial activity against food spoilage or pathogenic microorganisms including: Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida holmii, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus niger. Findings: All tested ITCs displayed growth-inhibitory effect on all tested microorganisms in a dose-dependent manner. 9-methylsulfonyl-nonyl ITC (9-MSoITC) and 9-methylsulfinyl-nonyl ITC (9-MSITC) were the most potent against B. cereus, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 25 and 50 µg/mL, respectively. The same ITCs were also the most potent against L. monocytogenes, S. cerevisiae and A. niger (MIC 25 µg/mL). 9-MSITC was the most potent against S. aureus (MIC 50 µg/mL). 9-MSITC and phenethyl ITC (PhEITC) had the highest efficacy against C. holmii (MIC 50 µg/mL). 3-MSoITC and 3-MSITC were the most potent against E. coli (MIC 25 µg/mL), S. typhimurium (MIC 50 µg/mL) and P. aeruginosa (MIC 400 µg/mL). Furthermore, ITCs showed killing effect on all tested microorganisms. Conclusion & Significance: Various ITCs have stronger antimicrobial potency than AITC. ITCs with long side chain were active against gram-positive bacteria and fungi, whereas those with short side chain were active against gram-negative bacteria.