41 research outputs found
The usability of the food chain information for visual meat inspection of pigs
For efficient meat inspection, it is important beforehand to identify those batches presenting a high potential risk for meat condemnation. The food chain information (FCI) provided by the pig producer, covers important information on the health status of the animals to be slaughtered, and therefore is essential for risk-based meat inspection
Meat Juice Serology and Improved Food Chain Information as Control Tools for Pork-Related Public Health Hazards
The seroprevalence of Salmonella spp., pathogenic Yersinia spp., Toxoplasma gondii and Trichinella spp. was studied in 1353 finishing pigs from 259 farms that were allocated according to farm types: large fattening farms (1000 pig places), small fattening farms (<1000 pig places) and farrow-to-finish farms. The antibodies were analysed with commercial ELISA kits in meat juice samples that were collected at Finnish slaughterhouses. Salmonella antibodies were rare (3% of pigs, 14% of farms) when the cut-off optical density (OD) value 0.2 was used. Antibodies to pathogenic Yersinia spp. and T.gondii were detected in 57% of pigs and 85% of farms (OD 0.3) and in 3% of pigs and 9% of farms (OD 0.15), respectively. No antibodies to Trichinella spp. were detected (OD 0.3). The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) considers Salmonella spp., Yersinia enterocolitica, T.gondii and Trichinella spp. as the most relevant biological hazards in the context of meat inspection of pigs. The seroprevalence of these important zoonotic pathogens was low in Finland, except that of Yersinia. The seroprevalence of Toxoplasma was significantly higher in pigs originating from small-scale fattening farms (P<0.05). Strong positive correlation was observed at the animal level between Salmonella and Yersinia seropositivity and between Salmonella and Toxoplasma seropositivity (P<0.05). We suggest that these results reflect the level and importance of biosecurity measures applied on the farms. Meat juice serology at slaughter is a useful tool for targeting measures to control these pathogens. The information obtained from analyses should be used as part of the food chain information (FCI).Peer reviewe
Production of electrospun fast-dissolving drug delivery systems with therapeutic eutectic systems encapsulated in gelatin
Fast-dissolving delivery systems (FDDS) have received increasing attention in
the last years. Oral drug delivery is still the preferred route for the administration of
pharmaceutical ingredients. Nevertheless, some patients, e.g. children or elderly people, have
difficulties in swallowing solid tablets. In this work, gelatin membranes were produced by
electrospinning, containing an encapsulated therapeutic deep-eutectic solvent (THEDES)
composed by choline chloride/mandelic acid, in a 1:2 molar ratio. A gelatin solution (30% w/
v) with 2% (v/v) of THEDES was used to produce electrospun fibers and the experimental
parameters were optimized. Due to the high surface area of polymer fibers, this type of
construct has wide applicability. With no cytotoxicity effect, and showing a fast-dissolving
release profile in PBS, the gelatin fibers with encapsulated THEDES seem to have promising
applications in the development of new drug delivery systems.The research leading to these results has received
funding from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
(FCT) through the projects ENIGMA - PTDC/EQU-EPR/
121491/2010 and UID/CTM/50025/2013, LAQVREQUIMTE:
UID/QUI/50006/2013, UCIBIO-REQUIMTE:
UID/Multi/04378/2013 (co-financed by the ERDF under the
PT2020 Partnership Agreement [POCI-01-0145-FEDER-
007728]) and by FEDER through the COMPETE 2020
Programme. Marta Martins is grateful for financial support
from FCT through the grant BIM/PTDC/EQUEPR/121491/
2010/ENIGMA. This research has also received funding from
the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/
2007-2013) under grant agreement number REGPOTCT2012-316331-POLARIS and from the project BNovel
smart and biomimetic materials for innovative regenerative medicine approaches^ RL1 - ABMR - NORTE-01-0124- FEDER-000016) co-financed by North Portugal Regional
Operational Programme (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), under the
National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), through
the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio