Microbiological quality of raw and processed wild and cultured edible snails

BACKGROUNDAn increasing interest in snail farming in Greece and other European countries has been observed. Despite the fact that edible snails have been involved with problems of Salmonella spp. contamination, there are to our knowledge only limited studies regarding microbiological safety and hygiene of such products. Enumeration of microbial populations and presence/absence of Salmonella spp. in snail meat and intestines of wild Cornu aspersum, Helix lucorum and cultured Cornu aspersum snails from indoor/outdoor type farms was conducted. Furthermore, snail-processing steps were simulated in the laboratory and the population reduction in snail meat was determined. RESULTSMicrobial populations were higher in intestines than snail meat in almost all cases. Escherichia coli/coliforms and Enterococcus spp. populations were lower in the intestines and snail meat of cultured C. aspersum. Salmonella spp. were detected in the intestines and snail meat of wild snails only. The high levels of bacterial populations were considerably reduced after the appropriate processing. CONCLUSIONThe lower populations of E. coli/coliforms, Enterococcus spp. and especially the absence of Salmonella spp. in cultured snails show that the controlled conditions decrease the possibility of pathogen presence and contribute to food safety and public health. (c) 2013 Society of Chemical Industr

Changes in aflatoxin standards: Implications for EU border controls of nut imports

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy following peer review. The version of record Garcia-Alvarez-Coque, J.-M., Taghouti, I. and Martinez-Gomez, V. (2020), Changes in Aflatoxin Standards: Implications for EU Border Controls of Nut Imports. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 42: 524-541. doi:10.1093/aepp/ppy036 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/aepp/ppy036.[EN] Food safety concerns about the risk of aflatoxin (AF) contamination have been growing in many regions, particularly in the European Union (EU). To protect consumers from health risks, the EU has established strict standards for maximum acceptable AF levels in food products; these standards have changed several times. This article examines the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) database, which contains notifications on border controls on AF levels in tree nuts and peanuts. A count data model was used to analyze the impact of political economy considerations, past alerts, and path-dependence effects on RASFF border controls. Policy changes, including the harmonization and relaxing of the EU¿s AF standards, significantly affected the frequency of border controls, with diverse effects among exporting countries. It is believed that the present study provides some insights to the modeling of food standards for explanation or forecasting purposes.García Alvarez-Coque, JM.; Taghouti, I.; Martinez Gomez, VD. (2020). Changes in aflatoxin standards: Implications for EU border controls of nut imports. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. 42(3):524-541. https://doi.org/10.1093/aepp/ppy036S524541423Bagwell, K., & Staiger, R. W. (2001). Domestic Policies, National Sovereignty, and International Economic Institutions. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116(2), 519-562. doi:10.1162/00335530151144096Baylis, K., Martens, A., & Nogueira, L. (2009). 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