Hurdle technology

Food-borne illness as an outcome after the ingestion of contaminated food products indicates a broad group of illnesses caused by pathogenic microorganisms, chemical and physical contaminants that can contaminate food at several points during production and preparation process. Although the research in this eld has been very intensive during the last decades with the same trend that will continue in future, and many preventive and control measures that have already been applied in the food industry, the number of food-borne illnesses stays at unacceptably high level (Havelaar et al., 2010). There are several reasons for this. First, advances in the food microbiology allowed more food-borne pathogens to be identied (e.g., Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, and Cronobacter sakazakii). Some known pathogens have expressed unexpected characteristics regarding survival/growth and occurrence in food not commonly associated with the specic pathogen (e.g., E. coli O157:H7 was found in fresh produce, apple cider, and cookie dough). Additionally, consumers’ demands have changed; nowadays, consumers prefer more fresh-like food with unchanged natural properties with long shelf life, and demographic characteristics including age, gender, education, and income have also changed. All these factors create the environment where food producers and scientists are facing new challenges and constantly search for new and enhanced preservation treatments to improve microbial safety of food products

Consumers’ attitudes toward refrigerated ready-to-eat meat and dairy foods

The constant variation of people's lifestyle has been linked to changes in people's eating habits. The consumption of ready-to-eat (RTE) food products, such as fresh vegetables, salads, dairy, pre-cooked meat, or pre-cooked meals, has increased in all western countries. This study aims at characterization of the Portuguese consumers' attitude toward chilled RTE meat and dairy foods consumption. The study was performed using a questionnaire survey disclosed through an internet platform. The sample consisted of 350 individuals, who voluntarily answered the questionnaire. The survey included questions to characterize the Portuguese purchase and food safety attitudes related to dairy and meat RTE food products. The questionnaire also included questions for the sociodemographic characterization of the sample involved. According to the results, it is not clear to the customers as which is the safer refrigerated RTE food selling format, pre-packed or foods on request. The participants consider refrigerated RTE dairy and meat food products safer when purchased at the delicatessen department in the supermarket than those purchased at open markets or bazaars. With respect to the customers' habits, they usually purchase RTE dairy or meat food products mainly from the supermarket, and in pre-packed format. Globally, the results reveal that Portuguese consumers are conscious and follow assertive attitudes toward food safety, contributing to maintain the refrigerated food chain, even when they take the product home. © 2023 the author(s), published by De Gruyter

Karakteristike kvalitete izabranih proizvoda od mlijeka u Srbiji

The aim of this paper was to assess and compare the compliance of the chosen quality characteristics of commercially available dairy products with the requirements of the current Serbian legislation. A total of 706 samples of liquid milks (pasteurized and UHT-treated), fermented milks (liquid and solid yoghurt) and milk powders (skimmed and whole milk powder) were collected from the market and analysed for milk fat content, pH value, water content and protein content, depending on the type of product. The obtained results were interpreted in relation to the dairy plants capacities in which the analysed dairy products were produced. Except the fermented milk samples with a declared milk fat content of 3.2 %, all other analysed compositional and quality parameters of the selected dairy products were in compliance with the current legislation. It was observed that dairy plants of smaller capacity had a higher variation of quality characteristics of dairy products.Cilj istraživanja bio je usporediti usuglašenost izabranih karakteristika kvalitete komercijalnih proizvoda od mlijeka sa zahtjevima zakonske regulative Republike Srbije. Uzorkovano je 706 različitih proizvoda i obuhvaćeni su mlijeko (pasterizirano i UHT), fermentirani proizvodi od mlijeka (jogurt i kiselo mlijeko) i mlijeko u prahu (punomasno mlijeko u prahu i obrano mlijeko u prahu). Svi proizvodi prikupljeni su s tržišta a ovisno o vrsti proizvoda, analizirani su mliječna mast, pH vrijednost, udjel vode i proteini. Rezultati su tumačeni u odnosu na kapacitet mljekara u kojima su proizvedeni. Osim u slučaju fermentiranih proizvoda od mlijeka sa sadržajem mliječne masti od 3,2 %, sve ostale karakteristike bile su u skladu s vrijednostima zahtijevanim u zakonskoj regulativi. Istraživanjem je uočeno da su u mljekarama manjeg kapaciteta veća variranja vrijednosti karakteristika kvalitete proizvoda od mlijeka

Quality of liquid goat whey affected by heat treatment of milk and coagulation type: case study of the Serbian market

Two groups of market samples were collected: four samples of whey produced in small scale facilities, and four samples produced in large scale dairy factories. The additional two groups: acid (a) and sweet whey(s) were collected in laboratory from cheeses produced from differently heated goat milk (A—65°C/30 min, B—80°C/5 min and C—90°C/5 min). Gross composition (dry matter content, fat content, protein content), pH, protein, mineral composition and microbial counts were determined. Obtained results for laboratory and market whey samples were analyzed by two-way and one-way ANOVA, respectively. Visualization of quantitative relationships within market and laboratory whey samples has been done by principal component analysis (PCA). Comparison of the protein composition of market samples with those from the laboratory suggested that the majority of goat whey from the market originated from milk heated between 65 and 80°C. While heat treatment of milk affected protein composition, coagulation type determined mineral composition of whey. The amount of Ca content was almost four times higher, while the amount of Zn is more than 15 times higher in acid than in sweet goat whey. The lack of influence of heat treatment on the Ca and Mg content in whey has been detected. Such behavior is the opposite of cow milk behavior, in which with the subsequent increase in heating temperature, the amount of soluble Ca and Mg decreases. For all analyzed samples, dry matter content was in agreement with the legally required minimum level (5.5%). Although legal requirements for safety and quality of small scale dairy products are more flexible than that of the large counterparts, there was not a single characteristic that differed significantly between small scale and large scale market goat whey

Water safety plan enhancements with improved drinking water quality detection techniques

Drinking water quality has been regulated in most European countries for nearly two decades by the drinking water directive 98/83/EC. The directive is now under revision with the goal of meeting stricter demands for safe water for all citizens, as safe water has been recognized as a human right by the United Nations. An important change to the directive is the implementation of a risk-based approach in all regulated water supplies. The European Union Framework Seventh Programme Aquavalens project has developed several new detection technologies for pathogens and indicators and tested them in water supplies in seven European countries. One of the tasks of the project was to evaluate the impact of these new techniques on water safety and on water safety management. Data were collected on risk factors to water safety for five large supplies in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the UK, and for fifteen small water supplies in Scotland, Portugal and Serbia, via a questionnaire aiming to ascertain risk factors and the stage of implementation of Water Safety Plans, and via site-specific surveys known as Sanitary Site Inspection. Samples were collected from the water supplies from all stages of water production to delivery. Pathogens were detected in around 23% of the 470 samples tested. Fecal contamination was high in raw water and even in treated water at the small supplies. Old infrastructure was considered a challenge at all the water supplies. The results showed that some of the technique, if implemented as part of the water safety management, can detect rapidly the most common waterborne pathogens and fecal pollution indicators and therefore have a great early warning potential; can improve water safety for the consumer; can validate whether mitigation methods are working as intended; and can confirm the quality of the water at source and at the tap

Food labels – status and consumers’ attitude on the Serbian food market

Purpose - This paper aims to present results from a research that analyzed the quality of labels available in the Serbian food market and consumers' attitudes toward food labels. Design/methodology/approach - A total of 899 food labels have been analyzed in relation to the presence of legally required information, their readability to average consumer and presence of nutritional/health claims and/or nutritional information. In parallel, 400 respondents were interviewed in the survey of consumers' attitudes regarding labels. Findings - Results revealed that 38.2 per cent of food products hold labels that are not fully readable to average consumers. Regarding basic label information, 11 per cent of foods have missing information in terms of series/lot identification. The majority of the products (87.4 per cent) have only basic nutritional information with 4.6 per cent of products holding nutritional claims. Consumers with active sport activities showed higher awareness of nutritional information. There were no statistically significant differences between smokers and non-smokers regarding their attitudes toward nutritional information. Age and education play a significant role in ranking nutritional facts. The most important nutritional information is fat content, followed by sugar and vitamins. Research limitations/implications - The nature of the study did not allow conclusions regarding causal relationship between food products and consumers as well as if nutritional information affects consumers' choices and purchasing patronage. Originality/value - The findings of this study are worthy, as they report the Serbian consumers' understanding of labels and nutritional information as well as the status food labels sold in the Serbian market

Overview of Legislation Across the Globe, Diagnostics and Standards Which Provide a Legal and Regulatory Framework in Which NTP Is Used Worldwide

The globalization of food supply, the consumers’ demand for more convenient, fresh-like food and rapid development in food science and technology, have resulted in a need to develop and apply non-thermal processing (NTP) technologies, and consequently to introduce foods not previously available at the global market. NTP technologies are effective at ambient and sub-lethal temperatures, and include irradiation, high-pressure processing, pulsed electric fields, ultrasound, pulsed light, ultraviolet light, etc. Their application may result in unintended changes in the composition and nutritional value of foods and these changes have to be evaluated mainly for their safety, before NTP treated foods get the approval for the placement on the market. The legal requirements for the initial approval of food processed with some NTPs have been defined in most developed countries of the world, such as the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. For some NTPs, such as irradiation, special legislation covering its usage and labelling requirements has been adopted. On the other side, scientific verifications paved the way for many countries to agree that high-pressure processing should no longer be classified as a novel process and it can be safely applied without initial approval. Currently, the legislation is considered as a critical factor for the wider application of NTP technologies in food industry, as it can either facilitate or limit its usage