Food Safety Risk Management

It is a principal aim of governments to assure the safety of societies in all sectors. In the food field, safety has been dealt with for a long time by making decisions in an empirical manner. Recently, risk management has been appointed as the formal scientific-based approach to address food safety issue

Application of response surface methodology to laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy : influences of hardware configuration

Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to optimise LIBS analysis of single crystal silicon at atmospheric pressure and under vacuum conditions (pressure ~10-6mbar). Multivariate analysis software (StatGraphics 5.1) was used to design and analyse several multi-level, full factorial RSM experiments. A Quality Factor (QF) was conceived as the response parameter for the experiments, representing the quality of the LIBS spectrum captured for a given hardware configuration. The QF enabled the hardware configuration to be adjusted so that a best compromise between resolution, signal intensity and signal noise could be achieved. The effect on the QF of simultaneously adjusting spectrometer gain, gate delay, gate width, lens position and spectrometer slit width was investigated, and the conditions yielding the best QF determined

A new expanded modelling approach for investigating the bioprotective capacity of Latilactobacillus sakei CTC494 against Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat fish products

Understanding the role of food-related factors on the efficacy of protective cultures is essential to attain optimal results for developing biopreservation-based strategies. The aim of this work was to assess and model growth of Latilactobacillus sakei CTC494 and Listeria monocytogenes CTC1034, and their interaction, in two different ready-to-eat fish products (i.e., surimi-based product and tuna pâté) at 2 and 12 °C. The existing expanded Jameson-effect and a new expanded Jameson-effect model proposed in this study were evaluated to quantitatively describe the effect of microbial interaction. The inhibiting effect of the selected lactic acid bacteria strain on the pathogen growth was product dependent. In surimi product, a reduction of lag time of both strains was observed when growing in coculture at 2 °C, followed by the inhibition of the pathogen when the bioprotective L. sakei CTC494 reached the maximum population density, suggesting a mutualism-antagonism continuum phenomenon between populations. In tuna pâté, L. sakei CTC494 exerted a strong inhibition of L. monocytogenes at 2 °C (<0.5 log increase) and limited the growth at 12 °C (<2 log increase). The goodness-of-fit indexes indicated that the new expanded Jameson-effect model performed better and appropriately described the different competition patterns observed in the tested fish products. The proposed expanded competition model allowed for description of not only antagonistic but also mutualism-based interactions based on their influence on lag time

Influence of pH levels on residual nitrite in vacuum packed sausages

Nitrite levels were investigated on four types of vacuum packed sausages over a storage period of six weeks. Decrease in the initial levels of residual nitrite over this storage period is a function of pH and storage temperature.Se han investigado los niveles de nitrito residual en cuatro tipos de salchichas envasadas al vacío durante un periodo de almacenamiento de seis semanas. La disminución de los niveles iniciales de nitrito residual durante este periodo de almacenamiento esta en función del pH y de la temperatura

Growth evolution of Brochothrix thermosphacta on vacuum packaged sausages

Growth of B. thermosphacta was investigated on four types of vacuum packed sausages in gas-proof film over a storage period of six weeks. Survival of B. thermosphacta is a direct function of the temperature used in the cooking stage of these meat products. Its growth during the storage period is partly related to the number of lactic acid bacteria, which exerts an inhibitory effect on the growth of this microorganism, and on the other hand, to the storage temperature and pH, though indirectly.Se ha investigado el crecimiento de B. thermosphacta en cuatro tipos de salchichas envasadas al vacío, en película impermeable a los gases, durante un periodo de almacenamiento de seis semanas. La supervivencia del 8. thermosphacta está en función directa de la temperatura de cocción a que son sometidos estos productos cárnicos. Su crecimiento durante el período de almacenamiento está asociado, en parte, al número de bacterias ácido-lácticas, que ejercen efectos de inhibición del crecimiento sobre este microorganismo, y por otra parte, aunque indirectamente, a la temperatura de almacenamiento y al nivel de pH