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Special Issue "Food Safety: Microbial and Environmental Contamination in the Food Industry"

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021).

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Conrado Javier Carrascosa Iruzubieta
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Animal Pathology and Production, Bromatology and Food Technology, Faculty of Veterinary, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Arucas, Spain
Interests: Pseudomonas fluorescens in cheese; cleaning and disinfection in the food industry; biofilm; cheese making
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Kathryn A. Whitehead
E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
Department of Life Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M15 6BH, UK
Interests: surface engineering; biofilms; surface fouling; hygienic surfaces; microorganisms
Prof. Dr. Arturo Hardisson de la Torre
E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
Department of Toxicology, University of La Laguna, 38071 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Interests: food toxicology; food safety; risk analysis; risk assessment; dietary exposure
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Carmen Rubio
E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
Department of Toxicology, University of La Laguna, 38071 La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Interests: toxicology; food safety; risk assessment; metals; heavy metals; fluoride; nitrates; dietary; exposure; environmental contaminants
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Most studies on food safety currently focus on the biotic (microbiological) contamination of food, and such studies are generally limited to microbiological issues associated with the food or the consumer. However, contamination of the food environment is a prerequisite to such issues, and hence, studies on microbial contamination of these areas deserve the same importance and publication space in scientific journals.

The formation of biofilm and its interaction with surfaces has become highly relevant as a source of potential contamination in the food, water and hospital environments. For example, pathogenic microorganisms, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is a human pathogen capable of forming biofilms and contaminating medical environments, are responsible for 65% of mortality in hospitals worldwide. Pseudomonas spp. are also a known contaminant of water systems and the food industry.

Classical environmental pollutants, such as heavy metals and pesticides, require studies on risk assessment and exposure in different environments. Further, there is now the risk of exposure to new contaminants such as microplastics and nanoparticles which also urgently require risk assessment. Such contaminants require hazard identification and characterization, exposure assessments and risk characterization. Such results may inform legislation of the acceptable levels of such materials.


Dr. Conrado Javier Carrascosa Iruzubieta
Prof. Dr. Arturo Hardisson de la Torre
Prof. Dr. Carmen Rubio
Prof. Dr. Kathryn A. Whitehead
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2300 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Food safety
  • Biofilm
  • Pseudomonas spoiler
  • Surface engineering
  • Biofilms
  • Surface fouling
  • Hygienic surfaces
  • Toxicology
  • Food safe risk assessment
  • Metals
  • Heavy metals
  • Fluoride
  • Nitrates
  • Dietary

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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Article
Caenorhabditis elegans to Model the Capacity of Ascorbic Acid to Reduce Acute Nitrite Toxicity under Different Feed Conditions: Multivariate Analytics on Behavioral Imaging
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(4), 2068; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18042068 - 20 Feb 2021
Viewed by 701
Abstract
Nitrocompounds are present in the environment and human diet and form part of vegetables and processed meat products as additives. These compounds are related to negative impacts on human and animal health. The protective effect of ascorbic acid has been demonstrated by some [...] Read more.
Nitrocompounds are present in the environment and human diet and form part of vegetables and processed meat products as additives. These compounds are related to negative impacts on human and animal health. The protective effect of ascorbic acid has been demonstrated by some biological systems as regards several nitrocompounds. This work focused on studying the possibility of modeling this effect on nitrite toxicity with the model Caenorhabditis elegans. The three factors studied in this work were ascorbic acid concentration, nitrite exposure concentration, and presence/absence of food. The protective effect was evaluated by scoring lethality and its impact on behavior by means of multivariate statistical methods and imaging analytics. The effects of nitrite and the influence of food availability were evidenced. Apart from increasing lethality, nitrite had disruption effects on movements. All the observed symptoms reduced when ascorbic acid was administered, and it diminished lethality in all cases. Ascorbic acid maintained nematodes’ postural capacities. The results suggest that nitrites’ nonspecific toxicity in C. elegans can be mitigated by ascorbic acid, as previously evidenced in other biological systems. Thus, our results reveal the ability of C. elegans to reproduce the known protective effect of ascorbic acid against nitrite. Full article
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Article
ANN-Based Integrated Risk Ranking Approach: A Case Study of Contaminants of Emerging Concern of Fish and Seafood in Europe
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(4), 1598; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041598 - 08 Feb 2021
Viewed by 876
Abstract
Seafood, one of the most important food commodities consumed worldwide, is considered a high-quality, healthy, and safe food option. However, marine ecosystems are the ultimate destination for a large group of chemicals, including contaminants of emerging concern, and seafood consumption is a major [...] Read more.
Seafood, one of the most important food commodities consumed worldwide, is considered a high-quality, healthy, and safe food option. However, marine ecosystems are the ultimate destination for a large group of chemicals, including contaminants of emerging concern, and seafood consumption is a major pathway of human exposure. With growing awareness of food safety and food quality, and increased demand for information on the risk of contaminants of emerging concern, there is a need to assess food safety issues related to harmful contaminants in seafood and ensure the safety of marine food resources. In this study, the risks of emerging compounds (endocrine disruptors, brominated flame retardants, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, and toxic elements) in fish and seafood were analyzed according to their PBT (persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity) properties as well as in terms of their concentration levels in seafood. A hazard index (HI) was estimated for each compound by applying an artificial neural network (ANN) approach known as Self-Organizing-Maps. Subsequently, an integrated risk rank (IRI) was developed considering the values of HI and the concentrations of emerging compounds in seafood species gathered from the scientific literature. Current results identified HHCB, MeHg, NP, AHTN and PBDE209 as the top five highest ranked compounds present in seafood, according to the 50th percentile (mean) of the IRI. However, this ranking slightly changed when taking into account the 99th percentile of the IRI, showing toxic elements, methylmercury and inorganic arsenic, as having the highest risk. The outcome of this study identified the priority contaminants and should help in regulatory decision-making and scientific panels to design screening programs as well as to take the appropriate safety measures. Full article
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Article
The Influence of Surface Topography and Wettability on Escherichia coli Removal from Polymeric Materials in the Presence of a Blood Conditioning Film
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(20), 7368; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17207368 - 09 Oct 2020
Viewed by 805
Abstract
The reduction of biofouling and the reduction of cross-contamination in the food industry are important aspects of safety management systems. Polymeric surfaces are used extensively throughout the food production industry and therefore ensuring that effective cleaning regimes are conducted is vital. Throughout this [...] Read more.
The reduction of biofouling and the reduction of cross-contamination in the food industry are important aspects of safety management systems. Polymeric surfaces are used extensively throughout the food production industry and therefore ensuring that effective cleaning regimes are conducted is vital. Throughout this study, the influence of the surface characteristics of three different polymeric surfaces, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), on the removal of Escherichia coli using a wipe clean method utilising 3% sodium hypochlorite was determined. The PTFE surfaces were the roughest and demonstrated the least wettable surface (118.8°), followed by the PMMA (75.2°) and PET surfaces (53.9°). Following cleaning with a 3% sodium hypochlorite solution, bacteria were completely removed from the PTFE surfaces, whilst the PMMA and PET surfaces still had high numbers of bacteria recovered (1.2 × 107 CFU/mL and 6.3 × 107 CFU/mL, respectively). When bacterial suspensions were applied to the surfaces in the presence of a blood conditioning film, cleaning with sodium hypochlorite demonstrated that no bacteria were recovered from the PMMA surface. However, on both the PTFE and PET surfaces, bacteria were recovered at lower concentrations (2.0 × 102 CFU/mL and 1.3 × 103 CFU/mL, respectively). ATP bioluminescence results demonstrated significantly different ATP concentrations on the surfaces when soiled (PTFE: 132 relative light units (RLU), PMMA: 80 RLU and PET: 99 RLU). Following cleaning, both in the presence and absence of a blood conditioning film, all the surfaces were considered clean, producing ATP concentrations in the range of 0–2 RLU. The results generated in this study demonstrated that the presence of a blood conditioning film significantly altered the removal of bacteria from the polymeric surfaces following a standard cleaning regime. Conditioning films which represent the environment where the surface is intended to be used should be a vital part of the test regime to ensure an effective disinfection process. Full article
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Article
Toxic Metals (Al, Cd, Pb) and Trace Element (B, Ba, Co, Cu, Cr, Fe, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Sr, V, Zn) Levels in Sarpa Salpa from the North-Eastern Atlantic Ocean Region
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(19), 7212; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17197212 - 02 Oct 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 674
Abstract
Sarpa salpa is a fish belonging to the Sparidae family and is usually found in local markets. Toxic metals such as aluminum (Al), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and trace elements such as boron (B), barium (Ba), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), iron [...] Read more.
Sarpa salpa is a fish belonging to the Sparidae family and is usually found in local markets. Toxic metals such as aluminum (Al), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and trace elements such as boron (B), barium (Ba), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), lithium (Li), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), strontium (Sr), vanadium (V) and zinc (Zn) are incorporated into fish tissues and remain there. The liver has the highest concentrations of all the analyzed toxic metals and almost all the analyzed trace elements. The consumption of 100 g/day of S. salpa muscle tissue does not pose a health risk. However, 100 g/day of liver consumption may pose a serious health risk due to the intake of Cd (572% of the tolerable weekly intake for adults with a body weight of 68.48 kg) and Pb (117% of the tolerable daily intake for adults weighing 68.48 kg). The consumption of liver of this species is not recommended due to its possible harmful effects on health. Full article
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Review

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Review
Chemical Contamination Pathways and the Food Safety Implications along the Various Stages of Food Production: A Review
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(11), 5795; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18115795 - 28 May 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 927
Abstract
Historically, chemicals exceeding maximum allowable exposure levels have been disastrous to underdeveloped countries. The global food industry is primarily affected by toxic chemical substances because of natural and anthropogenic factors. Food safety is therefore threatened due to contamination by chemicals throughout the various [...] Read more.
Historically, chemicals exceeding maximum allowable exposure levels have been disastrous to underdeveloped countries. The global food industry is primarily affected by toxic chemical substances because of natural and anthropogenic factors. Food safety is therefore threatened due to contamination by chemicals throughout the various stages of food production. Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the form of pesticides and other chemical substances such as Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) have a widely documented negative impact due to their long-lasting effect on the environment. This present review focuses on the chemical contamination pathways along the various stages of food production until the food reaches the consumer. The contamination of food can stem from various sources such as the agricultural sector and pollution from industrialized regions through the air, water, and soil. Therefore, it is imperative to control the application of chemicals during food packaging, the application of pesticides, and antibiotics in the food industry to prevent undesired residues on foodstuffs. Ultimately, the protection of consumers from food-related chemical toxicity depends on stringent efforts from regulatory authorities both in developed and underdeveloped nations. Full article
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