This study was carried out to evaluate the consumer recognition with regard to the safety management for imported foods. In order to evaluate the effect of the prgram on consumer education, the program was practiced for 89 female college students in Seoul, Korea. The participants were given an instruction with materials on imported food safety, including the safety management of imported foods and their distribution. The results showed that the participants achieved a greater understanding of imported foods. In particular, they had firmly grasped the importance of expiration date in selecting imported foods. Before the instruction, 50.6% of total participants blamed the Korean government for the problems arising from imported foods; only 18.0% placed the blame on individuals or businesses importing from foreign countries. After the instruction, 39.3% had blamed the individuals or businesses importing from foreign countries. Furthermore, 36.0% had disapproved of the foods that are imported from China before the instruction, while 32.6% found objectionable the views on the illegally distributed foods; 29.2% criticized the junk foods that target children (after the instruction). In addition, the level of participant satisfaction via-a-vis imported foods safety supervision had improved from 2.76 ± 1.59(before the instruction) to 3.37 ± 1.58(after the instruction). The results indicate that consumers are concerned with the imported foods that contain adulterated or forbidden substances and the illegally distributed foods from foreign countries. Thus, consistent and informative educational programs on imported food safety could help consumers in choosing safer products, resulting in an improvement in the consumer confidence with respect to imported foods.
Aflatoxin (AF) and Ochratoxin A (OTA) are carcinogenic and possible carcinogenic mycotoxins respectively produced by Aspergillus spp or Penicillium spp. The study for contamination survey and proposal for reduction of mycotoxin in red pepper were carried out. 192 samples were collected at such various stages and markets as pre/post-harvest stages, internet shopping mall /super-market and small stakeholder mill/geographically indicated company. As only 2 samples were positive for aflatoxin, so contamination rate was 1.04%. In the meanwhile, contamination rate for ochratoxin A was 21.88% and a various amount of OTA was detected in 42 positive samples. 6 samples were found to be contaminated at higher level than 5 μgkg−1 for ochratoxin A, which was established recently as a maximum permissible limit in korea. There was no difference in degree of contamination with regard to cultivation type because any mycotoxin was not found at all in both organically and conventionally grown red pepper. But, there was statistically significant difference in the process of manufacturing. Finished products were OTA-contaminated at a level of 2.32 ± 6.54 μgkg−1(mean ± SD), even though OTA was not detected in deep frozen red peppers right after long term storage. And contamination for OTA was a level of 0.33 ± 0.91 μgkg−1(mean ± SD) in red paprika powder after uv sterilization, while the contamination for OTA was 2.78 ± 4.49 μgkg−1(mean ± SD) in non-uv sterilized powder. In addition, our investigation shows that higher OTA contamination occurred in some of famous brand products sold in super-market and domestic products than products collected through on-line shopping or from small stakeholder mills and imported products respectively, however, difference was not statistically significant.
The objectives of this study were to compare the biochemical profiles with biogroups for the identification of Cronobacter spp. (formally known as Enterobacter sakazakii) isolates using biochemical identification kits. A total of 38 Cronobacter spp. contained 5 clinical, 31 food, and 2 environmental isolates were used. All isolates were identified as Cronobacter spp. with the Vitek II system and ID 32E kit. The API 20E kit identified all isolates as Cronobacter spp. but the percentage identification was 51.1% for 16 of 38 isolates. These strains were contained to Biogroup 2, 9, 10, and 11. The utilization of inositol is a factor determining the percentage identification of Cronobacter spp. with the API 20E kit.
Usually, bacterial spores are hundreds or thousands of times more resistant to chemical sanitizers than are vegetable bacteria. Consequently, it is hard to assess whether a commercial sterilant, containing hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid as ingredients, has or does not have sporicidal activity under certain conditions using the National Standard Test Method for assessing bactericidal activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Hence we established alternative the standard test method and requirements to determine whether they are effective in showing at least reduction of 103 in the number of Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 spores under the required test condition for evaluation of sporicidal activity including verification methodology. This standardized method has proved to be suitable for evaluating effectiveness of commercial sterilants and could be used as Standardization Test Method for assessing sporicidal activity.
Dahi is yoghurt like fermented dairy products available in Bangladesh made by traditional ways from raw milk. The aim of the present study was to check and compare the present quality status of the market dahi in reference to laboratory made dahi. For this, dahi was prepared in the laboratory (A) and collected from Kishoregonj district (B), Gazipur district (C), Bogra district (D) and Dhaka district (E and F). Consumer acceptance quality was judged on 100 point by a judge panel and chemical and microbiological quality test were done by established methods. ‘A’ type dahi was superior followed by E, D, F, B and C considering the consumer acceptance quality parameter. From chemical test, it appears that, B possess the lowest pH (3.75 ± 0.05) and highest was in C (4.46 ± 0.15). Total solids content of F type dahi (318.40 ± 4.44 g/kg) was highest and fat (52.00 ± 2.00 g/kg), protein (44.33 ± 2.00 g/kg) and ash (10.76 ± 0.31 g/kg) content were also higher in F type dahi. E and A type dahi were also with considerable figure in chemical quality parameter. Dahi B was inferior in respect of microbiological quality- total viable count (TVC) (× 105 cfu/ml) content was 94.00 ± 4.58, yeast (cfu/ml) content was 183.33 ± 15.28 and mold (cfu/ml) content was 53.33 ± 15.28. The TVC (× 105 cfu/ml), yeast (cfu/ml) and mold (cfu/ml) content of A type dahi were 39.67 ± 4.51, 50.00 ± 10.00 and 20.00 ± 10.00, respectively. Considering all the three major quality aspects dahi A was superior than others followed by F, D, E, C and B.
Peeled whole onions (PWO) were cleaned at various hypochlorous acid (HA) concentration and steeping time and packed in LDPE bag keeping at 10℃ for 12 days and 35℃ for 3 days, in order eventually to examine microbiology, surface color and sensory quality. At the early stage of storage, it was found that total bacterial counts at H-II keeping at 10℃ after 1 minute steeping were 2.60 ± 0.18 log CFU/g, and those after 3 minutes steeping were 2.10 ± 0.18 log CFU/g which showed less than the control. The total bacterial counts at H-III were detected after 4 days. The total bacterial counts of PWO treated HA increased as steeping time became longer, HA concentration increased, and storage temperature went down. E. coli was not detected at all treatments. It was also found that during the treatment the L-value showed decreasing trend, but the parameter a- and b- value showed increasing trend. But these trends were mitigated as HA concentration increased. The result of sensory quality evaluation for the appearance showed that the sample stored with 10℃ gained higher evaluation than that with 10℃, while the control and H-III gained highest points significantly (p < 0.05) for the sample keeping at 10℃ after 12 days storage. The sensory odor of onion showed similar to that for the appearance, and the 8-day treatments of H-II and H-III showed no significantly difference (p < 0.05). On the basis of the results above, it is likely to be more effective to prolong the period of circulation of PWO if you use HA over 50 ppm for washing PWO and storage at 10℃. This study will contribute to improve safety and quality in circulation of PWO.
Most propionic acid is added to food (especially breads) as preservatives and its form is sodium or calcium salt. Most countries admitted propionic acid as food preservatives but a tolerance limit is somewhat different according to countries. Recoveries of the official method for propionates reported as 50.0~60.0%. Accordingly new rapid determination method for propionates was developed using formic acid added sodium chloride (5 g) and ether (formic acid : ether = 1 : 2) as the extraction solvent to improve the official method with the complex processes. Propionate was dissolved from the samples with formic acid omitting steam distillation and ion exchange procedure. Then propionate in formic acid was extracted with ether and sodium chloride again. A 1 μl aliquot of the filtrate of ether was analyzed by gas chromatograph. Recoveries from sample A and B fortified with propionic acid sodium salt were 85.0 % and 90.0 %, respectively.
The content of residual pesticides in commercial agricultural products in Gyeongsangbuk-Do area was investigated for 5 years extending the year 2004 through 2008. The detection rates of residual pesticides in agricultural products by year were similar in range of 11.6~16.4%. But the violation rates showed lower values in the last years from 4.5% of the year 2004 to 0% of the year 2007. The highest residual concentration of each pesticide detected in commercial agricultural products was investigated by year. That is, in the year 2004 and 2005, chlorpyrifos, chlorothalonil, diazinon, endosulfan, ethoprophos, fenarimol and procymidone were detected over the tolerance in kale, parsley, celery, chard and lettuce, and in the year 2006, permethrin in the soybean and peanut. The detection rate and violation rate of pesticides were highly increased in the order of the endosulfan, chlorpyrifos, procymidone, chlorfenapyr, fenitrothion, imazalil, isoprothiolane, methidathion and permethrin. The detection rate and violation rate of pesticides were increased after August every year.
This study was designed to estimate the effect of ethanol addition on shelf-life extension and changes in growth of total aerobic bacteria in fresh wet noodles. The wet noodle was made with addition of 0, 1 and 2% ethanol. During the storage at 10oC, wet noodles were monitored changes in the total numbers of aerobic bacteria. A 6 log cfu/g was applied as a standard for microbiological quality of foods. As a result, the shelf-lifes of wet noodle with addition of ethanol at the standard were 9.17 days at no ethanol, 15.02 days at 1% ethanol and 27.03 days at 2% ethanol. The respective percentage increases in the shelf-life observed at both 1 and 2% ethanol addition were 63.8% and 194.8% comparing with no ethanol treatment. Consequently, addition of ethanol into fresh wet noodle inhibited growth of total aerobic bacteria and extended shelf-life.
The purpose of this study was to introduce the toxicological study review to evaluate the safety of PDMS on the 69th JECFA meeting. Polydimethylsiloxane is a polymer and its ADI was established at 23rd JECFA meeting in 1979. The ADI was maintained although the specification was expanded at its 26th, 29 th, 37 th meetings. Recently, it was reported that PDMS with low molecular weight and viscosity has high absorption rate and different toxicity, so it was submitted at 69th meeting. Toxicological studies of PDMS were submitted from the sponsor and additional information is collected from a document searching. The toxicological studies were reviewed in accordance with the 'Guidelines for the preparation of toxicological working papers for the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives'. In the available acute, sub-chronic and chronic toxicity studies on PDMS, dose-related increases in incidence and severity of ocular lesions(corneal crystal, inflammation of the corneal epithelium etc.) were consistently observed after oral dosing. It seems to be a local irritant effect, but the mechanism by which the ocular lesions arose is unclear, although the lack of absorption of PDMS indicates that it is unlikely to be a direct systemic effect. Consequently, the relevance of the ocular lesions for food use of PDMS could not be determined. The ADI of PDMS was re-established from 0-1.5 mg/kg bw/day to 0-0.8 mg/kg bw/day by applying additional safety factor 2 based on its ocular toxicity. The result of 0-0.8 mg/kg bw/day is a temporary ADI until further data are provided to 2010.
This study was carried out to investigate the current status of pesticide residues in 3,735 agricultural products in the northern area of Seoul from January to December in 2008. 3,735 samples, comprising 119 types of agricultrural products were assessed via a multiresidue method to detect 260 pesticides. Pesticide residues were detected in 19.7%(737 of 3,735 samples), and the rate at which the detected residues violated the maximum residue levels(MRLs) of the Korean Food Code was 3.2%(121 of 3,735 samples). Pesticide residues were detected in 72 spinaches, 64 peppers, 45 sweet peppers, 40 perilla leaves, 38 korean cabbages and 37 dried agricultural products. The samples that violated the MRLs included 14 perilla leaves, 13 spinaches, 12 leek, 6 lettuces(leaf), 6 chards and 6 gyeojchaes. Procymidone, endosulfan, chlorfenapyr, cypermethrin, bifenthrin, tebuconazole and fenvalerate were all frequently observed. Procymidone, endosulfan, dimethomorph and diniconazole were the pesticides most frequently detected at levels that violated the Korean Food Code MRLs.
The viability of Staphylococcus aureus, a significant cause of food poisoning in Korea, on TSA plates was determined after sublethal heating treatments and NaCl treatments. In addition, recovery levels of sublethally injured cells on TSA plates containing different concentrations of NaCl (TSAS) were investigated. The viability decreased significantly with increasing degree of sublethal heating treatments, but increases in NaCl treatment concentrations from 0 to 6% had little effect on the viability. After being sublethally treated at 55oC for 30 min, bacterial populations were reduced by 7.91, 7.97 and 7.99 log CFU/mL on 2, 4 and 6% TSAS, respectively. After being sublethally treated at 60oC for 30 min, bacterial populations were reduced by 6.46, 6.47 and 6.48 log CFU/mL on 2, 4 and 6% TSAS, respectively. Decimal reduction times (D-value) decreased with increasing NaCl treatment concentrations after sublethal heating at 55 and 60oC. These data imply that the S. aureus cells sublethally injured by insufficient heating processes had a lower recovery rate with increasing NaCl concentrations in the recovery media.
From April 2008 to January 2009, a total 458 raw milk samples were randomly collected from 15 stock raising farms located in northern area of Kyunggi province and cultured for the presence of Enterococci spp. A total 170 enterococcal isolates were recovered from the raw milk samples. Enterococcus faecalis was predominant species recovered (64.7%), followed by E. faecium (18.8%), E. avium (5.9%), E. gallinarum (5.9%) and E. durans (4.7%). Antimicrobial resistance patterns of 170 Enterococci spp. against ampicillin, erythromycin, tetracyclin, chloramphenicol, vancomycin, ciprofloxacin and streptomycin were tested. According to the result, they showed high level resistance to erythromycin and streptomycin (82,9% and 93,5% respectively), moderately resistance to ampicillin, chloramphenicol and tetracyclin (50%, 45.9% and 32%, respectively) but fortunately, vancomycin and ciprofloxacin are still effective against this species.
There are differences of Cadmium (Cd) urinary concentration which is considered as indicator of renal tubular dysfunction in other countries, so we have reviewed domestic epidemiological data and suggested Korean health based guidance value (HBGV) for Cd to improve an efficiency of risk management. We decided to apply the WHO calculation model which considered the relationship between dietary intake and Cd concentration in urine sample. It is determined that Cd concentration 2.5 ug/g creatinine in urine as the prevalence of renal tubular dysfunction based on epidemiological data, because there is no renal tubular dysfunction and injury/lesion such as proteinuria at the concentration of 11.63 ug/g creatinine which is the highest Cd concentration in urine from the domestic epidemiological data. It is identified that the ratio between the Cd dietary consumption (8.3~10.4 ug/day) and Cd urinary concentration (0.38 ug/g creatinine) in Korean adult who predicting never been exposed to Cd are 21.8~27.3 and then it is applied to the corresponding model suggested by WHO. Also it is applied that 10% of bioavailability and 50% of excretion rate of absorbed to body (the ratio is 24) were assumed. The estimate of daily Cd consumption level which begins tubular dysfunction is 1 ug/kg bw/day, so we suggest the Korean provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) as 7 ug/kg bw/week.
This survey was conducted to monitor the total sugar, sodium, and artificial sweetener contents of light meals from the school zone in Gwangju, from November, 2008 to April, 2009. A total of 100 samples were tested. HPLC/ELSD was used for the determination of total sugar contents and AAS for sodium contents. Total sugar amounts were the sum of both mono-and disaccharide according to nutritional information standard defined by the Korea Food and Drug Administration. The results were as follows by the form of total sugar content(sodium content): 5.7 ± 1.9%(4.6 ± 1.6 mg/g) for Tteokbokki, 7.6 ± 5.1%(5.4 ± 2.7 mg/g) for Chicken(skewed), 15.4 ± 3.2%(3.0 ± 0.9 mg/g) for Bun(fish-shaped), 0.6 ± 0.3%(3.7 ± 1.0 mg/g) for Sundae, 0.9 ± 0.3%(7.4 ± 1.4 mg/g) for Oden(with broth), 20.5 ± 6.2%(2.9 ± 0.6 mg/g) for Waffle, 6.8 ± 2.2%(4.7 ± 1.0 mg/g) for Hotdog, 14.2 ± 2.8%(3.1 ± 1.6 mg/g) for Hotteok, 6.6 ± 2.1%(3.9 ± 0.6 mg/g) for Toast, 10.1 ± 3.7%(2.3 ± 0.7 mg/g) for Fry(sweet potato), 1.6 ± 0.7% (4.0 ± 0.7 mg/g) for Fry(etc), and 9.3 ± 2.4%(4.0 ± 0.6 mg/g) for Doughnut. In addition, sodium saccharin, one of the artificial sweeteners, was tested. Among 60 samples from February to April, 2009, 11 samples had sodium saccharin(6.7~101.0 mg/kg).
Carnosine is a dipeptide (β-alanyl-L-histidine) found in mammalian brain, eye, olfactory bulb and skeletal muscle at high concentrations. Its biological functions include antioxidant and anti-glycation activities. The objectives of this study were to investigate anti-diabetic effects of carnosine as determined by blood glucose levels in glucose tolerance test (GTT) and insulin tolerance test (ITT), insulin level and serum biochemical and lipid levels in male C57BL/6J db/db mice. There were five experimental groups including normal (C57BL/6J), control (vehicle), and three groups of carnosine at doses of 6, 30, and 150 mg/kg b.w. Carnosine was orally administered to the diabetic mice everyday for 8 weeks. There was no significant difference in body weight changes in carnosine-treated groups compared to the control. The treatments of carnosine significantly decreased the blood glucose level in the diabetic mice compared with the control (p < 0.05) after 5 weeks. The treatments of carnosine also significantly decreased the blood glucose levels in GTT and ITT and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), compared with the control (p < 0.05). Carnosine at the dose of 6 mg/kg significantly decreased the serum insulin level compared to the control (p < 0.05). Carnosine significantly increased total proteins but significantly decreased lactate dehydrogenase and blood urea nitrogen compared with the control (p < 0.05). Carnosine also significantly decreased glucose, LDL, and triglyceride in the serum of diabetic mice compared to the control (p < 0.05). These results suggest that carnosine has a hypoglycermic effect resulting from reduction of glucose and lipid levels and that high carnosine-containing diets or drugs may give a benefit for controlling diabetes mellitus in humans.
In modern diet relying heavily on processed food, it is difficult to live without food additives, added to food regardless of whether consumers want or not. This poses the following questions: Are food additives really safe? Are they toxic? Are they cancerous? Are they still good to eat? Are there any concerns on excessive intake and interactions? Is toxicity testing adequate? Is ADI evaluation being set up properly? In this article, I discuss a desirable management strategy for food additives, by addressing these questions and concerns and analyzing and reviewing current status of food additive management.