1999년 2월부터 2000년 11월까지 남해안의 패류양식장에서 채취한 굴(Crassostrea gigas), 진주담치(Mytilus edulis), 바지락(Scapharca broughtonii) 및 피조개(Ruditapes philippinarum)의 수은, 카드뮴, 납 및 크롬 등 중금속 함량을 정량하고 굴과 진주담치가의 중금속 함량을 비교하였다. 남해안 11개소의패류 양식장에서 채취한 굴의 중금속 함량은 평균치로 수은이 0.008㎍/g, 카드뮴이 0.519㎍/g, 납이 0.220㎍/g 그리고 크롬이 0.153㎍/g이었고, 12개소에서 채취한 진주담치의 함량은 각각 0.008, 0.257, 0.214 및 0.178㎍/g이었다. 전남 고흥군 나로도 연안에서 채취한 바지락의 중금속 함량은 평균치로 수은이 0.009㎍/g, 카드뮴이 0.232㎍/g, 납이 0.107㎍/g 그리고 크롬이 0.364㎍/g이었고, 경남 남해 강진만에서 채취한 피조개의 함량은 각각 0.007, 0.559, 0.149 및 0.116㎍/g이었다. 굴, 진주담치, 바지락 및 피조개에서 검출된 중금속의 함량은 최고치인 경우에 있어서도 우리나라의 해산 패류 중 중금속 허용기준치 및 미국의 패류에서의 중금속 농도 권고치를 초과하지 않았다. 동일한 지역에서 같은 시기에 채취한 굴과 진주담치는 수은의 함량은 거의 차이가 없었으나 카드뮴은 굴이 진주담치보다 약 2배의 축적율을 나타내어 품종에 따른 차이가 뚜렷하였다.

Distribution of pathogenic vibrios in the seawater of live fish tank and effect of environmental factors an their existence were investigated by collecting samples from fish markets and restaurants in 6 different cities. Pathogenic vibrios and coliforms were determined by using the most probable number (MPN) procedure, and aerobic plate count was enumerated by the standard pour plate method. No Vibrio cholerae O1 was detected in all the samples tested. Detection rates of Y. cholerae non-Ol, V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus in all the samples tested were 7.7%, 69.2% and 23.1%, respectively. Water temperature and turbidity of the seawaber measured were higher in the pathogenic vibrios positive samples than in those negative samples. However, higher salinity and pH were shown in the pathogenic vibrios negative samples than in positive samples. The aerobic plate counts and MPN of total and fecal coliforms in the seawater were higher in the presence of pathogenic vibrios than in the absence of pathogenic vibrios. In this study, the presence of pathogenic vibrios in the seawater tested was closely related with other physiochemical parameters and populations of coliforms, indicators for food safety.

Totally, twenty seven specimens of tiger puffer, Fugu rubripes rubripes were collected at Jagalchi fish market in Pusan, Korea during January, April and September in 1995. Anatomical distribution of pufferfish toxin in tiger puffer was examined by mouse bioassay. The frequency rate of toxic specimens containing ≥ 10 MU/g was 14.8% in liver; 16.7% in gonad; and 14.8% in skin, and no toxin was detected in muscle. The highest toxin level found was 160 MU/g in liver, 600 MU/g in gonad and 26 MU/g in skin, and each average toxin level (mean ± standard error) was 7 ± 6, 50 ± 35 and 5 ± 1 MU/g, respectively. Some specimens collected in January and April were toxic, while none of the specimens collected in September showed its toxicity. Although toxicity of tiger puffer showed the seasonal variation, tested tiger puffer was evaluated as a safe seafood for consumption, in that an acceptable level of toxin was found in the edible muscle and skin.

To develop a lactic starter to produce antimicrobial substance for inhibiting the growth of a variety of foodborne spoilage bacteria in fermented foods, we investigated the antibacterial effect of the antibacterial substance, produced by Lactobacillus amylovorus IMC-1, against foodborne spoilage strains, and its sensitivity on the treatment of proteolytic enzymes. L. amylovorus IMC-1, which was isolated from a traditional cheese in Inner Mongolia, produced a maximum amount of antibacterial substance in the skim milk medium after 72 h incubation at 37℃, and further incubation resulted in the same activity. The substance obtained from gel filtration inhibited all strains used such as Bacillus subtilis IFO 3025, Staphylococcus aureus IAM 1011, Listeria monocytogenes VTU 206, Escherichia coli RB, and Pseudomonas fragi IFO 3458 at the concentration of 20 units/ml. This substance was found to show bactericidal action against B. subtilis, E. coli, and Ps. fragi, and bacteriostatic activity against both Staph. aureus and L. monocytogenes. The bactericidal action was due to cellular lysis. The substance is not organic acid, hydrogen peroxide and proteinaceous compound.

In previous reports, the authors isolated the algicidal marine bacterium, Alteromonas sp. SR-14 and demonstrated its growth inhibition of diatom, Chaetoceros calcitrans (C. calcitrans). In this paper, we studied the effects of cell free culture filtrate of Alteromonas sp. SR-14 on the growth of C. calcitrans, and the characteristics of the algal growth inhibition substance. The culture filtrate of Alteromonas sp. SR-14 grown in peptone broth showed growth inhibition activity against C. calcitrans. The reasonable culture conditions of the bacterium for producing of algal growth inhibition substances were 15-20℃ in temperature, 7.0-9.0 in pH and 23-30‰ in salinity, respectively. The algal growth inhibition activity of culture filtrate was increased from stationary phase in growth curve of Alteromonas sp. SR-14. The molecular weights of algal growth inhibition substances produced by Alteromonas sp. SR-14 were ranged about from 3 KDa to 12 KDa. Among the substances, less than 10 KDa fraction were stable by heating at 100℃ for 10 minutes, while more than 10 KDa fraction were heat labile. According to the experimental results, the algal growth inhibition substance produced by the bacterium was not a single compound.

The ethanol extract from the root bark of Morus alba showed the strongest antimicrobial activity on the growth of almost all the tested microorganisms which were food-borne pathogens and food-related microorganisms. In order to isolate and purify of antimicrobial substance extracted from the root bark of Morus albs, the antimicrobial substance from the ethanol extract which exhibited a strong antimicrobial activity was purified by solvent fractionation, silica gel column chromatography, TLC and HPLC. Among the fractions fractionated by 4 kinds of solvents from the ethanol extract, the antimicrobial activity of ethyl acetate fraction had the strongest antimicrobial activity against B. subtilis. Unknown compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction by silica gel column chromatography, TLC and HPLC and the compounds showed strong absorbance at 207, 217 and 285 nm, therefore, it was supposed to be a kinds of aromatic compound.