본 연구에서는 기존에 수행된 식품 중금속 모니터링 데이터를 이용하여 위해평가 및 모니터링을 수행할 때 요구되는 표본 수를 추정하고자 하였다. 중금속 3종 (카드뮴, 납 및 수은)과 17개의 식품을 대상으로 2,400개의 모니터링 데이터를 선정하여 연구에 활용하였다. 기존의 연구에서 수행된 모니터링 데이터의 표준편차와 오차범위 및 신뢰구간 값(95, 99% CI)을 활용하여 표본 수 추정공식에 따라 계산하였다. 표본 수 추정 공식에 따라 표본 크기를 추정한 결과, 95% 신뢰구간에서 카드뮴의 경우 계산된 표본의 크기는 최소 8개에서 최대 90개, 납의 경우 최소 7개에서 최대 1,062개, 수은의 경우 최소 11개에서 최대 238개로 각각 추정되었다. 식품 중 중금속 데이터의 표준편차와 오차범위가 표본 수를 추정하는데 가장 큰 영향을 주는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구에서는 모니터링 데이터의 특성을 반영하여 표본 크기를 추정하고자 하였으며, 이는 향후 위해평가 및 모니터링 수행 계획을 수립하기 위한 표본 수를 결정하는 기초연구로 활용될 수 있을 것이다.

Recently pathogenic E. coli is one of the main foodborne pathogens resulting in many patients in Korea. To understand the characteristics of pathogenic E. coli outbreaks in Korea, the epidemiological investigation reports of pathogenic E. coli outbreak in 2009 (41 reports) and in 2010 (27 reports) were collected in the web site of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reviewed and analysed in this study. The main places of the pathogenic E. coli outbreaks were food catering service area (64.8%) and restaurants (25.0%). The main type of the pathogens were EPEC (44.7%) and ETEC (34.2%). EAEC and EHEC was responsible for 10.5 and 9.2%, respectively. Eight of 68 outbreak cases were caused by more than 2 types of pathogenic E. coli which implicates the complicated contamination pathways of pathogenic E. coli. The incidence rate of pathogenic E. coli was 33.6 ± 30.5% and the main symptoms were diarrhea, stomach ache, nausea, vomiting, and fever etc. The two identified food sources were identified as frozen hamburger pattie and squid-vegetable mixture. To improve the food source identification by epidemiological investigation, food poisoning notification to the agency should not be delayed, whole food items attributed the outbreak should be collected and detection method of the various pathogenic E. coli in food has to be improved. In conclusion, the characteristics between the EHEC outbreaks in the western countries and the EPEC or ETEC outbreaks in Korea needs to be distinguished to prepare food safety management plan. In addition, the development of the trace back system to find the contamination pathway with the improved detection method in food and systemic and cooperative support by the related agencies are necessary.

This study was conducted to investigate the microbiological contamination levels in rice cakes and rice flour due to climate change in three areas classified to their temperature and precipitation. We investigated the contamination levels of total aerobic bacteria, coliforms, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium perfringens of rice flour and 3 rice cakes such as Garaetteok, Sirutteok and Gyeongdan. Contamination levels of total aerobic bacteria in rice flour were 4.9 log CFU/g. In a total of 70 rice flour, yeasts & molds and coliforms were detected in 42 and 52 samples at the levels of 43 CFU/g and 1.29 log CFU/g, respectively. S. aureus were detected in only 1 rice flour (1.66 log CFU/g) out of 70. In an investigation of contamination levels in rice cakes, the population of total aerobic bacteria were highest in Gyeongdan (5.18 log CFU/g) and coliforms were highest in Gareattock (2.93 log CFU/g). There was no detection of E. coli and B. cereus except for only 1 Gareattock (1.20 log CFU/g). There were no differences of contamination levels among the three areas. If constant monitoring of rice cakes and rice flour is conducted on the basis of this study, it is expected to be able to analyze the change of contamination levels in rice cakes and rice flour due to climate change.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate microbiological contamination of fresh-cut produce salads and raw cabbage toward climate change. Total aerobic bacteria, coliform and Escherichia coli were monitored to get the contamination levels and E. coli O157:H7, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. to detect pathogens with risk of foodborne disease from samples. Collection of 360 samples (180 fresh-cut produce salads and 180 raw cabbage), including 60 samples from each area after setting 3 areas depending on annual temperature and annual rainfall. As a result, total aerobic bacteria and coliform group were different was performed areas in raw cabbage but there was no difference between areas in fresh-cut produce salads. In addition foodborne pathogens including E. coli were not isolated from fresh-cut produce salads.

This study was conducted to evaluate microbial contamination levels of Korea traditional rice cakes such as Sirutteok, Garaetteok and Gyeongdan in the manufacturing process and environment. The microbial contamination levels such as total aerobic bacteria, fungi, coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens of rice cake products were analyzed. The contamination levels of total aerobic bacteria, coliforms, fungi and B. cereus in raw materials were in the range of 2.4~4.5, ND~1.9, 1.2~2.1 and 1.0~2.1 log CFU/g, respectively. The microbial contamination levels of total aerobic bacteria, coliforms, fungi and B. cereus in manufacturing process of rice cakes were increased in the soaking and grinding steps and were decreased in steaming step. E. coli, S. aureus and C. perfringens were not detected in any manufacturing process and environment. The microbial contamination levels of raw materials and final products of rice cake were suitable for microbial safety standard in Korea. However, the manufacturing environment such as equipments and employee's sanitation were in trouble for microbial safety. The results of this study suggest that safety education for personal hygiene and safety management in processing environment are continuously required to assure safety in working environment and employee's individual hygiene.

In this study, the contamination levels of total aerobic bacteria, E. coli, total coliform and S. aureus of seasoned dried fishes (SDF) in Korea were investigated. A total of 81 SDF samples were purchased randomly from 28 stores. Contamination range of total aerobic bacteria, total coliform and S. aureus were 150~1,700,000, 10~31,000and 10~220 CFU/g, respectively. E. coli was detected in only one samples in the qualitative test. We have analyzed quantitatively Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SE-type A, C and D) produced by S. aureus contaminated in SDF using a TECRA kit and standard curve. The curve equation was Y = 0.1499 * X + 0.1183 and maximum amount of SEs in SDF was 0.71 ng/ml. Reduction speed of S. aureus in SDF stored at 37 ℃ was the highest among the samples stored for 8 days at different temperature of 7, 18 and 37℃ . On the basis of the results, SDF in Korea can be contaminated by a variety of pathogenic bacteria. Therefore, precautionary measures are necessary for consumer protection, including the improvement of sanitary conditions in the processing plants in Korea.

Predictive mathematical models were developed for predicting the kinetics of growth of Listeria monocytogenes in smoked salmon, which is the popular ready-to-eat foods in the world, as a function of temperature (4, 10, 20 and 30℃). At these storage temperature, the primary growth curve fit well (r² = 0.989~0.996) to a Gompertz equation to obtain specific growth rate (SGR) and lag time (LT). The Polynomial model for natural logarithm transformation of the SGR and LT as a function of temperature was obtained by nonlinear regression (Prism, version 4.0,GraphPad Software). Results indicate L. monocytogenes growth was affected by temperature mainly, and SGR model equation is 365.3-31.94*Temperature+0.6661*Temperature^2 and LT model equation is 0.1162-0.01674*Temperature+0.0009303*Temperature^2. As storage temperature decreased 30℃ to 4℃, SGR decreased and LT increased respectively. Polynomial model was identified as appropriate secondary model for SGR and LT on the basis of most statistical indices such as bias factor (1.01 by SGR, 1.55 by LT) and accuracy factor (1.03 by SGR, 1.58 by LT).

Risk ranking must be determined for various hazards/food combinations to conduct microbial risk management effectively. Risk Ranger is a simple, easy-to-use calculation tool developed in Microsoft Excel and designed to rank the risk (low, medium, and high) for semi-quantitative microbial risk assessment. The user is required to answer 11 questions in Risk Ranger related to 1) severity of the hazard, 2) likelihood of a disease-causing dose of the hazard being present in the meal, and 3) the probability of exposure to the hazard in a defined time. This study determined the risk ranking for twenty three combinations of foodborne pathogens/potentially hazardous foods (PHFs) using a Risk Ranger. In this study, pathogenic E. coli in fresh cut produce salad was scored as 79, which was the highest rank among the 23 combinations of the foodborne pathogens and PHFs. On the other hand, zero risk was obtained with V. parahaemolyticus in sushi, Salmonella in meat products and E. coli O157:H7 in hamburger patties. Although Risk Ranger is very simple method to rate the risk of foodborne pathogens and PHFs combination, the accuracy of result was mainly affected by the availability and accuracy of data in the literature. According to the result of literature review, the data are needed for contamination rate of raw materials, consumption amount/frequency of PHFs, and the effect of processing on pathogen. Risk ranking must be continuously revalidated with new data.

In this study, predictive mathematical models were developed to predict the kinetics of Listeria monocytogenes growth in the mixed fresh-cut vegetables, which is the most popular ready-to-eat food in the world, as a function of temperature (4, 10, 20 and 30oC). At the specified storage temperatures, the primary growth curve fit well (r2 = 0.916~0.981) with a Gompertz and Baranyi equation to determine the specific growth rate (SGR). The Polynomial model for natural logarithm transformation of the SGR as a function of temperature was obtained by nonlinear regression (Prism, version 4.0, GraphPad Software). As the storage temperature decreased from 30oC to 4oC, the SGR decreased, respectively. Polynomial model was identified as appropriate secondary model for SGR on the basis of most statistical indices such as mean square error (MSE = 0.002718 by Gompertz, 0.055186 by Baranyi), bias factor (Bf = 1.050084 by Gompertz, 1.931472 by Baranyi) and accuracy factor (Af = 1.160767 by Gompertz, 2.137181 by Baranyi). Results indicate L. monocytogenes growth was affected by temperature mainly, and equation was developed by Gompertz model (−0.1606 + 0.0574*Temp + 0.0009*Temp*Temp) was more effective than equation was developed by Baranyi model (0.3502 − 0.0496*Temp + 0.0022*Temp* Temp) for specific growth rate prediction of L. monocytogenes in the mixed fresh-cut vegetables.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V. parahaemolyticus) has been recognized as a significant food-borne pathogen around the world. In this study, we investigated the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of V. parahaemolyticus isolated from raw fishes. A total of 64 samples of raw fishes purchased from a traditional seafood market in Seoul, Korea. were examined for the presence of V. parahaemolyticus using intestines, gills, and fins. Twenty five grams of all samples were enriched in 225ml of alkaline peptone water at 37℃ for 24h and then streaked onto thiosulfate citrate bile sucrose agar. Suspected colonies were inoculated into triple sugar iron agar for biochemical screening test and were finally confirmed with API 20NE strip. Antimicrobial resistance tests were performed with disc diffusion method in accordance with National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standard. Thirty three V. parahaemolyticus strains were isolated from raw fishes among 33 out of 64 (51.6%). Among 33 isolates, 16 isolates (48.5%) were resistant to ampicillin, 7 isolates (21.2%) were resistant to amikacin, and all isolates were not resist to other antibiotics such as amoxicillin & clavulanic acid, sulfamethoxazole & trimethopenem, ciprofloxacin, cefotaxime and cefepime. Although the prevalence of V. parahaemolyticus was high in raw fishes compared to other studies, antimicrobial resistance rate of the isolates was relatively low. These results could be useful information for risk assessment of V. parahaemolyticus in raw fishes.

This research was conducted to assess applicability of photostimulated luminescence (PSL) and Thermoluminescence (TL) methods for investigation of infant and young children products, nut, seasoned dried fish,spice, dried fruits, fruit & vegetable, grain and marine products, which are not approved for irradiation in Korea. PSL results show that the photon counts of non-irradiated samples were lower than 700, while those of irradiated samples were higher than 700. In TL measurement, TL ratio of irradiated samples were higher than 0.1 or ones can decrease below 0.1 whereas the temperature range of TL Glow curve was between 150-250℃. Monitoring result about 8 class of 325 not approved to irradiated foods, photon counts of samples were less than 700, and after re-irradiation TL Ratio (TL₁/TL₂) through re-irradiation step at 1 kGy were higher than 0.1 for the all samples. Therefore, these results suggested that PSL and TL measurements were useful detection methods for 8 class food products not approved to irradiation in Korea and all sample (325 cases) were not irradiated when we analysed by PSL and TL methods.

This research was conducted to know application of Photostimulated luminescence (PSL) and Thermoluminescence (TL) methods by irradiation dose for leaching tea, sauces and starch approved in Korea. Leaching tea, sauces and starch powder were treated with 60Co gamma ray at dose 0~10 kGy for detection trial whether they are irradiated or not by measuring PSL and TL for whole samples. PSL values were less than threshold value 700 and were negative for non-irradiated samples but more than 5,000 and were positive for irradiated ones. PSL results of leaching tea and sauces showed the correct identification for non-irradiated and irradiated samples, respectively except starch samples. To enhance the reliability of the TL result, the first glow curve (TL1) was compared with the second glove curve (TL2) obtained after a re-irradiation step at 1 kGy. The TL ratio (TL₁/TL₂) was in good agreement with the reported TL threshold for both the non-irradiated (< 0.1) and irradiated (> 0.1) samples. TL results of leaching tea, sauces, starch showed the correct identification for non-irradiated and irradiated samples, respectively. This study was performed to know application of PSL and TL methods for leaching tea, sauces and starch, and the methods were able to detect the irradiation products.

Risk assessment traditionally are conducted on individual chemicals; however, humans are exposed to multiple chemicals in daily life. The organophosphotus (OP) pesticides are considered in a single risk assessment because they act by a common mechanism of toxicity, and there is likely to be expose to multiple OP pesticides simultaneously or sequentially. The OP pesticides act by inhibiting the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and have available extensive database. AChE is widely distributed droughout the body, most importantly in the nervous system. Inhibition of AChE results in accumulation of acetylcholine in the nervous system that results in clinical signs of cholinergic toxicity, including increased salivation and lacrimation, nausea and vomiting, muscle fasciculation, lethargy and fatigue, among others. To conduct an exposure assessment for pesticides in the diet, we need to know the food consumption patterns of the population, and the pesticide residue levels in the foods that are consumed. This study was conducted to identify cumulative dietary risk due to multiple OP pesticides that can be exposed through various foods. Total 22 food samples including cereals, vegetables and fruits were collected randomly two times from food markets in several sites (4 cities). The subjected foods were selected by regarding of highly consumed foods to general Korean people. The 12 OP pesticides including Acephate, Azinphos-methyl, Chlorpyrifos, and Diazinon were monitored. For the exposure assessment, general adult group of 60 kg body weight was regarded as target population and food consumption data suggested by Lee et al. (2000) were used as consumed value of individual food Analyses of samples for OP pesticides have been carried out according to the multiclass multiresidue analysis method and acephate and methamidophos analysis method of Korea Food Code. In general the levels of OP pesticides found in the food samples were very low or not detected. The detected highest value was 0.282 ppm as methidathion in mandarin and acephate, chlorpyrifos, methamidophos and methidathion were detected in several foods. To quantify simultaneous exposure, toxic equivalency factor of proportionately corresponding potency giving decreased AChE activity on the basis of reference dose 0.3 ㎍/kg/day to the chlorpyrifos was applied. The estimated dietary daily intake of OP pesticide was 4.52 × 10^(-2) ㎍/kg/day as mean value. The hazard index (HI) is the sum for OP pesticides being considered together was 0.15. The HI less than 1 indicates the exposure may be lower than an acceptable level.