BACKGROUND: Singapore’s status as a first world island city-state which relies chiefly on food imports to meet the demand for consumption presents unique challenges in terms of microbial food safety and quality. Despite the efforts of the Ministry of Health in Singapore, in conjunction with the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore and the National Environment Agency actively collaborate together to promote safety in Singapore, foodborne diseases are still a major public health issue.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the review was to summarize the various foodborne diseases reported in Singapore in the past few years as well as to give an account of all the currently available microbiological findings indicating safety and quality of poultry, vegetables, fruits, and seafood sold in Singapore.

Increasing consumer emphasis on the health benefits of foods has enhanced the research focus in health promoting elements, such as probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics. Live probiotic bacterial strains, which are incorporated in various food systems, must survive unfavourable processing and gastric environments to confer the desired physiological responses in the human gut. Non-digestible oligosaccharides are provided as fermentable prebiotic substrates to selectively modulate the gut microbial balance in favour of probiotic lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, thus improving the host metabolic function. Honey contains oligosaccharides that can be utilized by the saccharolytic fermenters to yield beneficial metabolites that promote the prebiotic effect. There are numerous studies on the antimicrobial components and health effects of honey, and many have focused on the unique antibacterial activity of varieties such as Manuka. However, the possibility of the bactericidal and bacteriostatic factors in honey working synergistically with probiotics is yet to be adequately explored in the literature. The focus of this review is on the studies that have endeavoured to evaluate the prebiotic potential of honey, which has not been comprehensively assessed as the more established prebiotics. The results in most of the reported investigations are encouraging at optimal concentrations of honey, and further research is recommended as per the defined criteria of fermentation selectivity required for the endorsement of prebiotic functionality.

INTRODUCTION: Ensuring food safety is a challenge for developed and developing countries and depends on the combined efforts of government, regulators, academia, consumers, food producers, and suppliers.

OBJECTIVE: In this work, an overview of the main regulatory aspects related to chemical hazards in the Brazilian food and beverage industry is presented. The presence of contaminants, food additives, and residues of pesticides and veterinary drugs, including current regulations and their impacts on the safety and quality of locally produced foods, are discussed.

BACKGROUND: In Brazil, the assessment, management, and communication of human health risks in food and beverage are the joint responsibility of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply, which enforce the international regulations established mainly by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the European Commission, and the US Food and Drug Administration.

CONCLUSIONS: Constant updates of the national legislation following internationally recognized standards, the intensification of the existing monitoring plans and efficient actions of sanitary surveillance, major investments in scientific research, and a greater awareness among the food producers may contribute to the safety and quality of the food produced in Brazil.

Aflatoxins cause acute and chronic health and production effects in humans and animals, respectively. This study reports on the exposure of the Kenyan population to the two mycotoxins in two counties (Nandi and Makueni) using children younger than 5 years as the proxy. A questionnaire was administered, which captured knowledge of the incidences of acute aflatoxin poisoning, food consumption patterns. Analysis of aflatoxin in samples of urine, breast milk, maize, sorghum, and millet was done using cELISA and HPLC. Maize and sorghum are used in the weaning formula of children. The difference in consumption of maize- and sorghum-based diets in children between younger than 1 and between 1 and 5 years was significant with P = 0.037 and P = 0.002, respectively, in Nandi and Makueni. In children younger than 5 years, the consumption of maize ranged from 0.1 to 0.25 kg per person per day in Nandi and Makueni with an aflatoxin exposure rate of 0.011 and 0.49 μg per kg body weight (bwt) per day, respectively. The exposure to aflatoxin through milk for children younger than 5 years was 4 × 10^-4 and 1 × 10^-4 μg per kg bwt per day in Makueni and Nandi, respectively. The exposure of nursing children through breast milk was 6 × 10^-3 and 1 × 10^-6 μg per kg bwt per day in Makueni and Nandi, respectively. Children younger than 30 months in Makueni had 1.4 times higher levels of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in urine than those of the same age in Nandi. The stunting and severe stunting rates in Makueni and Nandi were 28.7%, 18.5% and 30.7%, 16.5%, respectively. Thus, there is need for urgent mitigation measures, a constant surveillance program, strict regulations, and awareness creation directed at poor households to reduce dietary exposure to mycotoxins.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of environmental stresses on the cytotoxicity of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). STEC O157:H7 and six non-O157 STEC strains (O26:H11, O103:H1, O104:H4, O111:NM, O121:NM, and O145:NM) were subjected to osmotic (aw 0.95–0.98), acid (pH 4–7), and chlorine (1–5 ppm) stresses. After stress treatments, bacterial populations, expression of virulence-associated genes, and Vero-cytotoxicity were determined. Among the strains, O145:NM survived at aw0.97 longer than other serotypes, while O111:NM was significantly more sensitive to osmotic stress. At pH 4, O103:H1 was more resistant to the stress, while O26:H11 and O111:NM had significantly less growth. For 2 ppm chlorine stress, O26:H11, O103:H1, and O145:NM had higher populations (>3log) than other strains. Stressed strains showed a significant increase in relative gene expression levels of stx1, stx2, and eae in O103:H1, O104:H4, and O145:NM than non-stressed control. Additionally, significantly higher Vero-cytotoxicity, as indicated by lactate dehydrogenase assay, of stressed O26:H11, O103:H1, O104:H4, and O145:NM was observed. The results suggest that the growth and cytotoxicity of selected pathogenic E. coli may be enhanced after being exposed to environmental stresses.

Objective: Water recycling is a significant part of an overall water management system. The current study evaluated electrocoagulation, used in combination with ultraviolet light (at 254 nm), to reduce the organic content and enhance the microbiological quality, of wash water derived from shredded lettuce processing.

Method: The composition of spent wash water derived from a commercial lettuce processing operation was used to prepare a simulated solution to be applied to validate the water recycling system. The simulated spent wash water was subjected to an electrocoagulation process followed by filtration and a tertiary ultraviolet (254 nm) treatment. The efficacy of the recycling treatment to decrease turbidity (nephelometric turbidity units, biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and decrease in introduced bacterial numbers.

Results: Spent wash water sampled from a commercial processing line was found to be colloidal in nature (78 ± 26 NTU) with low total solids content (544 ± 87 mg/L), BOD (230 ± 53 mg/L) and COD (309 ± 53 mg/L). An electrocoagaultion process performed for 10 min using 3.48 A/m2 current density at pH 6.5 and conductivity of >100 μS/cm supported an 87% removal of turbidity, 38% reduction in BOD along with 49% decrease in COD. The electrocoagulation process was also found to reduce the levels of Escherichia coli, Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes by 1–2 log cfu. The tertiary UV treatment of water derived from the electro coagulation process, supported further reduction in model pathogens, although it was noted that the D values for inactivation were in the order of 1.01–1.60 mJ/cm2, which compares to 0.22–0.31 mJ/cm2 in saline. The apparent increase in bacterial resistance to ultraviolet was likely due to the UV absorbing low molecular weight constituents within wash water that provided protection against inactivation.

Conclusion: In conclusion, the study demonstrated the feasibility of applying electrocoagulation and UV to rapidly treat spent lettuce wash water to facilitate in-process recycling within shredded lettuce processing operations.

OBJECTIVES: Soybean dreg is a by-product of soy milk processing, which contains high levels of soluble dietary fibre (SDF). In this study, we aimed to provide comprehensive processes of pretreated extrusion for the improving structure and properties of soybean dreg soluble dietary fibre (SDSDF), which would be a valuable approach to enhance physiological activity.

METHODS: Here, we characteristic the functional role of SDSDF employing to extrusion pretreatment. Soybean dregs were pre-treated using the twin screw extrusion method followed by enzymatic modification using neutral protease, α- amylase, glucoamylase, and cellulose to produce SDSDF. The physical properties and antioxidant activity of SDSDF were investigated.

RESULTS: The morphology and crystal structure of SDSDF were observed that, through extrusion processing and enzymatic modification, the SDSDF yield increased by 106.28%. Moreover, the surface structure showed block-shaped or reticular formations in the extruded SDSDF, and the size of block-shaped cells was about 10 μm. Infrared spectroscopic analysis showed that a characteristic absorption peak of polysaccharide appeared at 1631 cm^-1 during extrusion processing. However, after extrusion processing, decreased absorption peaks were observed for the extruded SDSDF. Furthermore, XRD analysis showed that the 2θ diffraction peak changed at 24.16° for the extruded SDSDF.

CONCLUSIONS: The overall findings suggest that the water holding capacity (WHC), oil holding capacity (OHC), expansibility, and the water solubility were signifcantly decreased in extruded SDSDF. In addition, the scavenging ability of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), -OH, O₂-, and the total reducing power were significantly improved, indicating that beneficial changes had taken place in the crystal structure of cellulose or hemicellulose to improve the physiological activity in extruded SDSDF.