• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.551-560
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• 2018

Bellflower root (Platycodon grandiflorum), which belongs to the Campanulaceae family, is a perennial grass that grows naturally in Korea, northeastern China, and Japan. Bellflower is widely consumed as both food and medicine owing to its high nutritional value and potential therapeutic effects. Since foodborne disease outbreaks often come from vegetables, understanding the public health risk of microorganisms on fresh vegetables is pivotal to predict and prevent foodborne disease outbreaks. We investigated the microbial communities on the bellflower root (n = 10). 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing targeting the V6-V9 regions of 16S rRNA genes was conducted via the 454-Titanium platform. The sequence quality was checked and phylogenetic assessments were performed using the RDP classifier implemented in QIIME with a bootstrap cutoff of 80%. Principal coordinate analysis was performed using the weighted Fast UniFrac distance. The average number of sequence reads generated per sample was 67,192 sequences. At the phylum level, bacterial communities from the bellflower root were composed primarily of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria in March and September samples. Genera Serratia, Pseudomonas, and Pantoea comprised more than 54% of the total bellflower root bacteria. Principal coordinate analysis plots demonstrated that the microbial community of bellflower root in March samples was different from those in September samples. Potential pathogenic genera, such as Pantoea, were detected in bellflower root samples. Even though further studies will be required to determine if these species are associated with foodborne illness, our results indicate that the 16S rRNA gene-based sequencing approach can be used to detect pathogenic bacteria on fresh vegetables.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.334-338
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• 2009

To determine the contamination status of Sushi fish and rice, seventy-nine samples of Sushi were collected from wholesale markets and Japanese restaurants within the Seoul area and subsequently analyzed for food-borne pathogens. Total aerobic counts ranged from 4 to 6 log CFU/g for the sliced raw fish, and from 3 to 5 log CFU/g for the boiled rice. Higher levels of contamination were detected in bream and shrimp Sushi versus other types. Coliform counts of 3-4 log CFU/g were detected in the sliced raw fish, whereas levels in the boiled rice were one log CFU/g lower compared to the raw fish. The raw Sushi fish had higher amounts of contamination than the boiled rice, however, E.coli was not detected. The prevalence rates of pathogens, namely Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus, in the raw fish were 17% and 10%, respectively. Similarly, the prevalence rates in the boiled rice were 11% and 8% for S. aureus and B.cereus, respectively. Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes were also detected; however, other pathogens such as Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Clostridium perfrigens, and Yersinia enterocolitica were not detected. Among the high contaminating pathogens, B.cereus was found in 13% of samples from the wholesale markets, while S.aureus was found in 30% of samples from the Japanese restaurants. Therefore, these data suggest that the primary microbial hazard factors for Sushi are S. aureus and B. cereus, in addition to V. parahaemolyticus, and further risk assessments should focus on those pathogens.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.332-336
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• 2008

Ginger is widely used as a traditional herbal medicine. Both ginger and its extracts have been used to treat many chronic inflammatory conditions via the inhibition of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-${\kappa}B$) activation, which results in the suppression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression. However, the mechanisms as to how ginger extracts mediate their health effects are largely unknown. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) trigger anti-microbial innate immune responses, recognizing conserved microbial structural molecules that are known as pathogen-associated molecular patterns. All TLR signaling pathways culminate in the activation of NF-${\kappa}B$. The activation of NF- ${\kappa}B$ leads to the induction of inflammatory gene products, including cytokines and COX-2. This study reports the biochemical evidence that 6-shogaol, an active compound in ginger, inhibits NF-${\kappa}B$ activation and COX-2 expression induced by TLR2, TLR3, and TLR4 agonists. Furthermore, 6-shogaol inhibited NF-${\kappa}B$ activation induced by the following downstream signaling components of the TLRs: MyD88, $IKK{\beta}$, and p65. These results imply that ginger can modulate immune responses that could potentially modify the risk of many chronic inflammatory diseases.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.259-264
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• 2001

Toxicological studies of two potential biological control agents, the entomopathogenic nematode (Steinernema carpocapsae) and the symbiotic bacteria (Xenorhabdus nematophilus) were conducted against two beneficial insects and one mammal species. Two microbial agents varied in their toxicities between two insect species: an ant, Pristomyrmex pungens, and silkworm, Bombyx mori. In oral toxicity test, the symbiotic bacteria resulted in significant lethal [half lethal concentration of $1.4$\times$10^3$colony-forming units (cfu)/ml] on the ants, while they gave little lethal effect (half lethal concentration of more than $10^{8}$ cfu/ml) on the silkworms. The nematodes, however, gave significant lethal effect [half lethal concentration of 4 infected juveniles (IJs)/ml] on the silkworms, while they did little lethal effect (half lethal concentration of 150,000 IJs/ml) on the ants in topical assays. Both the nematodes and the bacteria did not give lethal effect to the albino rats, Rattus norvegicus, when they were fed orally into the rats. Also, any of these microbial agents were not detected in the internal organs of the treated rats.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.183-191
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• 2010

Objectives: The objective of this study is to investigate the distribution patterns and exposure concentrations of bioaerosols in industries suspected to have high levels of bioaerosol exposure. Methods: We selected 11 plants including 3 livestock feed plants (LF industry), 3 metal working fluids handling plants (MWFs industry), and 5 sawmills and measured total airborne bacteria, fungi, endotoxins, as well as dust. Airborne bacteria and fungi were measured with one stage impactor, six stage cascade impactor, and gelatin filters. Endotoxins were measured with polycarbonate filters. Results: The geometric means (GM) of the airborne concentrations of bacteria, fungi, and endotoxins were 1,864, $2,252\;CFU/m^3$, and $31.5\;EU/m^3$, respectively at the sawmills, followed by the LF industry (535, $585\;CFU/m^3$, and $22.0\;EU/m^3$) and MWFs industry (258, $331\;CFU/m^3$, and $8.7\;EU/m^3$). These concentrations by industry type were significantly statistically different (p < 0.01). The ratio of indoor to outdoor concentration was 6.2, 1.9, 3.2, and 3.2 for bacteria, fungi, endotoxins, and dust in the LF industry, 5.0, 0.9, 2.3, and 12.5 in the MWFs industry, and 3.7, 4.1, 3.3, and 9.7 in sawmills. The respiratory fractions of bioaerosols were differentiated by bioaerosol types and industry types: the respiratory fraction of bacteria in the LF industry, MWF industry, and sawmills was 59.4%, 72.0%, and 57.7%, respectively, and that of fungi was 77.3%, 89.5%, and 83.7% in the same order. Conclusion: We found that bioaerosol concentration was the highest in sawmills, followed by LF industry facilities and MWFs industry facilities. The indoor/outdoor ratio of microorganisms was larger than 1 and respiratory fraction of microorganisms was more than 50% of the total microorganism concentrations which might penetrate respiratory tract easily. All these findings suggest that bioaerosol in the surveyed industries should be controlled to prevent worker respiratory diseases.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2004

The prevention of infectious disease from contaminated foods is very important in public health. Quantitative microbial risk assessment has been used in advance countries to achieve the safety of public health against hazardous microbial causing contaminated foods. This study was conducted to estimate maximum edible time without producing enterotoxin from Staphylococcus aureus in Kimbap selling at different domestic store using Food MicroModel and monitoring data and to compute maximum edible time by temperature with 99th percentile safety probability based on only restaurant data. For estimating maximum edible time, model operation conditions like reaching time at 2 ${\times}$ 10$^{7}$ , which enterotoxin was known as producing point from S. aureus, temperature of 28∼3$0^{\circ}C$, pH 5.2, NaCl 0.22%, aw(water activity) 0.99, and intaking one serving size of 171g in Kimbap were considered. Estimated maximum edible times by regarding outdoor temperature in summer were 3.9∼4.6 hrs in restaurant, 6.7∼7.9 hrs in department store and 7.4∼8.7 hrs in convenient store. Based on restaurant data, estimated maximum edible times with 99th percentile safety probability by temperature were 1.9 hrs in 3$0^{\circ}C$ and 17.7 hrs in 15$^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.324-330
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• 2021

In this study, the microbial levels on mixed vegetable salads, fresh fruits, and frozen fruits distributed in Korea were comparatively analyzed by food group, region, and quarter. Samples were collected from big markets in large cities from 2018 to 2019 and used for microbiological analysis. The levels of aerobic bacteria for mixed vegetable salads, fresh fruits, and frozen fruits were 6.48, 5.07, and 3.78 log CFU/g, respectively. As a result of analyzing the quarterly contamination levels of aerobic bacteria, the first quarter contamination level was 5.12 log CFU/g while the second quarter showed 6.26 log CFU/g, the third quarter 5.73 log CFU/g, and the fourth quarter 4.42 log CFU/g. A higher number of aerobic bacteria was observed in the second and third quarters when the temperature was higher. There was no difference in the number of bacteria by region. The levels of the coliform group were 1.98 - 3.93 log CFU/g in all samples, and Escherichia coli was detected at 1.38 log CFU/g in 3 out of 27 mixed vegetable salads. Since the mixed vegetable salad and fresh fruit used in this study exceeded the standard (3 log CFU/g) for unheated foods and E. coli was detected in three fresh fruits, stricter hygiene management in the manufacturing stage of salads and fresh fruit is required.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.299-304
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• 2014

The dose-response models are important for the quantitative microbiological risk assessment (QMRA) because they would enable prediction of infection risk to humans from foodborne pathogens. In this study, we performed a comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis to better quantify this association. The meta-analysis applied a final selection of 193 published papers for total 43 species foodborne disease pathogens (bacteria 26, virus 9, and parasite 8 species) which were identified and classified based on the dose-response models related to QMRA studies from PubMed, ScienceDirect database and internet websites during 1980-2012. The main search keywords used the combination "food", "foodborne disease pathogen", "dose-response model", and "quantitative microbiological risk assessment". The appropriate dose-response models for Campylobacter jejuni, pathogenic E. coli O157:H7 (EHEC / EPEC / ETEC), Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio cholera, Rota virus, and Cryptosporidium pavum were beta-poisson (${\alpha}=0.15$, ${\beta}=7.59$, fi = 0.72), beta-poisson (${\alpha}=0.49$, ${\beta}=1.81{\times}10^5$, fi = 0.67) / beta-poisson (${\alpha}=0.22$, ${\beta}=8.70{\times}10^3$, fi = 0.40) / beta-poisson (${\alpha}=0.18$, ${\beta}=8.60{\times}10^7$, fi = 0.60), exponential (r=$1.18{\times}10^{-10}$, fi = 0.14), beta-poisson (${\alpha}=0.11$, ${\beta}=6,097$, fi = 0.09), beta-poisson (${\alpha}=0.21$, ${\beta}=1,120$, fi = 0.15), exponential ($r=7.64{\times}10^{-8}$, fi = 1.00), betapoisson (${\alpha}=0.17$, ${\beta}=1.18{\times}10^5$, fi = 1.00), beta-poisson (${\alpha}=0.25$, ${\beta}=16.2$, fi = 0.57), exponential ($r=1.73{\times}10{-2}$, fi = 1.00), and exponential ($r=1.73{\times}10^{-2}$, fi = 0.17), respectively. Therefore, these results provide the preliminary data necessary for the development of foodborne pathogens QMRA.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1577-1583
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• 2014

Encapsulation is a method used to protect material from certain undesirable environments, for controlled release at a more favorable time and place. Animal productivity would be enhanced if feed additives are delivered to be utilized at their site of action, bypassing the rumen where they are likely to be degraded by microbial action. A novel method of encapsulation with sesame gum was used to coat nitrate, a known enteric methane mitigating agent, and tested for the effect on methane reduction and other in vitro fermentation parameters using rumen fluid from cannulated Hanwoo steers. Orchard grass was used as basal diet for fermentation. The treatments were matrix (1.1 g sesame gum+0.4 g sesame oil cake) only, encapsulated nitrate (matrix+nitrate [21 mM]), free nitrate (21 mM), and a control that contained no additive. Analyses of fermentation parameters were done at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, and 48 h time periods. In comparison to control, both free and encapsulated nitrate produced significantly reduced (p<0.01) methane (76% less) and also the total volatile fatty acids were reduced. A significantly higher (p<0.01) concentration of ammonia nitrogen was obtained with the encapsulated nitrate treatment (44%) compared to the free form (28%) and matrix only (20%) (p = 0.014). This might suggest slow release of encapsulated nitrate so that it is fully reduced to ammonia. Thus, this pioneering study found a significant reduction in methane production following the use of sesame gum encapsulated nitrate that shows the potential of a controlled release system in enhancing sustainability of ruminant production while reducing/eliminating the risk of nitrite toxicity.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.62 no.5
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• pp.702-712
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• 2020

Synthetic nitrite imparts a reddish-pink color to meat and a distinct flavor to meat products, delays lipid oxidation, and inhibits microbial growth and pathogens. However, excessive intake of nitrite might result in the production of carcinogenic nitrosamine, which might increase the risk of cancer in humans. Therefore, we aimed to find an alternative natural colorant for pork sausages. Pork sausages were mixed with 0.014% sodium nitrite (NaNO₂) alone (CON), without either NaNO₂ or purple-fleshed sweet potato powder (PP; CON1), 0.5% PP alone (PP1), 1% PP (PP2) alone, 0.011% NaNO₂ and 0.5% PP (SP1), and 0.011% NaNO₂ and 1% PP (SP2). The sausages were then cooked and stored for physicochemical analysis on days 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20. The a* and W* values were the greatest and lowest in the SP2 and CON1 treatments, respectively (p < 0.05). The concentrations of residual nitrite in the sausages at 20 days decreased in the order of CON > SP1, SP2 > PP2 > PP1, CON1. The fatty acid content was higher, and flavorous amino acids were more in PP2 (p < 0.05). The fatty acid composition was comparable between the SP2 and CON groups, but the contents of glutamic acid and alanine were greater in the SP2 group. In conclusion, SP2 (0.011% NaNO₂ with 1% PP) could be added as a natural colorant for pork sausage production, and NaNO₂ could be substituted with up to 20% PP without detrimental effects on sausage appearance and/or quality.