Public Food Research Articles

The one health approach applied to surveillance and control of Legionnaires’ disease in Switzerland

Abstract Issue/problem Legionnaires’ disease numbers have been increasing in Switzerland since 2001. With a reporting rate of 6.5 / 100'000 inhabitants in 2022, Switzerland has one of the highest incidences in Europe. The reported cases are mainly severe, about 87 % are diagnosed by hospitals, about 5 % have already died at the time of reporting. In the majority of cases the infection source is unknown. Description of the problem Because the causative agent, Legionella spp., is ubiquitous in humid environments, including building plumbing systems, a collaborative, multisectoral and transdisciplinary approach is key for an efficient response to this public health threat. Results At the national level, a close collaboration between the federal offices for public health, food safety (public shower and bath water) and energy (buildings and energy) was established in 2019 with the creation of a dedicated legionellosis expert group. Goals were to strengthen the coordination and to improve measures to combat the observed increase. Lessons Stakeholders from authorities responsible for implementing measures but also building and sanitary experts, specialists in cooling technology, laboratory experts and scientists have been involved in multiple activities coordinated by the national legionellosis expert group. Together they revise recommendations for prevention and control of legionellosis, and develop factsheets for building technology engineers and an outbreak investigation toolbox. A coordinated communication to the public is ensured, for example in view of possible energy shortage measures. Knowledge gaps have been identified and scientific research to fill them is coordinated, mutually funded and the results will be transferred into practice in the coming years. Key messages • The One Health approach has proven to be very effective in coordination of activities and communication. • The future will reveal if the joint efforts will have an impact on the high incidence.

7.A. Workshop: How could sustainable public food policies add to curbing childhood obesity in EU? Best-ReMaP case

Abstract Childhood obesity is a global public health problem in Europe and worldwide, influenced mainly by the nutrition and physical in/activity behaviours which are impacted by the structural food environment in which the child and his/her caregivers make lifestyle decisions. Individual eating behaviour is a complex societal practice, influenced by structural factors of the obesogenic environment with several health risks. Overweight and its associated chronic diseases (NCDs) reduce life expectancy in OECD countries by 2.7 years on average and 8.4% of the health budget of OECD countries will be spent to treat the consequences of overweight over the next thirty years. Including direct and indirect effects, overweight and obesity reduces GDP by 3.3% on average in both OECD countries and EU28 Member States. Joint Action ‘Best-ReMaP - Healthy Food for a Healthy Future’ (www.bestremap.eu)of 24 participating EU Member states (MSs) aims to contribute to positive changes in food environment in EU, by contributing to the improvement the quality of the food offer in EU, while placing public health at the centre of food systems-related policies and practice. With an ultimate goal to support EU and national efforts to reduce the burden of NCDs, Best-ReMaP addresses the selected food policies from three interrelated angles, which could influence children's food choices: (1) food reformulation (how the composition of the processed foods can be better monitored and producers more motivated to reformulate for healthier food options at the European and national levels); (2) reduction of food marketing (how the traditional and digital food marketing and advertising activities could be better monitored and regulated), and (3) public food procurements - PFP (how public institutions could procure foods that's healthier, of higher quality and more sustainable). Different actions have been considered, allowing for the possible sustainable implementation of the three up-mentioned policies, such as: three policy frameworks, food system indicator for the EU Semester, EU level branded foods database, different networks (experts, high level), equity aspects (existing knowledge and research gaps). The workshop is aiming to: • Showcase the value of monitoring of concrete food policies, to enable the regular reporting on the progress and implementation obstacles and argued engagement with stakeholders. • Increase participants’ understanding and awareness of the challenges of the concrete sustainable implementation of actions of the Best-ReMaP food policies. The workshop will offer an opportunity to: • Present the sustainable outputs of the Best-ReMaP implementation approaches, outlining the attempts in harmonizing monitoring actions for food reformulation and marketing, and piloting the PFP tools. • Inform participants about the benefits of the sustainable EU frameworks for three policy actions, and other sustainability mechanisms, developed by the Best-ReMaP consortium. Key messages • New evidence on the sustainable implementation of the policy actions in Best-ReMaP food policies (reformulation, marketing, public food procurement) are presented. • Three frameworks for action for EU and MSs, and food system indicator for the European Semester are discussed.

JAPreventNCD

Abstract The EU has approved a proposal for a Joint Action on Cancer and other NCDs prevention - action on health determinants. This is a large and ambitious initiative with more than 20 participating EU member states along with Iceland, Norway, and Ukraine. The aim of the Joint Action is to support strategies and policies designed to reduce the burden of cancer and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Cancer and other NCDs constitute a large proportion of the total burden of disease in Europe, and a large part of this disease burden can be prevented. The objectives of this Joint Actions are: • To improve joint capacities of Member states to plan and implement cancer and other NCD prevention policies and activities both at a national, regional, and local level. • To improve data and the monitoring system for cancer and other NCDs and their common risk factors. • To contribute to reduced social inequalities in cancer and other NCDs. • Engage with and support key actors in the field of cancer and NCD prevention, including decision makers at all levels of government, civil society organizations, professionals, the general population, and patients’ groups to facilitate cooperation and joint efforts. As part of the JA Best-ReMaP, we have seen important development regarding tools and methodology related to policies that can influence the food consumed by children. This includes policies related to food reformulation, reduction of food marketing, and public food procurements. While the new JA-PreventNCD will cover NCD prevention more broadly through the various life stages, specific tasks are being planned for that will allow us to build on and expand the valuable work performed as part of the JA Best-ReMaP.

Public food procurement as a tool for more sustainable and high quality food offer in public institutions

Abstract As children spend almost a third of their day in kindergarten or school and consume a large part of their daily energy intake in educational environments, those environments are important factors in the development of healthy eating habits at one hand or unhealthy ones with possible consequence of childhood obesity on the other. Strong evidence of the importance of access to healthy and balanced nutrition in schools for children's health is available, and a nutritionally regulated school environment is associated with a lower risk of childhood obesity, which can also be facilitated by a transparent and quality-oriented procurement system. JRC has estimated the value of the European social food service market as sizeable in both reach and force of €82 billion. Progressive and targeted public procurement of food for health can reward food business operators who provide nutritionally balanced meals. According to the EU AP on childhood obesity 2014-2020, action such as use of nutritional criteria in food service procurement should be required in schools and kindergartens. JA Best-ReMaP situation analyses showed that current implementation of public food procurement across EU Member States differs substantially. Project activities aimed to support the establishment of the intersectoral working mechanisms (groups) for the public procurement of foods in participating MSs, to increase the understanding, knowledge and skills regarding public procurement of food/food products in public health and other selected public institutions, to pilot Slovene best practice tool for PFP as optional approach for implementation of the sustainable and high quality PFP procedures and to recommend further institutionalised implementation of the public procurement procedure for foods, based on quality standards, in the Member States and propose minimum criteria for sustainable public procurement, in line with the developments at the European Commission level.

Epidemiology of listeriosis in a region in central Italy from 2010 to 2019: Estimating the real incidence and space-time analysis for detecting cluster of cases.

BackgroundContamination and transmission of different Listeria monocytogenes strains along food chain are a serious threat to public health and food safety. Understanding the distribution of diseases in time and space-time is fundamental in the epidemiological study and in preventive medicine programs. The aim of this study is to estimate listeriosis incidence along 10-years period and to perform space-time cluster analysis of listeriosis cases in Marche Region, Italy. MethodsThe number of observed listeriosis cases/year was derived from regional data of surveillance of notifiable diseases and hospital discharge form. The capture and recapture method (C-R method) was applied to estimate the real incidence of listeriosis cases in Marche Region and the space-time scan statistics analysis was performed to detect clusters of space-time of listeriosis cases and add precision to the conventional epidemiological analysis. ResultsThe C-R method estimation of listeriosis cases was 119 in the 10- year period (2010–2019), with an average of 31.93 % of unobserved cases (lost cases). The estimated mean annual incidence of listeriosis was 0.77 per 100,000 inhabitants (95 %CI 0.65–0.92), accounting for 6.07 % of additional listeriosis cases per year than observed cases. Using the scan statistic, the two most likely clusters were identified, one of these was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The underdiagnosis and under-reporting in addition to listeriosis incidence variability suggested that the surveillance system of Marche Region should be improved. ConclusionsThis study provides evidence of the ability of space-time cluster analysis to complement traditional surveillance of food-borne diseases and to understand the local risk factors by implementing timely targeted interventions.

Multiplex bacteria detection using one-pot CRISPR/Cas13a-based droplet microfluidics

High-throughput detection of bacteria at low levels is critical in public health, food safety, and first response. Herein, for the first time, we present a platform based on droplet microfluidics coupling with the recombinase aided amplification (RAA)-assisted one-pot clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats together with CRISPR-associated proteins 13a (CRISPR/Cas13a) assay, and droplet encoding strategy for accurate and sensitive determination of nucleic acids from various foodborne pathogens. The workflow takes full advantage of CRISPR/Cas13a signal amplification and droplet confinement effects, which enhances the detection sensitivity and enables end-point quantitation. Meanwhile, by varying the color of droplets, the number of bacteria detected at the same time is greatly improved. It possesses the capability to simultaneously detect seven different types of foodborne pathogens. Notably, the system is also applied to real food samples with satisfactory results. Overall, in view of superiorities in high sensitivity, outstanding selectivity, and large-scale multiplexing, the one-pot CRISPR/Cas13a-based droplet microfluidic system could be expanded and universalized for identifying other bacteria.

Occurrence and molecular characterization of Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Enteritidis isolates from contaminated food samples from Palestine

Salmonella is one of the most frequently isolated foodborne pathogens. It is of major public health concern worldwide. Poultry meat and eggs represent an important source of Salmonellae organism for consumer health. This study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium and Enteritidis using multiplex PCR (mPCR) among isolates collected from the local market and to assess genetic relationships between isolates of S. Typhimurium, which was the only serotype isolated from the tested food samples. This was done using virulence factors profiling and fingerprint profiling by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD-PCR) and repetitive sequence PCR (REP-PCR) using enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC-PCR) and interspersed repetitive DNA sequence BOXAIR-PCR.&#x0D; The overall occurrence percentage of S. Typhimurium and S. Enteritidis out of 51 isolates was 54.9% and 0.0%, respectively. Only 13 out of 17 virulence genes were detected in these isolates. The occurrence of the detected virulence genes among these isolates was 100%, 50.0%,46.4%, 39.3%, 35.7%, 35.7%, 32.1%, 25.0%, 25.0%, 17.6%, 14.3%, 14.3%, 3.6% for invA, sopB, prgH, sitC, pefA, tolC, cdtB, msgA, sifA, iroN, spiA, ipfC and pagC, respectively. The remaining virulence genes were absent in all of the isolates. Based on the combination of the presence and absence of virulence genes, eight profiles were detected among these isolates, the most common genetic profile was V5 (each 32.1%). Based on this genetic profile at cut-off point 96.0%, both ERIC and BOX primers allowed for discrimination into 4 and 6 clusters or clones of 16 S. Typhimurium isolates, respectively. Results of PCR typing methods showed that, three strains clustered together using both ERIC-PCR and BOX-PCR typing methods and they had the same virulotype (V1), while other four strains also clustered together by both typing methods and had the same virulotype (V8).&#x0D; Contamination of food with Salmonellae especially with S. Typhimurium was high and indicated a bad microbiological quality of food. This emphasizes the need for rigorous public health and food safety methods to lower the human health hazard and risk associated with Salmonellae infection.

Evolution and Current Status of Influenza A Virus in Chile: A Review.

The influenza A virus (IAV) poses a significant global threat to public health and food security. Particularly concerning is the avian influenza virus (AIV) subtype H5N1, which has spread from Europe to North and Central/South America. This review presents recent developments in IAV evolution in birds, mammals, and humans in Chile. Chile's encounter with IAV began in 2002, with the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H7N3 virus, derived from a unique South American low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) virus. In 2016-2017, LPAI H7N6 caused outbreaks in turkey, linked to wild birds in Chile and Bolivia. The pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 (H1N1pdm09) virus in 2009 decreased egg production in turkeys. Since 2012, diverse IAV subtypes have emerged in backyard poultry and pigs. Reassortant AIVs, incorporating genes from both North and South American isolates, have been found in wild birds since 2007. Notably, from December 2022, HPAI H5N1 was detected in wild birds, sea lions, and a human, along Chile's north coast. It was introduced through Atlantic migratory flyways from North America. These findings emphasize the need for enhanced biosecurity on poultry farms and ongoing genomic surveillance to understand and manage AIVs in both wild and domestic bird populations in Chile.

The Effect of Nutrition Label Type and Consumer Characteristics on the Identification of Healthy Foods in Finland

Front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels are gaining importance as healthy eating nudge. As a European Union-wide FOP system is under discussion, it is important to examine the understanding of FOPs in various European countries. This study investigates consumer understanding of four FOPs (Heart Symbol, Keyhole, Nutri-Score, Guideline Daily Amounts) and associated consumer characteristics (age, gender, household income, health interest, unhealthy = tasty belief, environmental concern in food choice) in Finland. In an online experiment, 2428 participants ranked products (yoghurt or granola) according to healthiness first without, then with a randomized FOP. Heart Symbol appeared as the most efficient FOP in nutritional assessment of yoghurts. In granolas, Heart Symbol and Nutri-Score performed equally. FOPs were less helpful for older consumers in both product categories and for men in yoghurts. There is a connection between FOP understanding and consumer attitudes. The results contribute to public policy and food industry in FOP implementation.

Food Waste in Public Food Service Sector—Surplus and Leftovers

Food waste occurs at various stages of the food supply chain, starting from the production stage on farms to processing, distribution, and consumption. It is an important global problem that has social, environmental, ethical, and economic costs. The present work aims to discuss the differences in waste generated from surpluses or leftovers, the monitoring systems of food waste in public food services, and the good practices to reduce food waste. Besides the accessible knowledge about reducing waste, tonnes of food were daily discarded and wasted. To achieve a sustainable food system, food waste must be reduced significantly. Collaborative efforts are necessary to achieve significant reductions in food waste for achieving SDG 12.3 in public food services. Thus, policies that support or enforce larger implementation of best practices are needed. Knowledge about food waste is important to change attitudes and behaviors toward surplus food and leftovers. Some best practices can include promoting awareness campaigns to educate staff about the impact of food waste and the best practices to reduce it, including information on proper storage, portion control, and meal planning; implementing inventory management systems; donating surplus food via collaboration with food banks and charities; optimizing portion sizes, ensuring they are adequate and manageable for customers, reducing the likelihood of leftover food on the plate; allowing customers to order smaller quantities or share a meal; providing packaging to allow customers take their leftovers home for later consumption. The procedures to be adopted by public food services should provide guidance for the selection of products that can be donated. However, specific temperature requirements depending on the food category should be complied with. This paper enlarges the understanding of surpluses and leftovers and the best practices that could be implemented in public food services to minimize food waste.

Livelihood vulnerability to urban flood: the case of urban poor households in Dhaka, Bangladesh

ABSTRACT This paper examines the livelihood vulnerability of the urban poor households due to urban flood. The Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) and IPCC-LVI framework were applied for analysing the vulnerability of Mirpur Slum (MPS) and Rail-line Slum (RLS) in Dhaka city. The findings indicate that slum settlements with similar characteristics could have different levels of vulnerability due to their households’ attributes and the characteristics of the surrounding neighbourhoods. This study provides insights of livelihood vulnerability of the urban poor which appeals for effective urban flood adaptation strategies through enhancing public health, water access and food security for the slum dwellers. The findings and recommendations derived from this study are likely applicable to other cities in Bangladesh and to other countries including global south with similar socio-economic profiles.

Analysis of public food procurement in relation to dairy products and their quality criteria.

Public procurement of food is key to ensuring proper nutrition with high-quality products in public institutions such as schools and kindergartens. However, it should not be considered a mandatory expenditure from public finances but rather an investment in health promotion. A total of 1,126 public procurement orders processed by schools and kindergartens in Poland during the period from November 2022 to March 2023 were analyzed. Ultimately, 197 public procurement orders meeting the inclusion criteria were considered for analysis. Based on these orders, 2,753 food products classified as dairy and its derivatives were extracted. The ordered quantities of individual products were analyzed, as well as their descriptions (quality characteristics). Criteria related to composition were most commonly described, the most common criterion was the fat content and the absence of preservatives. On the second places were organoleptic characteristics, where taste and consistency expectations were most frequently specified. Sustainable public procurement criteria were the least frequently mentioned and were treated as highly marginal. Introducing minimum standards for the descriptions of dairy products in terms of organoleptic characteristics, composition features, and sustainability criteria will improve the quality of dairy products supplied to public institutions, particularly schools and kindergartens.

Occurrence and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Escherichia coli and Escherichia coli O157 isolated from cow milk and milk products, Ethiopia

Escherichia coli is a major foodborne pathogen worldwide. This study was conducted to assess the prevalence, risk factors, and antimicrobial susceptibility of E. coli and E. coli O157 in milk and milk products and hygienic practices in West Shoa, Oromia, Ethiopia. Five hundred fifty-six milk samples comprising 421 udder milk, 57 bulk tank milk, and 78 milk products were investigated. Moreover, a questionnaire was administered to 145 participants to assess hygienic practices. A standard microbiological procedure was used to detect E. coli and E. coli O157. The Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method was used to test the antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates. Petri film plates were used to enumerate the coliform in raw bulk tank milk. Farm and animal-level E coli prevalence were estimated and association with risk factors was assessed. Escherichia coli was detected in 33.8% (95% confidence interval (CI) 29.9–37.9%) of the samples, of which only one isolate (0.2%) was E. coli O157. Escherichia coli contamination was higher in bulk tank samples (47.4%; 95% CI 34.0–61.0%) than in udder milk (34.7%; CI 30.1–39.4%), cottage cheese (27.0%; 95% CI 14.6–43.9%), and yoghurt 10.5% (95% CI 2.9–24.8%). For the animal-level E. coli contamination, only the study area was identified as a risk factor. Risk factors such as types of milk containers, udder washing practices, hygiene, and management systems were associated with both farm-level and milk products E. coli contamination. Most (59.0%) of the farmers practice udder washing only before milking and the remaining did not practice udder washing at all. The mean coliform count in raw bulk tank milk was higher than the international standard (4.09 log10 CFU/ml). All the 42 E. coli isolates tested were multidrug resistant. The occurrence of E. coli is high, while that of E. coli O157 is too low. The milk-handling practices are poor in the study areas. The high prevalence of E. coli, as well as the high coliform count and higher multi-drug resistance may pose risk to public health and food safety. Therefore, proper hygienic practices throughout the milk chain as well as rational drug use are advised.

A Campylobacteriosis Outbreak Caused by One Asymptomatic Food Handler Carrier

In August 2021, three students with diarrhea from the same school visited a local hospital in the S district of Beijing. An epidemic investigation showed that there were more students with diarrhea in the same school and they had one meal together. Campylobacter jejuni was isolated from both patients with diarrhea and asymptomatic food handlers; however, the latter also carried Campylobacter coli. Phylogenomic analysis showed that there was a campylobacteriosis outbreak among the students, and the asymptomatic food handler may have been the source of the infection. Routine inspection and surveillance for Campylobacter is needed for the food producing staff, particularly those cooking in the cafeteria in schools or other public food services.

Consideration of the national communicative behavior features in the public food service when teaching Russian to Chinese students

The article is devoted to the relationship between the linguistic and cultural aspects of communicative behavior and their consideration in the content of teaching Russian as a foreign language. The object of our study is the norms and traditions of everyday behavior of Russian and Chinese culture representatives in the field of public food service. The purpose of the study is to compare Russian and Chinese traditions of communicative behavior in the gastronomic field, to determine the level of ethnocultural and linguistic knowledge of international students in this study area, to identify the relationship between their level of knowledge and the development of the students’ intercultural communicative competence, which is an integral characteristic of the personality. We aim to substantiate the need to take into account the features of the national communicative behavior in the field of public food service in the content of teaching the Russian language to Chinese students. The study was conducted using the methods of the analysis of scientific and educational literature on the research problem, the survey of 962 students from higher educational institutions of China, mathematical processing of the obtained data and a comparative analysis. Quantitative and substantive processing of the survey data showed considerable differences in the norms and traditions of Russian and Chinese culture representatives in this study area, a low level of students’ ethnocultural knowledge, a high level of students’ lexical knowledge in the field of public food service and cultural barriers affecting the level of Chinese students’ intercultural communicative competence development. The article comes to the conclusion about the need to take into account the communicative-behavioral aspect of everyday life culture and the norms and traditions of Russian and Chinese cultures in the field of public food service in teaching Russian as a foreign language. Research prospects are connected with the development of the educational interactive platform “Gastronomic trip through time”.

Exploring Peracetic Acid and Acidic pH Tolerance of Antibiotic-Resistant Non-Typhoidal Salmonella and Enterococcus faecium from Diverse Epidemiological and Genetic Backgrounds.

Acid stress poses a common challenge for bacteria in diverse environments by the presence of inorganic (e.g., mammals' stomach) or organic acids (e.g., feed additives; acid-based disinfectants). Limited knowledge exists regarding acid-tolerant strains of specific serotypes, clonal lineages, or sources in human/animal pathogens: namely, non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica (NTS) and Enterococcus faecium (Efm). This study evaluated the acidic pH (Mueller-Hinton acidified with HCl) and peracetic acid (PAA) susceptibility of Efm (n = 72) and NTS (n = 60) from diverse epidemiological/genetic backgrounds and with multiple antibiotic resistance profiles. Efm minimum growth/survival pH was 4.5-5.0/3.0-4.0, and for NTS it was 4.0-4.5/3.5-4.0. Efm distribution among acidic pH values showed that only isolates of clade-non-A1 (non-hospital associated) or the food chain were more tolerant to acidic pH compared to clade-A1 (hospital-associated clones) or clinical isolates (p < 0.05). In the case of NTS, multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolates survived better in acidic pH (p < 0.05). The PAA MIC/MBC for Efm was 70-120/80-150 mg/L, and for NTS, it was 50-70/60-100 mg/L. The distribution of Efm among PAA concentrations showed that clade-A1 or MDR strains exhibited higher tolerance than clade-non-A1 or non-MDR ones (p < 0.05). NTS distribution also showed higher tolerance to PAA among non-MDR and clinical isolates than food chain ones (p < 0.05) but there were no differences among different serogroups. This unique study identifies specific NTS or Efm populations more tolerant to acidic pH or PAA, emphasizing the need for further research to tailor controlled measures of public health and food safety within a One Health framework.

Calorie Compensation Patterns Observed in App-Based Food Diaries.

Self-regulation of food intake is necessary for maintaining a healthy body weight. One of the characteristics of self-regulation is calorie compensation. Calorie compensation refers to adjusting the current meal's energy content based on the energy content of the previous meal(s). Preload test studies measure a single instance of compensation in a controlled setting. The measurement of calorie compensation in free-living conditions has largely remained unexplored. This paper proposes a methodology that leverages extensive app-based observational food diary data to measure an individual's calorie compensation profile in free-living conditions. Instead of a single compensation index followed in preload-test studies, we present the compensation profile as a distribution of days a user exhibits under-compensation, overcompensation, non-compensation, and precise compensation. We applied our methodology to the public food diary data of 1622 MyFitnessPal users. We empirically established that four weeks of food diaries were sufficient to characterize a user's compensation profile accurately. We observed that meal compensation was more likely than day compensation. Dinner compensation had a higher likelihood than lunch compensation. Precise compensation was the least likely. Users were more likely to overcompensate for missing calories than for additional calories. The consequences of poor compensatory behavior were reflected in their adherence to their daily calorie goal. Our methodology could be applied to food diaries to discover behavioral phenotypes of poor compensatory behavior toward forming an early behavioral marker for weight gain.

Fungi's Swiss Army Knife: Pleiotropic Effect of Melanin in Fungal Pathogenesis during Cattle Mycosis.

Fungal threats to public health, food security, and biodiversity have escalated, with a significant rise in mycosis cases globally. Around 300 million people suffer from severe fungal diseases annually, while one-third of food crops are decimated by fungi. Vertebrate, including livestock, are also affected. Our limited understanding of fungal virulence mechanisms hampers our ability to prevent and treat cattle mycoses. Here we aim to bridge knowledge gaps in fungal virulence factors and the role of melanin in evading bovine immune responses. We investigate mycosis in bovines employing a PRISMA-based methodology, bioinformatics, and data mining techniques. Our analysis identified 107 fungal species causing mycoses, primarily within the Ascomycota division. Candida, Aspergillus, Malassezia, and Trichophyton were the most prevalent genera. Of these pathogens, 25% produce melanin. Further research is required to explore the involvement of melanin and develop intervention strategies. While the literature on melanin-mediated fungal evasion mechanisms in cattle is lacking, we successfully evaluated the transferability of immunological mechanisms from other model mammals through homology. Bioinformatics enables knowledge transfer and enhances our understanding of mycosis in cattle. This synthesis fills critical information gaps and paves the way for proposing biotechnological strategies to mitigate the impact of mycoses in cattle.

Rethinking precautionary allergen labelling – Threshold doses, risk assessment approaches and analytical implications

AbstractFood allergies became a major public health and food safety interest in the past decades as their prevalence is increasing, and their only available treatment is a strict elimination diet that necessitates appropriate food labelling regulations. While such regulations are available worldwide, most of them are not taking into account inadvertent allergen cross-contamination and they usually do not define threshold doses that could support the industry in their endeavour to provide reliable food labels for allergic consumers. This resulted in the proliferation of the “may contain” type precautionary allergen labelling (PAL), which is voluntary and is intended to warn consumers for potential unintended contamination with an otherwise undeclared allergen. As this kind of labelling is hardly ever based on actual risk assessment, it puts both the industry and the consumer into a difficult position. A promising tool towards the solution of this problem could be allergen threshold doses based on clinical data, which are becoming increasingly available. This review intends to present this process, the new ways of improved risk assessment it opens, and its implications for food analysis.

Leuconostoc mesenteroides WHH1141 ameliorates ovalbumin-induced food allergy in mice.

Food allergy (FA) is acknowledged as a significant public health and food safety issue, due to its manifestation as an amplified immune reaction to food antigens. Recently, probiotics within Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium have been highlighted as a promising strategy against allergic disease by modulating the balance of Th1/Th2 responses. However, the allergy-alleviating effects of probiotic Leuconostoc mesenteroides strains are unknown. Therefore, this study investigated the potentials of eleven L. mesenteroides strains on the Th1/Th2 balance in vitro by evaluating the expression patterns of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) (Th1 cytokine) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) (Th2 cytokine) in mesenteric lymph node-derived lymphocytes from ovalbumin (OVA)-sensitized mice. Among strains, WHH1141 incubation caused the highest IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio. Oral administration of WHH1141 (1×109 CFU/mL) in the OVA-induced FA mouse model for 40 days improved the weight loss and FA pathological symptoms and normalized the serum immunoglobulin E levels. Meanwhile, the OVA-induced elevated gene expressions of cytokines (IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13) and tight-junction proteins (ZO-1 and Occludin) and levels of cytokines (IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13) and histamine in the jejunum were restored by WHH1141. Furthermore, WHH1141 reversed the reduced gut microbial diversity and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) levels, specifically increased Bacteroidota abundance, and decreased Firmicutes abundance in OVA-induced mice. Overall, these findings suggest that WHH1141 exerts FA-alleviating effects on OVA-induced mice, which is involved with the inhibition of the jejunal Th2 immune responses and the modulation of gut microbiome composition and SCFA productions. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Leuconostoc mesenteroides WHH1141 with FA-alleviating potentials may be considered a promising approach in the mitigation of FA symptoms.