Food Safety Requirements Research Articles

Compliance of fishery handling facilities to food safety requirements within the fresh Nile perch value chain in Uganda

Compliance of fishery handling facilities to food safety requirements within the fresh Nile perch value chain in Uganda

Farmers market food safety: A comprehensive review of training needs in the U.S.

Farmers markets offer an apparently easy way for small-scale or hobbyist food producers to sell fresh produce, meat, and poultry from their farms or dis­tribute value-added products, but they may be unaware of the foodborne illness risks associated with both fresh produce and derivative products, as well as of their local food safety requirements. Food guidance and rules vary from state to state and market to market, making it difficult for indi­viduals to navigate the various regulatory levels. Even if a local food producer is exempt from these rules due to their amount of sales, they will still benefit greatly from resources and educational tools that increase awareness and knowledge of food safety best practices. This review discusses current knowledge of and guidelines for food safety in farmers markets based on peer-reviewed and grey literature as well as published guidelines and recommendations. We examine facilities and supplies, regulatory measures, education and train­ing, and Good Farmers Market Practices as pre­ventive measures to enhance food safety in farmers markets, which are critical to local and regional food systems. Overall, we identified various barri­ers to implementing farmers market food safety standards and practices in this scoping review; removing these barriers will require the participa­tion of local regularity authorities, market managers, vendors, and consumers.

Fabrication of Novel Porous Nano-pesticides by Modifying MPN onto Cu-TCPP MOFs to Enhance Bactericidal Efficacy and Modulate Its Bioavailability.

Nano-pesticides have attracted much attention in the field of agriculture, due to existing problems such as decreased bactericidal effect and poor adhesion. An environmentally friendly metal porphyrin (Cu-TCPP)-based nanocarrier pesticide release of diniconazole (DIN) was designed to enhance bactericidal efficacy and modulate its bioavailability in a multidimensional manner by constructing a metal phenolic network (MPN) encapsulation. The introduction of the MPN prevents the DIN from prematurely escaping from the Cu-TCPP@DIN@MPN in the environment and gives it strong interfacial adhesion to resist rain washing. The resulting Cu-TCPP@DIN@MPN nanoparticles (NPs) showed a lamellar stacked embedded structure, which improved the inhibition of Fusarium oxysporum (90.9%) and photostability (67.2%), while they do not affect healthy plant growth and meet the relevant food safety requirements for DIN residues. This work provides new ideas for the development of superior photostable, adhesive, rainwater erosion-resistant, and sustainable nanocarrier pesticides.

Artful Instruction: Refining TVET Pedagogy on Food Safety Requirements

Food safety is a critical issue in the culinary industry, and culinary students as a Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) practitioners must understand the importance ofadhering to food safety requirements. However, there are several challenges in ensuring students' perceptions of conformity to food safety requirements are accurate and effective. These issues include the complexity of food safety regulations, the varyinglevels of understanding among students, and the limited resources available to culinary programs to provide comprehensive training. This study explores vocational culinary students' perceptions of conformity to food safety requirements. The research employs quantitative design research, using surveys to collect data from 120 students enrolled in culinary programs at vocational schools in Johor, Malaysia. The study aims to understand how students view their adherence to food safety protocols and how their training and education shape their perceptions. This study is structured as a survey employing a distribution of questionnaires to find culinary students in Johor, Malaysia views compliance with food safety requirements in terms of food safety training, food safety rules, food safety standards, and license compliance with food safety standards. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 26.0 was used to compute the survey responses' mean value, standard deviation, and frequency. All of the responses to the research questions got a high mean score. The results reveal that most students understand food safety practices well, but there needs to be more knowledge and implementation of some critical protocols. Furthermore, the study revealed that vocational students' general perceptions of food safety laws regarding food safety rules had the highest mean value, indicating that this is the most influential factor in persuading how culinary students in Johor, Malaysia perceive compliance with food safety standards. These findings have implications for culinary education programs and the food service industry, suggesting that more attention should be paid to providing students with comprehensive training in food safety practices to ensure safe and healthy food preparation.

Multifunctional honeysuckle extract/attapulgite/chitosan composite films containing natural carbon dots for intelligent food packaging

In order to fulfill people's requirements for food quality and safety, it is a promising strategy to develop intelligent biodegradable food packaging materials. Herein, honeysuckle extracts/attapulgite/chitosan composite films containing natural carbon dots were fabricated for intelligent food packaging. Different characterization techniques were employed to study the obtained composite films, while the physicochemical properties, optical properties, antibacterial and antioxidant activities of composite films were determined. The obtained composite films presented good mechanical, antibacterial and antioxidant properties, and the antibacterial ratios of composite films against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were 99.27 ± 0.18 % and 98.85 ± 0.65 %, respectively. When the added amount of honeysuckle extracts/attapulgite nanocomposites was 4.76 %, the tensile strength and elongation at break of composite films reached 24.9 ± 2.35 MPa and 64.8 ± 2.11 %, respectively, which were obviously higher than that of pure chitosan film. Furthermore, the composite films exhibited excellent UV shielding and blue fluorescence properties, as well as pH-sensitivity due to the presence of caffeoquinic acid-based natural carbon dots derived from honeysuckle extract. Therefore, the composite films indicated a potential application for intelligent food packaging.

CR-YOLOv9: Improved YOLOv9 Multi-Stage Strawberry Fruit Maturity Detection Application Integrated with CRNET.

Strawberries are a commonly used agricultural product in the food industry. In the traditional production model, labor costs are high, and extensive picking techniques can result in food safety issues, like poor taste and fruit rot. In response to the existing challenges of low detection accuracy and slow detection speed in the assessment of strawberry fruit maturity in orchards, a CR-YOLOv9 multi-stage method for strawberry fruit maturity detection was introduced. The composite thinning network, CRNet, is utilized for target fusion, employing multi-branch blocks to enhance images by restoring high-frequency details. To address the issue of low computational efficiency in the multi-head self-attention (MHSA) model due to redundant attention heads, the design concept of CGA is introduced. This concept aligns input feature grouping with the number of attention heads, offering the distinct segmentation of complete features for each attention head, thereby reducing computational redundancy. A hybrid operator, ACmix, is proposed to enhance the efficiency of image classification and target detection. Additionally, the Inner-IoU concept, in conjunction with Shape-IoU, is introduced to replace the original loss function, thereby enhancing the accuracy of detecting small targets in complex scenes. The experimental results demonstrate that CR-YOLOv9 achieves a precision rate of 97.52%, a recall rate of 95.34%, and an mAP@50 of 97.95%. These values are notably higher than those of YOLOv9 by 4.2%, 5.07%, and 3.34%. Furthermore, the detection speed of CR-YOLOv9 is 84, making it suitable for the real-time detection of strawberry ripeness in orchards. The results demonstrate that the CR-YOLOv9 algorithm discussed in this study exhibits high detection accuracy and rapid detection speed. This enables more efficient and automated strawberry picking, meeting the public's requirements for food safety.

Development of a near-infrared ratiometric fluorescent probe for real-time detection of HClO in real samples, oxidative stress model, and ferroptosis model

During the COVID-19 epidemic, hypochlorous acid (HClO) was frequently utilized for indoor and outdoor disinfection. The sensitive and selective detection of HClO puts forward high requirements for food safety. Furthermore, HClO is crucial for physiological and pathological activities. However, excessive HClO is harmful to the environment, animals, and humans. Therefore, it is imperative to construct a highly selective and sensitive HClO detection method to determine the safety of food and water, as well as the role of physiological and pathological processes. Herein, we successfully developed a near-infrared (NIR) ratiometric fluorescent probe FLD, which had high practicality and wide application range and was utilized to detect HClO in real samples and organisms. Probe FLD had the advantages of simple synthesis, high selectivity and sensitivity, significant colorimetric change, and low detection limit. Probe FLD was loaded onto test strips to create a single, reasonably priced solid sensor that enabled the visual detection of HClO. The experiments with real samples showed that the probe had good accuracy and precision. Importantly, the measurement of HClO levels in oxidative stress and ferroptosis models was successfully accomplished. Overall, probe FLD’s outstanding qualities make it a good prospect for application in environmental monitoring, food safety, and biology.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices of fresh Nile perch value chain handlers towards food safety requirements in Uganda

In the continuum from ‘farm to fork’, the proficiency of food handlers in terms of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) is essential for ensuring improved food safety outcomes. This study evaluated the KAP of fresh Nile perch fish handlers regarding food safety requirements within Uganda. A cross-sectional survey involving fish handlers (n = 466) engaged in handling fresh Nile perch and fisheries products in both local and export market chains. The study was conducted at 30 gazetted fish landing sites on Lake Victoria, 15 licensed fish export factories, and 9 local markets authorized to sell fisheries products. Data on demographic, knowledge, attitude, and practices was collected using structured questionnaire. Demographic data was analysed using frequencies and percentages. Ordinary least squares bivariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed to determine factors associated with knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding food safety requirements. Fish handlers (49.8 %) demonstrated good knowledge with the majority (74.6 %) from the export market chain. Majority (81.3 %) of market stall handlers had poor knowledge of food safety requirements. Most (68.2 %) fresh Nile perch fish handlers had limited awareness of food-borne pathogens. Only 31.8 % had knowledge about E. coli, Salmonella spp, and Staphylococcus spp. Furthermore, over 63 % believed that consuming contaminated fish could transmit HIV, Covid-19, and Ebola. Male gender, higher income, and advanced education were positively correlated with fish handlers' knowledge of food safety requirements. Fish handlers (57 %) in the local market chain exhibited poor attitudes. Being a male fish handler was significantly (β = 3.43, 95 % CI: 1.65–5.21, P = 0.001) associated with positive attitudes compared to being female. Education at different levels was significantly (Primary (β = 3.19, 95 % CI: 1.05–5.33, P = 0.004); Secondary level (β = 5.883, 95 % CI: 3.52–8.23, P = 0.001); Tertiary (β = 6.09, 95 % CI: 3.03–9.15, P = 0.001)) associated with positive attitudes compared to no education.Practices ensuring food safety were common in the factories and the export market. The study suggests the need for interventions that promote knowledge transfer and food safety culture, particularly in the local market chain.

Effect of injection compound rolling process and curdlan gel on water retention of sauced beef

Research background and significance: Under the current development trend in the field of global food science and technology, consumers' requirements for food safety, nutritional value and sensory quality are increasing, prompting the innovation of food processing and preservation technology to become the core of the industry development. In the production of traditional food spiced beef, how to ensure the yield and quality of spiced beef is the focus of the spiced beef market. By adding edible glue can gain weight, thereby improving the yield, but previous studies have shown that carrageenan, seaweed extract and so on seriously affect the sensory quality of marinated beef, especially causing its juice oozing, colloidal attachments oozing and so on. Research content: Through the systematic study of the application of curdlan gel in the processing of brine injection spiced beef, the specific effects of curdlan gel on the water retention and sensory quality of spiced beef were discussed in this study. (1) Sensory optimization injection rolling composite curing process. The experiment was carried out with beef tendinous meat and a series of auxiliary materials, using fine processes and methods, including saline injection, rolling salting, cooking treatment, etc., and then conducting sensory evaluation. (2) Compare the quality difference of curdlan gel 1 and 2. Determination of gel strength and optimization of water retention of stewed beef were carried out. Single factor ANOVA test was used to determine the optimal dosage of curdlan gel. The results showed that the water retention of beef with brine injection could be enhanced significantly when the dosage was 2%, respectively. Under the optimal process conditions, the sensory score of brined beef was 85.4 points. Through this study, important scientific and technological findings were obtained, which did not mean that the higher the concentration of curdlan gel, the better the water retention, on the contrary, the higher the concentration of its water retention would be affected but would decrease. This research not only expands the application range of curdlan gel in the food industry, but also provides new technical solutions and theoretical support for the innovation and development of meat processing technology, and meets the needs of consumers for high-quality meat products.

A multi-objective optimization model for the location of cold chain logistics distribution center based on trust domain optimization algorithm

Cold chain transportation refers to a logistics method that transports fresh, perishable, and perishable items from the place of production, processing or warehouse to the place of consumption under certain temperature conditions. As consumers have higher and higher requirements for food safety and quality, the cold chain logistics industry has also developed rapidly. However, the high cost of cold chain logistics, the difficulty of technology, the difficulty of ensuring service quality and other problems have also arisen, and how to optimize cold chain transportation has become a hot issue in the cold chain logistics industry. Cold chain transportation optimization refers to the premise of ensuring the quality and safety of goods, through reasonable transportation paths, transportation methods, temperature control and other measures, to minimize the cost of cold chain transportation, improve efficiency and service quality. In order to achieve the optimization of cold chain transportation, it is necessary to establish a reliable cold chain logistics distribution center to ensure the safety and quality of goods during transportation. In order to solve the problem of location selection of cold chain logistics distribution center, this paper first defines the service reliability and calculation method of cold chain distribution center. Then, the location model of the cold chain logistics distribution center and the trust domain optimization algorithm model were established. The model aims to minimize the total cost, while considering multiple factors such as transportation distance, temperature control, facility construction, etc., to ensure the reliability and operational efficiency of the cold chain logistics distribution center. Finally, this paper introduces an example for calculation to prove the feasibility and universality of the model in the location problem of cold chain logistics distribution center. Through the calculation of examples, it can be seen that the model can effectively reduce the cost of cold chain transportation and improve the service quality and efficiency of cold chain logistics distribution center. In summary, this paper proposes a reliable location model and trust domain optimization algorithm model for cold chain logistics distribution centers to solve the challenges faced by the cold chain logistics industry. This model can provide guidance for cold chain logistics companies to gain a greater advantage in a highly competitive market.

Enhancing Food Safety Measures in Micro Small Medium Enterprises: A Comprehensive Analysis of MSMEs in Kemiling Bandar Lampung

MSMEs in the food business, especially in Indonesia, encounter major obstacles in adhering to food safety requirements because of their restricted resources and technical knowledge. This study investigates the effects of applying Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) methodology on enhancing food safety standards at a particular MSME, Desi Kue, situated in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia. The study uses surveys, interviews, and hazard analysis assessments to identify potential dangers and suggest effective management techniques to improve food safety processes at Desi Kue. Customized education and training programs are crucial for enhancing awareness and comprehension of food safety among MSME stakeholders. The report emphasizes the importance of adjusting food safety policies and resources to tackle the specific difficulties encountered by MSMEs. MSMEs can effectively adopt HACCP principles by working with regulatory organizations and industry associations. This will help improve consumer trust, ensure public health, and promote sustainable growth in the food sector. This study offers significant insights for Desi Kue and MSMEs in Indonesia and other developing countries, enabling them to capitalize on prospects for competitiveness and growth in the global market by implementing strong food safety management systems.

Pemenuhan Aspek Legalitas Sertifikat Produksi Pangan Industri Rumah Tangga (SPP-IRT) UMKM Ibu Nia Dan KWT Karya Lestari

Good Food Production Practices for Home Industry (CPPB-IRT) is one of the important factors to meet quality standards or food safety requirements set for food. CPPB-IRT is a guideline that has requirements in every scope or aspect that must be met by proper, safe and quality Home Industry Food producers (PIRT). The purpose of this assistance is to provide assistance in preparing the requirements and fulfilling the legality of SPP-IRT and the application of CPPB-IRT to UMKM Ibu Nia and KWT Karya Lestari in Kutai Kartanegara Regency. The method used in this assistance is 1) observing the two MSMEs, 2) providing assistance and application to the two MSMEs, and 3) registering the SPP-IRT. The results of the assistance to the two MSMEs showed good changes in implementing CPPB-IRT and obtaining SPP-IRT as legality.

Recent advances in photonic crystal-based chemical sensors.

The increasing attention towards environmental quality, food safety, public security and medical diagnosis demands high requirements and standards for chemical sensors with merits of rapid response, high precision, long-term stability and reusability. In this case, a prominent innovation in sensory materials holds potential to realize new generations of chemical sensor technologies. Specifically, photonic crystals (PCs) as structured dielectric materials with spatially periodic ordered arrangements offer unique advantages in improving the sensing performance of chemical sensors. Consequently, the promising properties of PCs promote research on their implementation as an integral part of chemical sensors. This review highlights the integration of PCs into chemical sensors including a range of building blocks for the construction of PCs with versatile opal or opal inverse structural architectures and a delicate choice of surface functionality with associated sensing interfaces for target recognition and signal transduction. Subsequently, based on their synthesis and functionality, we focus on introducing the sensing principles of recent advances in PC-based chemical sensors, such as reflection spectra-based sensing, visual colorimetric sensing, fluorescence sensing, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-based sensing and other integrated sensing. Finally, the future prospects and challenges are discussed for the further improvement of PC-based chemical sensors.

Virtualization and digital twins of the food supply chain for enhanced food safety.

Meeting food safety requirements without jeopardizing quality attributes or sustainability involves adopting a holistic perspective of food products, their manufacturing processes and their storage and distribution practices. The virtualization of the food supply chain offers opportunities to evaluate, simulate, and predict challenges and mishaps potentially contributing to present and future food safety risks. Food systems virtualization poses several requirements: (1) a comprehensive framework composed of instrumental, digital, and computational methods to evaluate internal and external factors that impact food safety; (2) nondestructive and real-time sensing methods, such as spectroscopic-based techniques, to facilitate mapping and tracking food safety and quality indicators; (3) a dynamic platform supported by the Internet of Things (IoT) interconnectivity to integrate information, perform online data analysis and exchange information on product history, outbreaks, exposure to risky situations, etc.; and (4) comprehensive and complementary mathematical modeling techniques (including but not limited to chemical reactions and microbial inactivation and growth kinetics) based on extensive data sets to make realistic simulations and predictions possible. Despite current limitations in data integration and technical skills for virtualization to reach its full potential, its increasing adoption as an interactive and dynamic tool for food systems evaluation can improve resource utilization and rational design of products, processes and logistics for enhanced food safety. Virtualization offers affordable and reliable options to assist stakeholders in decision-making and personnel training. This chapter focuses on definitions and requirements for developing and applying virtual food systems, including digital twins, and their role and future trends in enhancing food safety.

Collaborative Green Innovation of Livestock Product Three-Level Supply Chain Traceability System: A Value Co-Creation Perspective

To enhance the health and stability of livestock product supply chains, it is imperative to augment product sustainability and satisfy food safety requirements through collaborative green innovation. Digital traceability technology amalgamates information and resources from stakeholders in the supply chain, facilitating knowledge sharing and product tracking throughout the entire process to purify the supply chain environment. Augmenting communication and trust among supply chains paves the way for green innovation, thereby yielding value-added benefits. Consequently, this paper formulates a simulation model for manufacturers, retailers, and consumers—three pivotal stakeholders in the traceability process of livestock products—from a value co-creation standpoint. It also incorporates a contract penalty mechanism to probe the collaborative green innovation process among various entities involved in the livestock product supply chain. System simulation is employed to emulate the evolution path of collaborative green innovation in the livestock product supply chain under the value co-creation perspective. Subsequently, a stepwise penalty mechanism, green incentive mechanism, and fair distribution mechanism are proposed for stakeholders to actualize collaborative green innovation and value creation. The findings reveal that: (1) the collaborative green behavior between suppliers, retailers, and consumers is influenced by factors such as value co-creation excess returns, innovative technology costs like traceability, cost sharing among stakeholders, and a certain threshold of government penalties. (2) A balanced distribution of excess returns and cost-sharing among stakeholders fosters the evolution of a green collaborative state in the supply chain, thereby achieving sustainable development with value chain enhancement and ecological optimization.

Research on Hema Fresh Agricultural Products E-commerce Operation Strategy

With the development of the economy, people's living standards continue to improve, and the requirements for food quality and food safety are also constantly increasing. More and more fresh agricultural products e-commerce companies have appeared on the market. Hema Fresh has achieved great success in the Shanghai area. A great success. After Hema Fresh successfully operated in Shanghai, it has been launched in Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and other cities one after another, providing convenience to consumers. However, Hema Fresh also encountered some problems during its development. This article first analyzes the problems encountered by Hema Fresh in the development process, mainly including: unstable product quality, low logistics and distribution efficiency, single platform partners, etc.; secondly, it uses SWOT analysis method to analyze Hema Fresh’s operation process The existing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats were analyzed; finally, based on the actual situation of Hema Fresh, a series of suggestions and countermeasures were put forward to improve its operational capabilities.

Analysis of Factors That Influence Snack Food Selection Behavior in High School Students

BPOM findings from 2006-2010 showed that as many as 48% of school children's snacks did not meet food safety requirements because they contained dangerous chemicals. Snacking behaviour is influenced by several factors, including knowledge, attitudes, peers, and family involvement in getting used to breakfast or providing food from home to be taken to school. This research analyses the factors influencing snack food selection behaviour among high school students. The method in this research is to examine literature reviews with the study sources used coming from published journals in Indonesia and having an ISSN relating to research. As a result of research from 124 articles reviewed, five reports were finally obtained; it was found that there was an influence of knowledge, attitudes, health education and the role of authoritarianism on high school children's snack choices. Shows that knowledge, attitudes, health education and authoritarian roles influence food choices in children or adolescents; there are three factors, namely: (1) predisposing factors, namely factors that facilitate and underlie the occurrence of specific behaviour; (2) supporting factors that enable particular behaviour to occur, such as information media, health service infrastructure, and (3) reinforcing factors are factors that strengthen the occurrence of specific behaviour (the role of parents and the role of teachers).

Main Challenges Expected from the Impact of Climate Change on Microbial Biodiversity of Table Olives: Current Status and Trends.

Climate change is a global emergency that is affecting agriculture in Mediterranean countries, notably the production and the characteristics of the final products. This is the case of olive cultivars, a source of olive oil and table olives. Table olives are the most important fermented vegetables in the Mediterranean area, whose world production exceeds 3 million tons/year. Lactic acid bacteria and yeast are the main microorganisms responsible for the fermentation of this product. The microbial diversity and population dynamics during the fermentation process are influenced by several factors, such as the content of sugars and phenols, all of which together influence the quality and safety of the table olives. The composition of fruits is in turn influenced by environmental conditions, such as rainfall, temperature, radiation, and the concentration of minerals in the soil, among others. In this review, we discuss the effect of climate change on the microbial diversity of table olives, with special emphasis on Spanish and Portuguese cultivars. The alterations expected to occur in climate change scenario(s) include changes in the microbial populations, their succession, diversity, and growth kinetics, which may impact the safety and quality of the table olives. Mitigation and adaptation measures are proposed to safeguard the authenticity and sensorial features of this valuable fermented food while ensuring food safety requirements.

REGULATION OF FUNCTIONAL FOODS IN UKRAINE AND THE WORLD. PROSPECTS FOR THE USE OF POSTBIOTICS AS FUNCTIONAL INGREDIENTS

Functional food allows to individualize the characteristics and necessities of each person. Over the past few decades, the demand for products that have a positive impact on human health has exploded worldwide. The market for functional foods in developed countries is estimated at USD 300 billion, which makes this sector attractive for investment. Accordingly, the production of functional foods and ingredients needs to be regulated at the state level. There is no harmonization in the definitions of functional foods and their classification at both the global and state levels. Despite the fact that the concept and terminology of functional food and the means of achieving it is well-established, the term “functional food” is often absent in the legislative acts of countries that actively produce functional foods, and the term “health-related food” is used instead. As a rule, health-related foods are subject to quality and safety requirements that are identical to those of conventional food products. Exceptions are regulations that establish rules for labeling FFPs and statements regarding their physiological effects or the content of a particular ingredient that may affect physiological aspects. In Europe and the USA, much attention is paid to the safety of “health-related food” and the novel food products. European Food Safety Authority and the US Food and Drug Administration require sponsors to submit information on the composition of multiple batches of a product to support safety evaluations for novel foods and Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) ingredients. In Ukraine, the legal status of the terms “functional food product” and dietary supplement was regulated by Law of Ukraine 771 “On Basic Principles and Requirements for Food Safety and Quality”, but in the version of this law dated 16.01.2020, this term was excluded, the term “dietary supplement” was edited and the term “novel food product or ingredient” was included, which is related to the process of harmonization of Ukrainian and European legislation in the food sector. In 2020, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine approved Order No. 1145 “On Approval of the Requirements for Nutrition Claims and Health Claims for Food Products”, which regulates the following concepts: claims and conditions for their use; health claims allowed to be used in food labeling and advertising, except for claims about reducing the risk of diseases and claims related to the development and health of children; claims about reducing the risk of diseases and claims related to the development and health of children. Unfortunately, Ukrainian regulations do not contain claims and conditions for the use of claims about pro- and prebiotics that have GRAS status worldwide. Particular attention should be paid to the possibility of using postbiotics as functional food ingredients with immunological activity.

Potential quorum-sensing inhibitor of Hafnia alvei H4-theaflavin-3,3´-digallate analyzed by virtual screening and molecular simulation.

Hafnia species can cause food spoilage via the quorum-sensing (QS) system. Thus, strategies that target QS in these bacteria might be a good approach to safeguard the quality of processed food. In this study, the amino acid sequence of the LasI Ha protein, a key QS regulator from Hafnia alvei H4, was used to construct its 3D structure for the virtual screening of potential QS inhibitors (QSIs) from the Bioactive Compound database. Four potential QSIs were obtained, and these were all theaflavins (TFs). Among them, theaflavin-3,3´-digallate (TF3) was found to outperform the others, displaying a higher docking score according to molecular docking analysis, and required only a sub-minimal inhibitory concentration (31.25 mM) to cause a significant decrease in the production of the autoinducer N-acyl homoserine lactone in H. alvei H4 and up to 60.5% inhibition of its motility. Furthermore, molecular simulation results indicated that TF3 could stably bind to a cavity within LasI Ha to form stable hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions with various key residues of the protein to exert the inhibitory effect. Thus, TF3 may be considered a potential compound to protect against food spoilage caused by H. alvei H4 via the quorum quenching. IMPORTANCE Hafnia alvei, the main strain studied in this paper, is often isolated from spoiled foods, especially refrigerated protein-based raw foods, and is generally considered to be a spoilage bacterium whose spoilage-causing properties may be closely related to its own very strong population-sensing activity, so the strategy of quorum quenching against H. alvei H4 may be a good way to guarantee the quality of processed foods. Given the current global requirements for food safety and quality, coupled with negative consumer perceptions of the excessive inclusion of synthetic chemicals in food products, the use of natural compounds as QSIs in the storage of aquatic food products would seem more attractive.