Journal of Food Quality and Hazards Control

1

Authors: E. Mortaz1, S.S. Athari2

Pickled foods in Middle Eastern countries are usually salty. The manufacture of pickles involves many chemi-cal reactions. Pickling can preserve food for several months, because acidic marinades inhibit the growth of bacteria and fungi. Pickling was developed to allow foodstuffs to be used out of season. On the other hand, the taste of pickles is valued. Pickle consumption is rela-tively high in cold weather (Akcay et al., 2014; Woods et al., 2003). People with asthma must be cautious when consuming pickles. Acidic steam from vinegar can cause severe asthmatic attacks. Moreover, pickles and condiments can seriously injure the gastrointestinal system (Akcay et al., 2014). Acidic blood can be neutralized by alkalis. If pick-les are consumed, alkaline minerals may be recovered from storage in the body, notably calcium from the bones. This can diminish the body’s reserve of calcium. Heavy consumption of pickled foods can lead to osteopo-rosis in postmenopausal women and in people who have, or are prone to develop kidney stones. In the elderly, heavy consumption of pickled foods may lead to weak-ness of the respiratory and nervous systems. It may in-duce severe coughing which could lead to asthma (Bracken et al., 2002; Rosenkranz et al., 2012; Subbarao et al., 2009). Pickles stimulate the secretion of digestive enzymes, increasing the rate of digestion. This can in-crease food intake, leading to obesity. Pickles are salty, limiting their value for patients with renal failure, cardio- vascular disease or high blood pressure, and for smokers. In general, the consumption of pickles is likely to present risks to people with respiratory disorders such as asthma, and to those with gastrointestinal disorders

4

Authors: R. Latorre1, J. Sadeghinezhad2, B. Hajimohammadi3, F. Izadi3*, M.T. Sheibani2

Background: Nowadays, there is an increase of meat and animal carcass consumption worldwide. Due to the economic value of meat, the likelihood of using unauthorized tis-sue is possible in meat products. Based on these observations, the aim of the present study was to apply morphological method for detection of unauthorized tissues in pro-cessed meat products. Methods: In this study, a total of 20 samples of different types of processed meat prod-ucts including Kabab Loghme (n=5), sausage (n=5), handmade hamburger (n=5) and Kabab Koobideh (n=5) were randomly collected from restaurants and supermarkets in Iran. The samples were divided into three parts and then, one piece was taken from each part for the histological study. The tissues were fixed in 10% neutral-buffered formalin and were dehydrated and embedded in paraffin and routinely processed for light micros-copy. The paraffin-embedded blocks were cut into 6 μm sections and stained using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) for histological study. Results: The skeletal muscle tissues were visible clearly in all samples. A wide range of unauthorized tissues have been detected including connective tissue (n=20), gizzard (n=2), adipose tissue (n=7), soya (n=11), cartilage (n=5) and ovary (n=1). Conclusion: The present study showed the use of unauthorized tissues in Iranian pro-cessed meat products which were detectable by histological method. Therefore, histolog-ical technique may be a simple and economic tool for evaluation of the meat adulteration and to improve hygiene and meat quality.

5

Authors: I. Azevedo, H. Albano, J. Silva, P. Teixeira*

Background: Multidrug resistant Enterobacteriaceae which was confined to the hospital environments is now emerging in the domestic food related environments as well. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of antibiotic re-sistant Enterobacteriaceae in the domestic food related environments. Methods: Resistance to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, tetracy-cline, nalidixic acid, nitrofurantoin, and trimethoprim was evaluated in 125 isolates; col-lected in domestic food related environments using agar micro dilution method. Results: Results indicated that 49.6% of the isolates were resistant to at least one antibi-otic (32.8% to ampicillin, 6.4% to nitrofurantoin, 4% to tetracycline, 3.2% to nalidixic acid, 2.4% to chloramphenicol and 1.7% to trimethoprim). Resistance to multiple antibi-otics was observed in 6.4% of the isolates. Conclusion: This study implicates existence of antibiotic resistant Enterobactericeae in the domestic food related environments. This resistance phenomenon requires continual vigilance; and further studies are required to evaluate the role of domestic surfaces in the transmission of resistant pathogens and spread of infectious diseases

5

Authors: A. Ehsani1, M. Hashemi2

Background: The presence of antibacterial drug residues in food caused many concerns for consumers. This study was designed to determine of antibacterial drug residues in commercial eggs distributed in Urmia, Iran. Methods: Disc diffusion microbial inhibition test was performed using three media seeded with Bacillus subtilis at different pH values (6, 7.2 or 8) and a fourth medium seeded with Micrococcus luteus. Two hundred commercial eggs were collected random-ly and examined for antibacterial drug residues. Standard solutions of antibiotics were used as control. Results: The results of this study revealed that twenty five samples (12.5%) of the pre-pared eggs were positive for antibacterial substances and all of them were related to macrolides group. Conclusion: The presence of these residues in eggs could cause health hazards like hy-persensitivity reaction, development of resistant organisms to these antibacterial agents, destruction of gastrointestinal natural flora, etc. In conclusion, the antibiotic residues in commercial eggs have to be monitored as routine test due to their side effects on human health

6

Authors: M.R. Koushki1, M.H. Azizi2*, M. Azizkhani1, P. Koohy-Kamaly1

Background: Environmental problems of the plastic materials used in food packaging and the demand for food quality improvements lead to the development of packaging in natural materials. Edible films such as calcium alginate extend the shelf life by acting as a selective barrier against moisture and oxygen. The main objective of this study was to explore a calcium alginate based edible film to improve the quality and extend the shelf life of food products. Methods: Tests of physical properties including water vapor permeability (WVP) and oxygen transmission rate (OTR) and mechanical properties including tensile strength (TS) and elongation at break (E) of two calcium alginate based formulations (dextrose monohydrate based and maltodextrin based) were done in triplicate. Data were investi-gated using SPSS (16.0). Significant differences in the results were detected by the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: There was no significant difference in mechanical properties and WVP of these two formulations, though WVP values related to the dextrose monohydrate based formu-lation were slightly higher than those of the maltodextrin based formulation. A signifi-cant decrease was observed in OTR of the maltodextrin based formulation compared to the dextrose monohydrate based formulation. Conclusion: There was no significant difference in mechanical properties (TS and E) and WVP between these two formulations; however, a significant reduction was ob-served in OTR of the maltodextrin based formulation compared to the dextrose monohy-drate based formulation. Therefore, the last was more suitable as a barrier to oxygen.