Marketing opportunities and challenges for locally raised meats: An online consumer survey in South Carolina

South Carolina livestock producers are expanding their operations to include local meat sales, with a sizeable number of farmers entering the market for the first time. Little is known about South Caro-lina's local meat consumers and their buying pref-erences. This study aims to identify the demo-graphic traits of local meat consumers, their pre-ferred local meat product attributes, their desired purchasing locations, and a range of prices con-sumers are willing to pay for local meat. This study surveyed 1,048 South Carolina meat consumers. Of these survey respondents, 741 had consumed local meat products within the last 12 months and 307 had not. Results indicate that local meat consumers tend to be younger, reside in larger households, have higher household incomes, and have greater educational attainment. They also may be more likely to be long-term residents of South Carolina. These consumers are willing to pay a 1% to 24% premium for local meats to be eaten at home and US$1.00 to US$1.99 more per entree for local meats at a restaurant. The most desirable attributes of local meat are hormone-free, all-natural, no anti-biotics, and grass-fed. The most popular buying locations are the grocery store, directly from farms, farmers markets, butcher shops, and online order-ing. Most consumers are unwilling to drive more than 20 miles (32 km) to purchase local meat. The study also uncovered barriers to consumers' will-ingness to purchase (or purchase more) local meats: product unavailability, high prices, food safety concerns, convenience, and ease of prepara-tion.

Recent advances on CRISPR/Cas system-enabled portable detection devices for on-site agri-food safety assay

Agri-food safety has been considered as one of the most important public concerns worldwide. From farm to table, food crops and foods are extremely vulnerable to the contamination by a variety of pollutants from their growth and processing. Moreover, the SARS-CoV-2 detected in the food supply chain during COVID-19 pandemic has posed a greater challenge for rapid and on-site detection of agri-food contaminants in complex and volatile environments. Therefore, the development of rapid, accurate, and on-site detection technologies and portable detection devices is of great importance to ensure the agri-food security. This review comprehensively summarized the recent advances on the construction of CRISPR/Cas systems-based biosensing technologies and their portable detection devices, as well as their promising applications in the field of agri-food safety. First of all, the classification and working principles of CRISPR/Cas systems were introduced. Then, the latest advances on the CRISPR/Cas system-based on-site detection technologies and portable detection devices were also systematically summarized. Most importantly, the state-of-the-art applications of CRISPR/Cas systems-based on-site detection technologies and portable detection devices in the fields of agri-food safety were comprehensively summarized. Impressively, the future opportunities and challenges in this emerging and promising field were proposed. Emerging CRISPR/Cas system-based on-site detection technologies have showed a great potential in the detection of agri-food safety. Impressively, the integration of CRISPR/Cas systems-based biosensing technologies with portable detection devices (e.g., nanopore-based detection devices, lateral flow assay, smartphone-based detection devices, and microfluidic devices) is very promising for the on-site detection of agri-food contaminants. Additionally, CRISPR/Cas system-based biosensing technologies can be further integrated with much more innovative technologies for the development of novel detection platforms to realize the more reliable on-site detection of agri-food safety.

Food Safety Compliance and Challenges of Micro Food Business Operators: Implications to COVID-19 Pandemic

The food safety compliance and challenges of micro–Food Business Operators (FBOs) that could impact COVID-19 are assessed in this study using the descriptive-comparative research design. The findings reveal that the sanitary conditions of utensils and equipment, the sanitary operations and facilities, the monitoring of time and temperatures, and the maintenance of the sanitary conditions in the facility need major improvement to increase food safety compliance and to contribute in mitigating the transmission of COVID-19. Minor improvements are needed in the handwashing facility, the implementation of the water potability program, Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures, personnel disease control, and hygienic practices. Moreover, the lack of technical knowledge and time to manage and continuously improve food safety system are the challenges experienced by the FBOs. These findings are instrumental to the improvement of the food safety practices, formulation of relevant policies, and conceptualization of research in mitigating COVID-19 relevant to food safety. © 2021, University of San Jose-Recoletos. All rights reserved.

Norovirus GII.3[P25] in Patients and Produce, Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, 2022.

An increase in acute gastroenteritis occurred in Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, during December 2021‒January 2022. Of the norovirus genotypes we identified in hospitalized patients and produce from local markets, genotype GII.3[P25] accounted for one third. We found no traceable link between patients and produce but found evidence of potential viral intake.

Magnetic Particle Spectroscopy for Point-of-Care: A Review on Recent Advances.

Since its first report in 2006, magnetic particle spectroscopy (MPS)-based biosensors have flourished over the past decade. Currently, MPS are used for a wide range of applications, such as disease diagnosis, foodborne pathogen detection, etc. In this work, different MPS platforms, such as dual-frequency and mono-frequency driving field designs, were reviewed. MPS combined with multi-functional magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have been extensively reported as a versatile platform for the detection of a long list of biomarkers. The surface-functionalized MNPs serve as nanoprobes that specifically bind and label target analytes from liquid samples. Herein, an analysis of the theories and mechanisms that underlie different MPS platforms, which enable the implementation of bioassays based on either volume or surface, was carried out. Furthermore, this review draws attention to some significant MPS platform applications in the biomedical and biological fields. In recent years, different kinds of MPS point-of-care (POC) devices have been reported independently by several groups in the world. Due to the high detection sensitivity, simple assay procedures and low cost per run, the MPS POC devices are expected to become more widespread in the future. In addition, the growth of telemedicine and remote monitoring has created a greater demand for POC devices, as patients are able to receive health assessments and obtain results from the comfort of their own homes. At the end of this review, we comment on the opportunities and challenges for POC devices as well as MPS devices regarding the intensely growing demand for rapid, affordable, high-sensitivity and user-friendly devices.

Potential Applications of Thermophilic Bacteriophages in One Health.

Bacteriophages have a wide range of applications such as combating antibiotic resistance, preventing food contamination for food safety, and as biomarkers to indirectly assess the quality of water. Additionally, bacteriophage components (endolysins and coat proteins) have a lot of applications in food processing, vaccine design, and the delivery of cargo to the body. Therefore, bacteriophages/components have a multitude of applications in human, plant/veterinary, and environmental health (One Health). Despite their versatility, bacteriophage/component use is mostly limited to temperatures within 4-40 °C. This limits their applications (e.g., in food processing conditions, pasteurization, and vaccine design). Advances in thermophilic bacteriophage research have uncovered novel thermophilic endolysins (e.g., ΦGVE2 amidase and MMPphg) that can be used in food processing and in veterinary medicine. The endolysins are thermostable at temperatures > 65 °C and have broad antimicrobial activities. In addition to thermophilic endolysins, enzymes (DNA polymerase and ligases) derived from thermophages have different applications in molecular biology/biotechnology: to generate DNA libraries and develop diagnostics for human and animal pathogens. Furthermore, coat proteins from thermophages are being explored to develop virus-like particle platforms with versatile applications in human and animal health. Overall, bacteriophages, especially those that are thermophilic, have a plethora of applications in One Health.

A universal CRISPR/Cas12a-powered intelligent point-of-care testing platform for multiple small molecules in the healthcare, environment, and food.

Growing studies focusing on nuclear acid detection via the emerging CRISPR technique demonstrate its promising application. However, limited works solve the identification of non-nucleic acid targets, especially multiple small molecules. To address challenges for point-of-care testing (POCT) in complex matrices for healthcare, environment, and food safety, we developed CRISPR Cas12a-powered highly sensitive, high throughput, intelligent POCT (iPOCT) for multiple small molecules based on a smartphone-controlled reader. As a proof of concept, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), and capsaicin (CAP) were chosen as multiple targets. First, three antigens were preloaded in independent microwells. Then, the antibody/antigen-induced fluorescent signals were consecutively transferred from the biotin-streptavidin to CRISPR/Cas12a system. Third, the fluorescent signals were recorded by a smartphone-controlled handheld dark-box readout. Under optimization, detection limits in AFB1, BaP, and CAP were 0.00257, 4.971, and 794.6 fg/mL with wide linear ranges up to four orders of magnitude. Using urine, water, soybean oil, wheat, and peanuts as the complex matrix, we recorded high selectivity, considerable recovery, repeatability, and high consistency comparison to HPLC-MS/MS methods. This work promises a practical intelligent POCT platform for multiple targets in lipid-soluble and water-soluble matrices and could be extensively applied for healthcare, environment, and food safety.