Implementation of a food safety management system: a practical guide for micro-companies / Implementación de un sistema de gestión de seguridad alimentaria: una guía práctica para microempresas

Food system is continuously exposed to several safety hazards throughout manufacturing processes. Consequently, the understanding of these mechanisms, the likelihood of their occurrence, and the consequences involves the implementation of an appropriate risk assessment program. Hazard Analysis and Safety Critical Control Points (HACCP) is a powerful tool for self-control system which is fundamental to adapt the requirements of each sector and size of a company but however, is currently limited it at industrial level. In fact, as a result to its flexible application, the recommendations at European level for companies with less than 10 workers focused on a food safety management system (FSMS) based on the principles of good hygiene and manufacturing practices. Therefore, in order to help companies implementing self-monitoring systems, several reference guides have been created under the supervision of health authorities. For this purpose, the aim of these study was to create an abbreviated guide as an introduction to self-control in food safety for spanish micro-enterprises. It is presented as a summary of each prerequisite focused solely on understanding the meaning and documentation necessary to implement it. To carry out the research, European legislation and the main guides at national level, particularly from autonomous communities were took into account. Starting from this information, was provided a classification of the main plans related to prerequisites for hygiene and traceability fulfilling. Moreover, indications concerning the documentation which should be prepared for each one of the prerequisites was detailed. (AU)

El sistema alimentario está continuamente expuesto a varios riesgos de seguridad a lo largo de los procesos de fabricación. En consecuencia, la comprensión de estos mecanismos, la probabilidad de su ocurrencia y las consecuencias implica la implementación de un programa adecuado de evaluación de riesgos. El Análisis de Peligros y Puntos Críticos de Control de Seguridad (APPCC) es una poderosa herramienta para el sistema de autocontrol que es fundamental para adaptar los requisitos de cada sector y tamaño de una empresa pero que, sin embargo, actualmente está limitado a nivel industrial. De hecho, como consecuencia de su aplicación flexible, las recomendaciones a nivel europeo para empresas de menos de 10 trabajadores se centraron en un sistema de gestión de la seguridad alimentaria (SGSA) basado en los principios de buenas prácticas de higiene y fabricación. Por ello, con el fin de ayudar a las empresas a implementar sistemas de autocontrol, se han elaborado varias guías de referencia bajo la supervisión de las autoridades sanitarias. Para ello, el objetivo de este estudio fue crear una guía abreviada como introducción al autocontrol en seguridad alimentaria para microempresas españolas. Se presenta como un resumen de cada requisito previo enfocado únicamente en comprender el significado y la documentación necesaria para implementarlo. Para realizar la investigación se tuvo en cuenta la legislación europea y las principales guías a nivel nacional, en particular de las comunidades autónomas. A partir de esta información, se proporcionó una clasificación de los principales planes relacionados con los requisitos previos para el cumplimiento de la higiene y la trazabilidad. Además, se detallaron indicaciones sobre la documentación que se debe preparar para cada uno de los requisitos previos. (AU)

Assessment of single-nucleotide variant discovery protocols in RNA-seq data from human cells exposed to mycotoxins.

Food and feed contamination by nonlegislated mycotoxins beauvericin (BEA) and enniatin B (ENB) is a worldwide health concern in the present. The principal objective of this work is to assess some of the existing protocols to discover the single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in transcriptomic data obtained by RNA-seq from Jurkat cells in vitro samples individually exposed to BEA and ENB at three concentration levels (1.5, 3 and 5 µM). Moreover, previous transcriptomic results will be compared with new findings obtained using a different protocol. SNVs rs201003509 in BEA exposed cells and the rs36045790 in ENB were found in the differentially expressed genes in all doses compared to controls by means of the Genome Analysis Toolkit (GATK) Best Practices workflow. SNV-RNA-seq complementary pipeline did not show any SNV. Concerning gene expression, discrepant results were found for 1.5 µM BEA exposed cells compared with previous findings. However, 354 overlapped differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the three ENB concentrations used, with 147 matches with respect to the 245 DEGs found in the previous results. In conclusion, the two discovery SNVs protocols based on variant calling from RNA-seq used in this work displayed very different results and there were SNVs found manually not identified by any pipeline. Additionally, the new gene expression analysis reported comparable but non identical DEGs to the previous transcriptomic results obtained from these RNA-seq data.

Multi-mycotoxin occurrence in feed, metabolism and carry-over to animal-derived food products: A review.

The world requests for raw materials used in animal feed has been steadily rising in the last years driven by higher demands for livestock production. Mycotoxins are frequent toxic metabolites present in these raw materials. The exposure of farm animals to mycotoxins could result in undesirable residues in animal-derived food products. Thus, the potential ingestion of edible animal products (milk, meat and fish) contaminated with mycotoxins constitutes a public health concern, since they enter the food chain and may cause adverse effects upon human health. The present review summarizes the state-of-the-art on the occurrence of mycotoxins in feed, their metabolism and carry-over into animal source foodstuffs, focusing particularly on the last decade. Maximum levels (MLs) for various mycotoxins have been established for a number of raw feed materials and animal food products. Such values are sometimes exceeded, however. Aflatoxins (AFs), fumonisins (FBs), ochratoxin A (OTA), trichothecenes (TCs) and zearalenone (ZEN) are the most prevalent mycotoxins in animal feed, with aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) predominating in milk and dairy products, and OTA in meat by-products. The co-occurrence of mycotoxins in feed raw materials tends to be the rule rather than the exception, and the carry-over of mycotoxins from feed to animal source foods is more than proven.

Bioaccessibility and bioavailability of bioactive compounds from yellow mustard flour and milk whey fermented with lactic acid bacteria.

Microbial fermentation with lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is a natural food biopreservation method. Yellow mustard and milk whey are optimum substrates for LAB fermentation. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of bioactive compounds from yellow mustard flour and milk whey both with and without LAB fermentation. All extracts were subjected to a simulated digestion process. Total polyphenols, DL-3-phenyllactic acid (PLA), lactic acid, and the antioxidant activity were determined in the studied matrices before and after simulated digestion. Yellow mustard flour was significantly richer in total polyphenols, whereas significantly higher concentrations of PLA and lactic acid were observed in milk whey. Similar antioxidant activity was determined in both ingredients being in all cases strongly reduced after in vitro digestion. Higher bioaccessibility was found for polyphenols and PLA in milk whey. Transepithelial transport of total polyphenols was higher in yellow mustard flour compared to milk whey, reaching bioavailability values between 3-7% and 1-2%, respectively. PLA transepithelial transport was only significant in both fermented matrices with bioavailability around 4-6%. Transepithelial transport of lactic acid reached values of 31-34% (bioavailability ∼ 22%) and 15-78% (bioavailability ∼ 3%) in milk whey and yellow mustard flour, respectively. LAB fermentation showed beneficial effects on enriching extracts with PLA, lactic acid, and antioxidant activity, as well as increasing bioaccessibility of these acids in yellow mustard flour and total polyphenol bioavailability in milk whey. Results pointed to yellow mustard flour and milk whey as natural preservative ingredients used in the food industry, especially when fermented with LAB.

Ochratoxin A: occurrence and carry-over in meat and meat by-products. A Review

Mycotoxins are common toxic metabolites present in cereals and vegetal raw materials, which are commonly included in animal feed. Ochratoxin A (OTA) has generally been detected in plant origin foodstuffs such as cereals, coffee, dried fruits, nuts, among others. However, it has been also detected in meat and meat by-products, especially those derived from pork, which is the most sensitive specie to OTA exposure. The exposure of farm animals to mycotoxins could lead to undesirable residues in food products of animal origin, which constitute an important part of daily diets. Thus, although contents reported in animal by-products are lower than those reported in products of vegetal origin, there is also a public health concern about the possible ingestion of edible animal products contaminated by mycotoxins, as their entry into the food chain may cause adverse effects on human health. No maximum levels have been set for OTA in animal by-products, although its presence in meat and meat products made from contaminated raw materials has been widely reported, reaching high levels in some cases. This review summarizes the state-of-the-art on the occurrence and the carry-over of OTA in meat products, especially focused on the last years

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A review of the mycotoxin adsorbing agents, with an emphasis on their multi-binding capacity, for animal feed decontamination.

Contamination of animal feed with mycotoxins still occurs very often, despite great efforts in preventing it. Animal feeds are contaminated, at low levels, with several mycotoxins, particularly with those produced by Aspergillus and Fusarium genera (Aflatoxin B1, Ochratoxin A, Zearalenone, Deoxynivalenol and Fumonisina B1). In animal feed, to date, only Aflatoxin B1 is limited through EU regulation. Consequently, mycotoxins cause serious disorders and diseases in farm animals. In 2009, the European Union (386/2009/EC) approved the use of mycotoxin-detoxifying agents, as feed additives, to prevent mycotoxicoses in farm animals. The present review gives an overview of the problem of multi-mycotoxin contamination of feed, and aims to classify mycotoxin adsorbing agents (minerals, organic, and synthetic) for feed decontamination, focusing on adsorbents with the ability to bind to multiple mycotoxins, which should have a more effective application in farms but they are still little studied in scientific literature.