Reports of foodborne outbreaks have increased in the last decade, posing a public health risk to consumers. In an attempt to mitigate this risk, the newly established Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA) takes a preventive rather than reactive approach to food safety. Under FSMA, producers are required to validate...
Butter has long been the premium choice for producing pastries such as Danish and croissants. Its inclusion has consistently delivered characteristically light and airy crumbs with beautifully flaky crust. Once considered a delicacy, pastries have now become innocuous in our everyday lives. Once requiring a skillful hand to sculpt and...
Tree nuts have been implicated in a number of foodborne outbreaks and recalls in recent years linked to enteric pathogens, particularly Salmonella. Therefore, prior to distribution and marketing, it is necessary to understand the biological risks associated with the consumption of tree nuts and to find effective methods to inactivate...
Cheese has been produced since ancient times and continues to be an important nutrient-dense staple in many diets around the world. Cheese quality is of high importance to consumers, and it is important for cheese producers to establish process controls to prevent and control cheese spoilage. Fungal spoilage is of...
Staphylococcus aureus is a human pathogen capable of producing enterotoxins causing staphylococcal food poisoning, one of the most economically important foodborne diseases in the U.S. This pathogen may be introduced to pre-cooked tuna meat used for the production of canned tuna because significant manual handling occurs after cooking of the...
Kappa-casein glycomacropeptide (CMP), a 64-amino-acid peptide, is released from kappa-casein after rennet treatment and is one of the major peptides in whey protein isolate (WPI). CMP has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities. CMP has two major amino acid sequences with different modifications including glycosylation, phosphorylation and oxidation. However, no previous work...
Mold growth on cheddar-style cheese, though not a food safety issue, causes significant loss to the industry due to consumer rejection. For this reason, it is common for at-risk products, such as cheese shreds, to be coated with the mold inhibitor natamycin. While highly effective at extending shelf-life, preferences for...
Sheep are seasonally polyestrus, which means they do exhibit estrus and ovulation during the short daylight (breeding season) and do not during the long daylight (nonbreeding season). To stimulate the ewes to ovulate during the nonbreeding season, various hormonal treatments have been used. PG-600 contains both equine chorionic gonadotropin and...