British Food Journal Volume 30 Issue 11 1928

Chemical food preservatives are extensively found in various processed food products in the human environment. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the effect of long-term exposure to five food preservatives (potassium sorbate (PS), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), sodium benzoate (SB), calcium propionate (CP), and boric acid (BA)) on the liver and kidney in rats and the probable underlying mechanisms. For 90 days, sixty male albino rats were orally given either water (control), 0.09 mg/kg b.wt BHA, 4.5 mg/kg b.wt PS, 0.9 mg/kg b.wt SB, 0.16 mg/kg b.wt BA, or 0.18 mg/kg b.wt CP. Liver and kidney function tests were assessed. Hepatic and renal oxidative stress biomarkers were estimated. Histologic examination analysis of liver and kidney tissues was achieved. Toll-like receptors 2 and 4 (TLR-2 and TLR-4), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) mRNA expression levels were measured. The results revealed that long-term oral dosing of the five food preservatives resulted in significant increases in alkaline phosphatase, alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, urea, uric acid, and creatinine levels. There were significant reductions in hepatic and renal antioxidant enzymes, an increase in MDA concentrations, and pathological alterations in renal and hepatic tissues. The mRNA levels of TLR-4, TLR-2, NF-κB, and TNF-α were elevated in the food preservatives-exposed groups. Conclusively, the current findings revealed that long-term exposure to PS, BHA, SB, CP, and BA has a negative impact on liver and kidney function. Furthermore, these negative effects could be mediated via oxidative stress induction, inflammatory reactions, and cytokine production.

Micronutrients in Parenteral Nutrition: Boron, Silicon, and Fluoride

The current study aimed to identify the phenomenon of food poisoning, its prevalence and impact on the disease cases that passed through the health centers in the municipalities of Qasr Al-Akhyar and Al-Qarabulli, especially after the talk about the presence of many cases of food poisoning in some Libyan cities on social media pages and some media channels. This study focused on the category of doctors, pharmacists and laboratory technicians as they are the most knowledgeable and aware of such cases. This study relied on the information collected through the questionnaire distributed to the aforementioned category in the health centers of the two municipalities. The results were extracted through the questionnaire, which indicated the presence of widespread food poisoning cases in the two municipalities, and their effects varied between mild, moderate and severe. The spread of food poisoning cases was due to poor food control and lack of consumer awareness. The results also showed that summer is the season with the most frequent cases of food poisoning, perhaps one of the reasons for this is the spoilage of food due to the frequent power outages in recent years. Accordingly, we reached many results in this study, through which we must clarify the importance of preserving consumer health by providing protection and control over all food sources, whether local or imported, while urging consumer awareness. The dangers of contaminated food are being raised through official media channels and social media pages.

Food not hygienically prepared and served is: harmful to health — food poisoning causes discomfort and illness, and, in serious cases, death disastrous for business — even the best established reputation can be wiped out by the publicity resulting from a case of food poisoning, or a bad report by the Environmental Health Officer (EHO).

Foods are exposing to infection with different types of pathogenic bacteria and fungi, and the emergence of many epidemics and cases of food poisoning in various regions of the world, particularly in developing countries. The article includes, causes of food disease, which is happening as a result of eating toxic substances with food that may be of microbial origin (bacteria, fungi, parasites, viruses), animal, plant or chemical origin, which generates food poisoning. Microbial poisoning may result either from ingestion of microorganism toxins like Staphylococcus aureus or as a result of infection like Campylobacter jejuni also, some cases of food poisoning with some types of bacteria may recover without the need for medical intervention like S. aureus, and others may be fatal even in low concentrations with a high mortality rate, such as Cl.botulinum. The article also, reviewed the dangers of mycotoxins as a global concern and more dangerous than bacterial toxins, as they have a cumulative toxic effect that does not appear until years later, and responsible for many different cancers. It is also impossible to avoid food contamination with mycotoxins even with the use of high technologies in food processing, and the best solution lies in preventing the growth of toxic molds that secrete these toxins on food, by using Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).

Background and Aim:Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) is the most common serotype involved in food poisoning. The aim of this study was to develop immunoassay detection methods using a recombinant enterotoxin B antigen protein to produce recombinant polyclonal antibodies in vivo.Materials and Methods:Staphylococcus aureus isolated from a food poisoning case (strain JH5800) was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and confirmed to contain a seb gene of 477 bp. A SEB segment was amplified, cloned, sequenced, and aligned. The PCR product corresponding to the predicted mature SEB peptide was inserted into Escherichia coli BL21 (DE-3) expression vector and expressed as a hexahistidine-SEB fusion protein. Antiserum against recombinant SEB protein was produced by immunization of Balb/c mice.Results:In the indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), the polyclonal antibodies produced had a titer of 1:3200. The seb gene of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from a poisoning case (JH5800) had a molecular size of about 477 bp and a band of recombinant SEB toxin was observed at approximately 30 kDa on SDS-PAGE gel. The polyclonal anti-SEB antibody titer, as revealed by indirect ELISA, was 1:3200 at 59 days.Conclusion:SEB recombinant protein could be used to produce polyclonal antibodies. ELISA and Western blotting were used to analyze the specificity and sensitivity of the recombinant polyclonal antibodies. Polyclonal antibodies produced could be used to detect SEB on a large-scale.

The Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the use of preservatives and colouring matters in the preservation and colouring of food, have now issued their report, and the large amount of evidence which is recorded therein will be found to be of the greatest interest to those concerned in striving to obtain a pure and unsophisticated food‐supply. It is of course much to be regretted that the Committee could not see their way to recommend the prohibition of all chemical preservatives in articles of food and drink; but, apart from this want of strength, they have made certain recommendations which, if they become law, will greatly improve the character of certain classes of food. It is satisfactory to note that formaldehyde and its preparations may be absolutely prohibited in foods and drinks; but, on the other hand, it is suggested that salicylic acid may be allowed in certain proportions in food, although in all cases its presence is to be declared. The entire prohibition of preservatives in milk would be a step in the right direction, although it is difficult to see why, in view of this recommendation, boric acid should be allowed to the extent of 0·25 per cent. in cream, more especially as by another recommendation all dietetic preparations intended for the use of invalids or infants are to be entirely free from preservative chemicals; but it will be a severe shock to tho3e traders who are in the habit of using these substances to be informed that they must declare the fact of the admixture by a label attached to the containing vessel. The use of boric acid and borax only is to be permitted in butter and margarine, in proportions not exceeding 0·5 per cent. expressed as boric acid, without notification. It is suggested that the use of salts of copper in the so‐called greening of vegetables should not be allowed, but upon this recommendation the members of the Committee were not unanimous, as in a note attached to the report one member states that he does not agree with the entire exclusion of added copper to food, for the strange reason that certain foods may naturally contain traces of copper. With equal truth it can be said that certain foods may naturally contain traces of arsenic. Is the addition of arsenic therefore to be permitted? The Committee are to be congratulated upon the result of their labours, and when these recommendations become law Great Britain may be regarded as having come a little more into line— although with some apparent reluctance—with those countries who regard the purity of their food‐supplies as a matter of national importance.

THE report of the English departmental committee on the use of preservatives in foods contains voluminous evidence on the harmful nature of most of the antiseptics employed in commerce. It was issued in 1901, and among its recommendations one finds that the use of any preservative in milk should be constituted a punishable offence. It, however, makes an exception in the case of butter and cream, which are substances taken in relatively small amounts, and allowed 0.5 per cent. of boric acid in the former, and 0.25 per cent. in the latter case.

Since the incident at Westminster Abbey last Christmas, Scottish nationalistic pride, or self‐consciousness, has been widely advertised. In many respects the existence of that attitude of mind does no harm to His Majesty's subjects in England and Wales. But now a genuine grievance against the Scots—which has existed for some years, though few people have been aware of it—has at last received publicity. It arises from the fact that several of the provisions of the Food and Drugs Act, 1938, do not apply to Scotland—doubtless because the Scots had represented that they would be unacceptable. Among those provisions was Section 101, which incorporated with the Act the whole body of regulations, including those relating to preservatives in food, which had been made in pursuance of the Public Health Acts. Similar Regulations, it is true, do apply in Scotland, but a breach of them is an offence, not under the Act of 1938, but under the Food and Drugs (Adulteration) Act of 1928, which is wholly repealed so far as England and Wales are concerned. Recently the Corporation of Blackburn persuaded the local justices to convict a company, registered and trading in Scotland, of an offence against the Act of 1938 on the ground that boric acid had been found in biscuits manufactured by the company in Scotland and sold to a Blackburn retailer. The Scottish company was not prosecuted by the Blackburn Corporation but was brought in under s. 83(1) by a previous defendant. Counsel for the defence took the points that a Scottish firm cannot be haled before an English Court in respect of an alleged offence which, if it was committed at all (which was disputed), was committed in Scotland, where the Food and Drugs Act, 1938, is not in force. Incidentally it may be observed that the presence of boric acid in the biscuits was due to the use of margarine containing not more than the permitted percentage of the preservative. The magistrates chose to convict the Scottish company as the person to whose act or default a contravention of the provisions of the English Act was due. On appeal to the Divisional Court, the conviction has now been annulled, primarily on the ground that the Blackburn bench had no jurisdiction to hear a summons against the Scottish company. Section 83, like many other sections of the Act of 1938, does not apply to Scotland, except with respect to prosecutions under the Orders made by the Minister of Food under. Defence Regulations—for example, the various Food Standards Orders and the Labelling of Food Order. (See particularly Regulation 7(3) of the Defence (Sale of Food) Regulations, 1943, and Article 15(c) of the Labelling of Food Order, 1946.) Still, if Scotsmen insist on not being subject to the English food laws as a whole, it would be unreasonable for them to expect that those who sell food in England and Wales should be willing to be deprived of the safeguards which the Act of 1938 confers on innocent dealers who have been let down by their suppliers. The Scots may find that English retailers of food will boycott Scottish products. Provided always that nothing in this Article shall be deemed to apply to the sale or purchase for human consumption in England or Wales of the article of food distilled in Scotland and commonly known as Scotch or Scottish Whisky, if the food is so described in an invoice or on a label bearing the name and address of the distiller. The point of which proviso is to show that I am not such a nitwit as to think that anything that I write will deter or discourage any Englishman from acquiring a bottle of Scotch if he knows where and how he can get it.

This study suggests the possibilities of misdiagnosis in the investigations of food poisoning by <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> and bacillus cereus with <i>kudoa septempuctata</i>.

THE Ministry of Health has issued a memorandum on the steps to be taken by medical officers of health (outside London) in suspected cases of food poisoning (Memo. 188/Med.). The two classes of food poisoning are dealt with—contamination of food by poisonous chemicals and bacterial infections of food, which are far more frequent. Directions are given outlining the methods of investigating outbreaks, the collection of material for chemical or bacteriological examination, and method of packing and transmission to the Ministry, with hints on the chemical or bacteriological examination. In an appendix, a scheme is outlined for the routine inquiry into outbreaks of poisoning by meat foods, and in a second appendix valuable details are given for the isolation and identification of the bactera (Salmonella) concerned in bacterial food poisoning.

A Microbiological hazards are associated with cases of food poisoning, with the most recent outbreak reported in 2023 in the Bantar Gebang area of South Bekasi, where two people died. Other food safety hazards include physical and chemical hazards. Food safety is often overlooked by PKK members, even though mothers are typically responsible for managing household food. The selection of food ingredients becomes increasingly difficult with the growing availability of unsafe food products. Additionally, there are issues with food handling and processing. The partner for this Community Service Program (PKM) is the PKK group of RW 013, Jakamulya, South Bekasi. The problem identified among the partners is a gap in their in-depth knowledge of household food safety, despite their role as household food managers. The proposed solution is to conduct a household food safety awareness program. The proposed activities include, first, a situation analysis; second, planning; third, socialization of household food safety; and fourth, evaluation. The results of the awareness program indicate a 42% increase in knowledge. A 0.9% improvement in positive attitudes towards household food safety was also observed. Participants expressed that the activities were beneficial for mothers in their roles as household food managers.

When people spend their money on meals away from home, they expect to have a good quality food with an acceptable level of hygiene, which eliminates food borne illness. Previous studies revealed that cases of food poisoning are found everywhere in the world and many of them were found to be stemmed from restaurant organizations, causing great damages to the health of hospitality consumers, hence, affect customer satisfaction. In Nigeria past studies found poor level of awareness and compliance with hygiene regulations among hospitality operations in the country. It was therefore pertinent to find out the effects of poor food hygiene compliance on customer satisfaction. However, past studies noted cleanliness has an influence on customer satisfaction. These studies were conducted in Asia, America and Europe. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the influence of food hygiene practices on customer satisfaction in restaurant of registered hotels in Kano state, Nigeria, so as to provide a platform for better understanding of the two constructs in African setting and help policy makers to make policies that would ensure compliance with hygiene laws and regulations by restaurants operations. The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive survey design approach using semi-structured Likert Scale type questionnaire to collect data and targeted (80) restaurants of registered hotels in Kano State and 384 restaurants’ customers. Proportional stratified and simple random samplings were used to select eight (8) restaurants of registered hotels. Fisher formula of sample size was used to sample 252 customers from eight (8) restaurants of registered hotels in Kano which constituted the sampling frame. Descriptive statistics was employed to analyze quantitative data.It was found that, unlike ‘There is absence of the taste of detergent or soapy material in the dish or food ordered in this restaurant," which the customers disagreed with (mean score 2.7917, SD1.635), the customers were satisfied with all other parameters set to measure the influence of food hygiene on customers satisfaction in the restaurants of registered hotels in Kano. It was therefore recommended that restaurants of registered hotels in Kano should handle food and service equipment correctly so as to prevent contamination. This can be achieved through the incorporation of food hygiene practices throughout the food service process, with an emphasis on wash-up (utensils) in order to avoid food and chemical residue on the service equipment that may contaminate the food, resulting in food poisoning, customer complaints, customer dissatisfaction, and huge legal costs in the event the restaurants are sued

There has been a shift in food trends in Korea, due to an increase in income and changes in interest. Korean people have begun to prefer natural foods rather than artificial foods. Consumption patterns have shifted to a new culture called “Well-being” or “Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability”, and most consumers are demanding more fresh raw foods rather than processed foods. South Korean consumers consider that minimally processed vegetables have a beneficial effect on health. [Kim et al., 2006; El bieta et al., 2008; Urszula, 2008]. In Korea, large scale food poisoning outbreaks at school cafeterias and food service operations is increasing. According to a report from the Korea Food and Drug Administration in 2007, most cases of food poisoning in South Korea were caused by poor sanitation in cafeterias [KFDA, 2007]. Therefore improvement of cafeteria hygiene is necessary for many cafeterias and restaurants. Reports of food poisoning outbreaks over the 5 years has shown that the number of people affected has increased from 135 people in 2003 to 510 people in 2007 [Bae et al., 2006; KFDA, 2008] technically feasible and economically manageable solution to this serious problem is needed. Controlling microorganisms that cause food-borne illnesses is important in food safety, and increasing attention is being paid to physical, chemical, and biological methods for controlling food-borne pathogenic microorganisms, especially in food processing plants [Mackey and Derrick, 1979; Dickson, 1991]. Physical methods include high-voltage pulsed electric fields [Qin et al., 1995; Kim et al., 2003], oscillating magnetic fields, high hydrostatic pressures [Kalchayanand et al., 1994], sonication, ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, and microwave treatments [Shin and Pyun, 1997]. Chemical methods include the use of disinfectants and sanitizers, such as alcoholic compounds [Shin et al., 2001], quaternary ammonium compounds, iodine, acid/alkali solutions, [Yeon et al., 2006], and surfactants. Most food processing plants tend to use chemical methods due to greater convenience and lower cost. The use of chemical disinfectants is expected to increase in order to reduce the incidence of food poisoning associated with contact surfaces in cafeterias and other food-processing facilities. As of July 2007 there were 176 chemical sanitizers and disinfectants legally registered by the Korea Food and Drug Administration [KFDA, 2007] with standard methods. UV irradiation is an important physical procedure for water, tableware and kitchen utensil disinfection. The number of establishments using UV disinfection applications has been increasing [Oppenheimer et al., 1997; Rajala et al., 1997; Lazarova et al., 1998; Liberti and Notarnicola, 1999; Collivignarelli et al., 2000; Liberti et al., 2000; Lee et al., 2007]. UV disinfection typically kills bacterial spores, bacteria, and viruses, without leaving chemical residues. UV irradiation includes the electromagnetic radiation spectrum from 100 to 400 nm and is divided into UV-A (320-400 nm), UV-B (280-320 nm), and UV-C (280-100 nm) [Guerrero-Beltran and Barbosa-Canovas, 2004]. UV-C is considered to be germicidal against organisms where the highest germicidal effect is achieved between 250 and 280 nm. The maximum wavelength of 253-254 nm is normally used for disinfection of water, cooking utensil surfaces, various food surfaces, and liquid foods [Guerrero-Beltran and Barbosa-Canovas, 2005]. The advantages of UV-C are it is a non-thermal treatment, it has no unpleasant odor, and it has a low energy requirement when applied to foods, utensils, and water. The primary goals of this study were to evaluate the efficacy of UV irradiation disinfection techniques against z ·

For some years past a strenuous campaign has been conducted by the concern which practically controls the borax supply in this country, with the object of removing the very natural objection which the public has to the use of borax and boron compounds as food preservatives. The arguments for and against the use of these chemicals in foodstuffs have invariably centered about the question of their effect on the human system. That boron compounds would inhibit the growth of bacteria in meat has been tacitly assumed by both their champions and opponents, the point of dispute being the harmfulness of the chemicals<i>per se</i>. It now seems that it is by no means certain that boric acid, in the proportions usually used, will inhibit the growth of the most dangerous bacteria. In view of the light which it throws on this question, an article on "A New Aspect of the