Microbial Safety of Fermented Foods, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 10390

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. MED-Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & CHANGE-Global Change and Sustainability Institute, IIFA-Institute for Advanced Studies and Research, University of Évora, Évora, Portugal
2. Department of Veterinary Medicine, School of Sciences and Technology, University of Évora, Évora, Portugal
Interests: food microbiology; food science and technology; food fermentation; molecular biology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is the continuation of the previous Special Issue “Microbial Safety of Fermented Products”.

Fermented foods comprise very diverse fermented foods and beverages with a long history of worldwide importance for human nutrition, health, and our economy.

The main groups of fermented foods include the following: cereals (bread and sake); vegetables, fruits, and legumes (table olives, pickles, and vinegar); milk (cheese, yogurt, and kefir); meat and meat products (ham and sausages); fish products (anchovies and herring); and alcoholic beverages (wine and beer).

A huge diversity of indigenous microorganisms, mostly bacteria and yeasts, are associated with this vast variety of fermented foods. They not only differ according to the raw materials or the obtained final products, but also in their distinct fermentative behavior.

The microbial safety of these fermented foods is, however, menaced by the potential presence of microbial pathogens, which are included in the aforementioned microbial diversity. Pathogens may not only be harmful in themselves, but they may also cause harm through the toxins and other secondary products they release, such as mycotoxins or biogenic amines.

To assure the quality and safety of fermented foods, different approaches are not only needed to successfully control the indigenous microbiota and conduct fermentations, which include the use of a starter culture, but also to effectively preservative methodologies.

All manuscripts that fall under these specific topics are welcome.

Dr. Marta Laranjo
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 2741 KiB  
Article
Antibiofilm Efficacy of Quercetin against Vibrio parahaemolyticus Biofilm on Food-Contact Surfaces in the Food Industry
by Pantu Kumar Roy, Min Gyu Song, Eun Bi Jeon, Soo Hee Kim and Shin Young Park
Microorganisms 2022, 10(10), 1902; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10101902 - 25 Sep 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3482
Abstract
Vibrio parahaemolyticus, one of the most common foodborne pathogenic bacteria that forms biofilms, is a persistent source of concern for the food industry. The food production chain employs a variety of methods to control biofilms, although none are completely successful. This study [...] Read more.
Vibrio parahaemolyticus, one of the most common foodborne pathogenic bacteria that forms biofilms, is a persistent source of concern for the food industry. The food production chain employs a variety of methods to control biofilms, although none are completely successful. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of quercetin as a food additive in reducing V. parahaemolyticus biofilm formation on stainless-steel coupons (SS) and hand gloves (HG) as well as testing its antimicrobial activities. With a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 220 µg/mL, the tested quercetin exhibited the lowest bactericidal action without visible growth. In contrast, during various experiments in this work, the inhibitory efficacy of quercetin at sub-MICs levels (1/2, 1/4, and 1/8 MIC) against V. parahaemolyticus was examined. Control group was not added with quercetin. With increasing quercetin concentration, swarming and swimming motility, biofilm formation, and expression levels of target genes linked to flagellar motility (flaA, flgL), biofilm formation (vp0952, vp0962), virulence (VopQ, vp0450), and quorum-sensing (aphA, luxS) were all dramatically suppressed. Quercetin (0–110 μg/mL) was investigated on SS and HG surfaces, the inhibitory effect were 0.10–2.17 and 0.26–2.31 log CFU/cm2, respectively (p < 0.05). Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) corroborated the findings because quercetin prevented the development of biofilms by severing cell-to-cell contacts and inducing cell lysis, which resulted in the loss of normal cell shape. Additionally, there was a significant difference between the treated and control groups in terms of motility (swimming and swarming). According to our research, quercetin produced from plants should be employed as an antibiofilm agent in the food sector to prevent the growth of V. parahaemolyticus biofilms. These results indicate that throughout the entire food production chain, bacterial targets are of interest for biofilm reduction with alternative natural food agents in the seafood industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Safety of Fermented Foods, 2nd Edition)
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Review

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18 pages, 689 KiB  
Review
What Is Candida Doing in My Food? A Review and Safety Alert on Its Use as Starter Cultures in Fermented Foods
by Gilberto Vinícius de Melo Pereira, Bruna Leal Maske, Dão Pedro de Carvalho Neto, Susan Grace Karp, Juliano De Dea Lindner, José Guilherme Prado Martin, Bianca de Oliveira Hosken and Carlos Ricardo Soccol
Microorganisms 2022, 10(9), 1855; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10091855 - 16 Sep 2022
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 5903
Abstract
The use of yeasts as starter cultures was boosted with the emergence of large-scale fermentations in the 20th century. Since then, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been the most common and widely used microorganism in the food industry. However, Candida species have also been used [...] Read more.
The use of yeasts as starter cultures was boosted with the emergence of large-scale fermentations in the 20th century. Since then, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been the most common and widely used microorganism in the food industry. However, Candida species have also been used as an adjuvant in cheese production or as starters for coffee, cocoa, vegetable, meat, beer, and wine fermentations. A thorough screening of candidate Candida is sometimes performed to obtain the best performing strains to enhance specific features. Some commonly selected species include C. pulcherrima (teleomorph Metschnikowia pulcherrima) (wine), C. parapsilosis (teleomorph Monilia parapsilosis) (coffee), C. famata (teleomorph Debaryomyces hansenii) (cheese), and C. zeylanoides (teleomorph Kurtzmaniella zeylanoides) and C. norvegensis (teleomorph Pichia norvegensis) (cocoa). These species are associated with the production of key metabolites (food aroma formation) and different enzymes. However, safety-associated selection criteria are often neglected. It is widely known that some Candida species are opportunistic human pathogens, with important clinical relevance. Here, the physiology and metabolism of Candida species are addressed, initially emphasizing their clinical aspects and potential pathogenicity. Then, Candida species used in food fermentations and their functional roles are reported. We recommended that Candida not be used as food cultures if safety assessments are not performed. Some safety features are highlighted to help researchers choose methods and selection criteria. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Safety of Fermented Foods, 2nd Edition)
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