Assessment of food safety knowledge, attitude, practices of food handlers and microbial contamination in foods at the canteens of a University in Pakistan.

Developing nations are striving to assure food safety that rely mainly upon handling procedures. The current study focused upon the understanding level and practices of food handlers working at various canteens of University of the Punjab, Quid-i-Azam campus, Lahore. Different canteens were selected where 300 different food handlers were judged for their approach towards food safety through a closed ended questionnaire. Samples of different food products were also taken randomly for their microbiological safety evaluation. The whole data was analyzed using chi-square to assess the proportion of correct and incorrect responses among various parameters. The non-significant variation was observed among the knowledge, attitude and practices scores of university and its hostels' canteens food handlers. Overall, 60% of the responses were correct from the university and hostel canteens food handlers. Similarly, 50-60% of the responses regarding attitude and practices were correct from the university and hostel canteen food handlers. With many technical flaws, these food handlers showed moderate level of knowledge. Not only apprentices but the supervisors too, lacked the basic knowledge of temperature as major factor creating potential food safety threats. Lack of knowledge about personal hygiene and workplace sanitation were few contributing factors towards heedless behavior. Incidence of Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus contamination in food samples was found 29% and 57%, respectively, while 35% food samples were found contaminated with E. coli. It further exposed the negligence, emphasizing proper training of employees as part and parcel of food safety procedures. It was concluded that more training programs along with periodic validation of food manufacturing standards are required to ensure food safety. Furthermore, strict surveillance and implementation of GMPs by the administrative authorities are needed to safeguard the consumers' health.

Enzymatic, Phyto-, and Physicochemical Evaluation of Apple Juice under High-Pressure Carbon Dioxide and Thermal Processing.

In this study, the changes in enzyme activities, total polyphenols, phenolic profile, and physicochemical properties from thermally (25-75 °C) and high-pressure carbon dioxide (HP-CO2) (25-65 °C/20 MPa)-treated apple juice were investigated. The HP-CO2 exhibited complete inactivation of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) at 65 °C, whereas PPO was still active at 75 °C under thermal processing (TP). Similarly, the relative activity of peroxidase (POD) significantly decreased by 71% at 65 °C under HP-CO2 processing, whereas TP was less effective. HP-CO2 and TP treatments at 65 °C reduced the browning degree (BD) value to 0.47 and 0.89, respectively. Thus, HP-CO2 inhibits the browning reactions caused by PPO and POD enzymes at each operating temperature. The concentration of epicatechin and catechin increased significantly with increasing temperature above 45 °C in TP-treated juices. HP-CO2 treatment increased the same phenolic compounds at 35 °C and 9 MPa, whereas high-temperature and -pressure conditions caused insignificant changes in concentration of epicatechin and catechin. Changes in others phenolic compounds were insignificant under TP and HP-CO2 treatment. Overall, HP-CO2 is a promising technology to get high-quality juices with lower enzyme activity.

Biodegradation of the sulfonylurea herbicide chlorimuron-ethyl by the strain Pseudomonas sp. LW3.

The chlorimuron-ethyl-degrading bacterium LW3 was isolated from contaminated soil and identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing as Pseudomonas sp. When chlorimuron-ethyl was provided as the sole nitrogen source, the degradation efficiency in liquid medium was about 81.0% after 7 days of inoculation with strain LW3. The effects of chlorimuron-ethyl concentration and temperature on biodegradation were examined. Two metabolites of degradation were analyzed by LC/MS. Based on the identified products, strain LW3 seemed to be able to degrade chlorimuron-ethyl by cleavage of the sulfonylurea bridge. The inoculation of strain LW3 to chlorimuron-ethyl-treated soil resulted in a higher degradation rate than in uninoculated soil, regardless of the soil being sterilized or nonsterilized. This microbial culture has great potential for the bioremediation of soil contaminated with chlorimuron-ethyl.