Radionuclide contamination is a serious health issue caused by nuclear experiments and plant accidents, as seen for the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear plants. Italy has been especially interested in ...northwestern alpine regions, as have several other nations. The aim of this work was to indagate 134Cs and 137Cs contamination in wild boars, which were considered bioindicators sampled in the Chisone/Germanasca Valley and the Pellice Valley districts (Piedmont, Italy) in two hunting seasons (2014 and 2016). In the 2014 season, only the livers of the animals (n = 48) were sampled, whereas in 2016, five different anatomical sampling sites were sampled for each animal (n = 16). The analyses were conducted in an accredited laboratory (Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione dell'Ambiente-ARPA) by the aid of an HPGe detector (Ortec) with a relative efficiency of 50%. In general, the contamination levels registered in 2014 were under the detection limit for 134Cs and low for 137Cs (Chisone/Germanasca valley: min: 0.0, max: 23.9 median 11.0 Bq/kg vs Pellice valley: min 0, max: 31.7, median: 9.6 Bq/kg) and no health concern can be supposed. In the first-year samples, the liver showed a negative correlation between age and contamination level. In the second year of sampling, low levels were confirmed (min: 3.1 Bq/kg, max: 113.3; median 17.7 Bq/kg). Multiple sampling from the same animal showed that the diaphragm (median = 27.7 Bq/kg) kidney (27.4) and tongue (27.6) were more contaminated than the liver (17.7) and spleen (15.3). Moreover, a linear mixed model revealed a negative organ-by-age interaction, meaning that interorgan differences in contamination level were greater in younger (5-11 months) than in older (18-36 months) animals. Different feeding habits can be the explanation. Our paper shows that muscle sites (diaphragm and tongue) can be useful for radionuclide pollution surveillance in wild boar populations and that younger animals show more interorgan variability in contamination levels than older animals. More investigations are needed to confirm this correlation and to fulfill the request for more data to achieve better risk assessment.
Robiola di Roccaverano is an artisanal Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) soft cheese made with raw goat's milk and by the addition of Natural Milk Culture (NMC) to drive the fermentation process. ...Cheeses collected from five different dairy plants were analyzed for their bacterial and fungal microbiota diversity.
and
were the main bacterial population, while
and
constituted the core mycobiota but many other minor taxa were observed, suggesting a high level of complexity in fungal composition by these cheeses compared to bacteria population.
Meat derives from a muscle that undergoes a great number of biochemical and physiological changes. The anoxic condition established from the moment of animal sacrifice forces muscle cells to a sort ...of reaction, resulting in methodical programmed cell death to avoid necrosis. The duality autophagy and/or apoptosis is at the center of the scientific debate about the biological processes driving the muscle to meat conversion. Here we report an omic time course overview carried on proteome, phosphoproteome and metabolome of Piedmontese longissimus thoracis muscle searching for clues helping us to extricate through the dilemma. The survey depicts a progressive physiological impairing and our evidences push towards the apoptotic behavior: the proteomic time course trend of annexin A2, RKIP, HSPB6, αB crystalline, adenylate kinase, DJ-1 and 31kDa actin fragment; the 0–1day increased phosphorylation of myosin 2 and synaptopodin and the metabolomic time course trend of key metabolic indicators, like GSH/GSSG ratio, taurine and nitrotyrosine. The employed techniques provide strong indications about the likely apoptotic behavior of aging meat in muscle-to-meat conversion process.
Our work underlines compelling evidences of the apoptotic behavior of Piedmontese beef muscle cells undergoing the muscle-to-meat process, whereas no autophagic clues are inferred from this omic investigation.
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•Omic analysis of aging meat shows physiological impairment of muscle cells.•Proteomic clues of apoptosis: ANXA2, PEBP, DJ1, HSPB6, ADK, cryαB, and 31kDa actin fragment•Metabolomic clues of apoptosis: key metabolites, nitrotyrosine, and taurine•Phosphoproteomic clues of apoptosis: cryαB, HSPB6, myosin 2, and synaptopodin 2
•Improved meat tenderness with prolonged 44 days-aging.•Proteolytic degradation of myofibrillar structural proteins.•Progressive accumulation of lactate as a result of the anaerobic ...conditions.•Accumulation of glutamate (improved umami taste of meat) due to ongoing proteolysis.•Serine, arginine, glutamate as novel predictors of meat quality.
Piedmontese meat tenderness becomes higher by extending the ageing period after slaughter up to 44days. Classical physical analysis only partially explain this evidence, so in order to discover the reason of the potential beneficial effects of prolonged ageing, we performed omic analysis in the Longissimus thoracis muscle by examining main biochemical changes through mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and proteomics. We observed a progressive decline in myofibrillar structural integrity (underpinning meat tenderness) and impaired energy metabolism. Markers of autophagic responses (e.g. serine and glutathione metabolism) and nitrogen metabolism (urea cycle intermediates) accumulated until the end of the assayed period. Key metabolites such as glutamate, a mediator of the appreciated umami taste of the meat, were found to constantly accumulate until day 44. Finally, statistical analyses revealed that glutamate, serine and arginine could serve as good predictors of ultimate meat quality parameters, even though further studies are mandatory.
A Real-Time PCR Allelic Discrimination TaqMan assay based on the analysis of one diagnosis position enabling the identification of cows’ and buffalo milk in dairy products was developed. Specific ...primers and probes were designed on the mitochondrial
cytochrome b gene. In particular, primers were designed upstream and downstream the chosen diagnosis site in a well conserved region for both
Bos taurus and
Bubalus bubalis. Two probes were designed to specifically hybridise to
B. taurus and
B. bubalis sequences.
This technique proved to be species-specific when tested on blood and pure milk samples giving an unambiguous result plot of rapid interpretation. The detection threshold, evaluated by means of different dilutions, was 2% of cow milk in buffalo milk.
The test, when applied to cheese samples from the retail trade, enabled the identification of partial or total substitution of cow for buffalo milk. Furthermore, it is relatively rapid, as both species can be detected in one step, with no need for any post-PCR manipulation.
High-throughput DNA sequencing (HTS) was used in this study to investigate the microbiota of Plaisentif production, an artisanal antique cheese fabricated in the Italian Alps during the violet's ...blooming season. The dynamics of the microbiota was described in four production points for nine different producers. The bacteria present in all samples correspond to four phyla: Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Acinetobacteria. Of these, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were the most abundant in milk and curd whereas Firmicutes dominated in cheese samples. The results showed a higher bacterial diversity in the initial steps of cheese making (milk, curd), while the final product presented a lower number of genera mainly represented by lactic acid bacteria. In ripened cheeses, core bacterial community was composed by the genera Lactococcus, Lactobacillus and Streptococcus. Although most of the reads from the final ripened cheese correspond to few LAB, it is still possible to observe some variability between the producers. The HTS revealed that some producers used starters, even if it is not considered by the Plaisentif production's technical policy. The obtained results highlight the great potential of the HTS methodologies in the dairy industry not only from the scientific point of view but also from practical approach.
•HTS was used to investigate the microbiota of Plaisentif cheese production.•Results showed a higher bacterial diversity in milk than in cheese.•The core microbiome of the final product is represented by the genera Lactococcus, Lactobacillus and Streptococcus.•The obtained results confirm the poor standardization of the product.
In recent years, due to the large Romanian community present in Italy, the retail of foods coming from Eastern Europe has increased. The most common type of violation detected in these foods consists ...of incorrect labeling and species-replacement frauds. In this paper, the compliance of labels of 43 ethnic processed food coming from Eastern Europe and commercialized in Italy was evaluated by means of PCR and Sanger sequencing. Our data revealed 33% of non-compliant labels in samples containing swine, ruminants, and avian ingredients. These results demonstrate that PCR can be easily used for the identification of species in highly processed products, proving to be a rapid, effective, and economic method. On the other hand, samples reporting fish as ingredients highlighted the ineffectiveness of the applied sequencing protocol, due to the low informative property of targeted fragments or to the lack of consensus sequences in the case of uncommon species.
Safe pet feeding practices and food bowl hygiene measures are important for minimising the risk of microbiological contaminations in the domestic environment. This study compares the practices ...reported by dog and cat caregivers, and investigates whether cleaning method, feed type or bowl material affects the microbiological contamination of dog food bowls.
Data from 351 dog caregivers and 186 cat caregivers were collected via an online survey. The majority of dogs (70.7%) were fed twice daily, whereas cats (43%) were mostly fed ad libitum. The most common material for dog food bowls was metal (67.1%) versus plastic (38.1%) and metal (37.6%) for cats. Dog food bowls were most frequently cleaned after each meal (35.7%); whereas for cats, 21.5% were cleaned after each meal, 22.7% once a day and 19.3% 2-3 times a week. Total mesophilic aerobic bacteria counts (TMABc), Enterobacteriaceae counts and pathogenic bacteria (Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., Verotoxigenic E. coli VTEC) were assessed for 96 dog food bowls. TMABc were higher in metal vs. plastic bowls (p < 0.001) and in those used for wet food vs. dry food (p = 0.0397). Enterobacteriaceae counts were higher in bowls washed by hand vs. dishwasher (p = 0.0515), whereas no differences were found between hand washing vs. dry wiping. Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp. or E. coli VTEC contaminations were not detected.
The surveyed Italian dog and cat caregivers reported different habits concerning feeding frequency, food bowl material and cleaning frequency. Wet food and metal bowls were associated with higher levels of microbiological contamination of dog food bowls. Furthermore, in relation to wet washing methods, contaminations were likely to be greater following hand washing than they were following the use of a dishwasher. Practical guidelines for safe feeding practices and hygiene measures are needed to minimise the risk of microbiological contaminations in domestic environments.
Species identification in food has increasingly acquired importance due to public health, economic and legal concerns. Traditional methods have relied on the identification of morphological traits, ...but this does not lead to accurate identification of those species used in many types of processed food. As a result, laboratory techniques have been devised using electrophoretic and immunological methods focussing on protein profiles and, more recently, biomolecular techniques have been developed. However, these techniques also present problems and difficulties, especially in the case of matrices that are heterogeneous or have been subjected to severe treatments during processing.
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