Fresh vegetables normally carry natural non-pathogenic epiphytic microorganisms, but during growth, harvest, transportation and further handling the produce can be contaminated with pathogens from animal and human sources. As most of these produce are eating without further processing, their microbial content may represent a risk factor for the consumer’s health and therefore a food safety prob...

Although the consumption of fresh and minimally processed vegetables is considered healthy, outbreaks related to the contamination of these products are frequently reported. Among the food-borne pathogens that contaminate vegetables is Listeria monocytogenes, a ubiquitous organism that exhibits the ability to survive and multiply at refrigerated temperatures. This study aimed to evaluate the oc...

CONTENTS Introduction Food Spoilage and General Principles Underlying Spoilage of Food Intrinsic Parameters Extrinsic Parameters Microbial Spoilage of Foods Spoilage of fresh and ready-to-eat meat products Spoilage of milk and milk products Spoilage of fruits and vegetables Spoilage of canned foods Major Food Borne Infections/ Intoxications Caused by Bacteria General Control Measures for Preven...

Functional foods that provide benefits beyond their traditional nutritional value have attracted much interest. Aim of the study was to evaluate the nutritional and the functional properties of a frozen ready-to-eat soup containing barley and pigmented vegetables. Both glycaemic index and the glyceamic load of ready-to-eat soup were evaluated in vivo. Moreover the bioavailability of carotenoids...

Background: The changes and the availability of processed foods have increased demand for ready-to-eat foods, such as Minimally Processed Vegetables (MPVs). purpose this work was to evaluate microbiological status quality traits MPVs obtained from retail outlets Córdoba, Argentina.
 Methods: Totally, 60 12 brands (30 single-ingredient salads 30 mixed salad trays) were randomly sampled diff...

Clostridium difficile is an important enteric pathogen of humans and food animals. Recently it has been isolated from retail foods with prevalences up to 42%, prompting concern that contaminated foods may be one of the reasons for increased community-acquired C. difficile infection (CA-CDI). A number of studies have examined the prevalence of C. difficile in raw meats and fresh vegetables; howe...