Food is not commonly regarded as an ecosystem, perhaps on the basis that it is not a ‘‘natural’’ system. Nevertheless an ecosystem it is and an important one, because food plants and the fungi that colonise their fruiting parts (seeds and fruit) have been co-evolving for millennia. The seed and nut caches of rodents have provided a niche for the development of storage fungi. Fallen fruit, as th...

A nontargeted, comprehensive 2-dimensional gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOFMS) method was developed for the analysis of fermented cucumber volatiles before and after anaerobic spoilage. Volatile compounds extracted by solid-phase microextraction were separated on a polyethylene glycol 1st-dimension column and 14% cyanopropylphenyl 2nd-dimension column. Among 314 co...

In foodstuffs with low pH, low water activity, or high carbohydrate content spoilage bacteria are, with some exception, usually not present because this environment is unfavourable for their growth. Food-spoilage yeasts and moulds, however, can grow under these circumstances and cause deterioration of various products, such as fruit and vegetable juices and purees, soft drinks, pickled vegetabl...

The effect of a surface open to air on the ensiling process was investigated in 15 × 60 cm PVC silos in four trials, three with alfalfa (30, 41, and 49% dry matter, DM) and one with whole-plant corn (35% DM). Silos were sampled 1, 2, 5, 7, 14, and 28 d post-filling at 5, 20, 35, and 50 cm from the open surface. At 5 cm, little fermentation occurred as oxygen contents were at 10% or higher, and ...

Bag silos made at three research farms in 2000 and 2001 were monitored at filling and emptying to determine densities and losses. A total of 47 bags (23 alfalfa, 1 red clover, 23 whole−plant corn) were made, and losses were calculated on 39 of the silos. Dry matter (DM) density ranged from 160 to 270 kg/m3. Dry matter density increased with DM content in hay crop silages on average 2.9 kg/m3−% ...

The wide array of available dairy foods challenges the microbiologist, engineer, and technologist to find the best ways to prevent the entry of microorganisms, destroy those that do get in along with their enzymes, and prevent the growth and activities of those that escape processing treatments. Troublesome spoilage microorganisms include aerobic psychrotrophic Gram-negative bacteria, yeasts, m...

Investigation of the initial and spoilage microbial diversity of iced stored sea bream was carried out. Culture dependent methods were used for bacterial enumeration and phenotypic identification of bacterial isolates, while culture independent methods, using bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplification, cloning and sequencing of DNA extracted directly from the flesh were also employed. The culture de...

Mahua (Madhuca indica syn. Bassia latifolia) fl owers, occupy an important position in the life of the tribal in many parts of India. Particularly, the fl owers of the plant are sugar rich and in certain cases it is the only source of livelihood for those people. However, its nutrient quality deteriorates during the postharvest storage and thus, poses a serious problem of adequate storage. In o...

Spoilage of meat has remained a serious challenge in developing countries, including Nigeria, for decades. This has been due to poor storage systems in such countries where necessary facilities that could help promote preservation are unavailable. Where available, unsteady power supply necessary to maintain such facilities has constituted a serious problem, thereby rendering them to function be...

Spoilage in meat is the result of the action of microorganisms and results in changes of meat and microbial metabolism. This process may include pathogenic food poisoning bacteria such as Salmonella typhimurium, and it is important that these are differentiated from the natural spoilage process caused by non-pathogenic microorganisms. In this study we investigated the application of metabolic p...