Yeast and mold are organisms of great importance to the food industry. These members of the fungi kingdom are very different from bacteria, including differences in basic cellular structure and the way that they reproduce. Hundreds of yeast and mold species have been isolated from foods. Due to their ability to grow over a wide spectrum of environmental conditions, very few foods are entirely safe from fungal spoilage.
In October, Dr. Timothy Freier passed on the metaphorical reins to Dr. Sarita Raengpradub as one of the lead instructors for the NAMI (North American Meat Institute) Biannual Listeria Workshop. As such, we interviewed both to learn about how the seminar has touched the industry and will continue to evolve.
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A meal plan indicating everything you should eat and drink seems like the perfect roadmap to achieve a goal weight. However, if this were the case, wouldn’t weight loss be easy? Not exactly. My first job as a registered dietitian was counseling members of a health club, and I quickly learned that there is much more to achieving diet-related goals than just providing education.
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Co-authored with Erdogan Ceylan
Every summer, I sit under the carport with my family and shuck a few buckets of corn that we later boil and quickly freeze. I never thought much about that home process until I started working at the Mérieux NutriSciences Food Science Center and interacting regularly with customers who are on a much larger and elaborate scale doing the same thing with their vegetables.
Blanching vegetables not only improves product quality by changing the texture, preserving the flavor and color, but it can also serve as a critical control point in regards to pathogen inactivation. Continue Reading
Co-authored with Erdogan Ceylan
More than ever, consumers are becoming aware and following food safety recalls in the produce industry. Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks associated with leafy greens have been particularly newsworthy. A popular meme, “right now chocolate is good for you and romaine lettuce can kill you,” is circulating around the internet. But there is some sad underlying truth to this statement. In 2018, there were two high-profile outbreaks in romaine lettuce. The first, starting in March and lasting through June, effected 210 people, 96 of which were hospitalized, 27 who developed uremic syndrome (which is a type of kidney failure) and 5 of which who died. The second starting in October, effected 62 people, 25 which were hospitalized and two who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome. Internet memes aside, pathogenic E. coli is incredibly dangerous and at the forefront of consumer’s minds. This burden on public health is largely preventable. Continue Reading
Testing for bacterial pathogens that cause foodborne illness is common in today’s food industry. Viruses such as norovirus (NoV) and Hepatitis A (HAV) can be sources of foodborne illnesses, but testing for these viruses in food is much less common.
Norovirus is the most common cause of foodborne illness in the United States, accounting for 58% of foodborne illnesses. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), norovirus causes between 19-21 million cases of acute gastroenteritis yearly, contributing to an estimated 56,000-71,000 hospitalizations and 570-800 deaths each year.
Mérieux NutriSciences and Biofortis are excited to welcome our new Principal Scientist, Oliver Chen, PhD, formerly the Interim Director of the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University. Oliver is a great addition to our science team, assisting our r
esearch sponsors with their clinical nutrition projects. We sat down with Oliver for a quick Q&A to pick his brain on some important topics in the industry.
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Mérieux NutriSciences’ Scientist Spotlight: Dr. Angela Nguyen on Molecular Services
Katherine Burke /
Here at Mérieux NutriSciences, our team of expert scientists upholds our mission of protecting consumers’ health through their daily work. Dr. Angela Nguyen joined our team this year to lead our molecular services laboratory, which covers our suite of services, including foodborne virus testing, Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), Vitek MS, Sanger Sequencing and Riboprinter Platform with bionumerics software. I recently met with Dr. Nguyen to learn more about her background, coming from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and where she sees the future of molecular biology headed within the food industry. Continue Reading
