• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.296-309
• /
• 2001

This study was conducted to investigate the consumers' recognition and information need for food safety, especially focused on pesticide residues, foodborne illness, and food additives. The data were collected from 350 adults living in Taegu and Pusan by the self-administered questionnaire. Frequencies and chi-square tests were conducted by SPSS. The results of the survey were as follows: (1) the consumers' concerns about food safety were high, (2) many respondents worried about eating vegetables, fruits and grains in turn because of pesticide residues, and did not trust the results from food-safety tests, (3) the major factor for foodborne illness was regarded as unfreshed or contaminated food stuffs, (4) many consumers concerned highly about preservatives among food additives, and tried to consume food containing less food additives, and (5) many respondents wanted to get the information about harmfulness of pesticide residues in foods, method to choose fresh food, and safety of food additives.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.15 no.sup1
• /
• pp.70-78
• /
• 2021

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The recent coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has brought to light issues regarding personal and environmental cleanliness. Individuals may have concerns about cleanliness at food service establishments when they consume food prepared at a restaurant. In Korea, a new restaurant hygienic certificate system was implemented in 2017. The effect of this new system has not been evaluated. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study investigated consumers' perceptions of these new certificates using the protection motivation theory (PMT). An online survey was conducted to collect data and then exploratory factor analysis, analysis of variance, and multiple regression tests were run. RESULTS: The results of this study indicate that 3 different certificates had significant differences in threat (P < 0.001) and benefit (P < 0.001) perception. However, experience with a foodborne illness from a restaurant did not effect on the PMT variables. In addition, the 3-tier certificate did not motivate consumers to protect themselves against foodborne illnesses, while previous experiences of foodborne illness (P < 0.05), coping (P < 0.001), and benefits (P < 0.01) affected this protection motivation. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that consumers were not influenced by different certificate levels regarding their motivation to protect themselves from foodborne illnesses. Therefore, an improved plan should be initiated to clarify the meaning of these certificates. The results of this study can help the application and development of a new system for future adaptations.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.552-560
• /
• 2020

Listeria monocytogenes is a highly pathogenic gram-positive bacterium that is easily isolated from cheese, meat, processed meat products, and smoked salmon. A zero-tolerance (n=5, c=0, m=0/25 g) criteria has been applied for L. monocytogenes in cheese meaning that L. monocytogenes must not be detected in any 25 g of samples. However, there was a lack of scientific information behind this criteria. Therefore, in this study, we conducted a risk assessment based on literature reviews to provide scientific information supporting the baseline and to raise public awareness of L. monocytogenes foodborne illness. Quantitative risk assessment of L. monocytogenes for cheese was conducted using the following steps: exposure assessment, hazard characterization, and risk characterization. As a result, the initial contamination level of L. monocytogenes was -4.0 Log CFU/g in cheese. The consumption frequency of cheese was 11.8%, and the appropriate probability distribution for amount of cheese consumed was a Lognormal distribution with an average of 32.5 g. In conclusion, the mean of probabilities of foodborne illness caused by the consumption of cheese was 5.09×10-7 in the healthy population and 4.32×10-6 in the susceptible population. Consumption frequency has the biggest effect on the probability of foodborne illness, but storage and transportation times have also been found to affect the probability of foodborne illness; thus, management of the distribution environment should be considered important. Through this risk assessment, scientific data to support the criteria for L. monocytogenes in cheese could be obtained. In addition, we recommend that further risk assessment studies of L. monocytogenes in various foods be conducted in the future.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.227-235
• /
• 2018

Foodborne illness represents a major threat to public health and is frequently attributed to pathogenic microorganisms on fresh produce. Recurrent outbreaks often come from vegetables that are grown close to or within the ground. Therefore, the first step to understanding the public health risk of microorganisms on fresh vegetables is to identify and describe microbial communities. We investigated the phyllospheres on Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis, N = 54). 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing targeting the V5-V6 region of 16S rRNA genes was conducted by employing the Illumina MiSeq system. Sequence quality was assessed, and phylogenetic assessments were performed using the RDP classifier implemented in QIIME with a bootstrap cutoff of 80%. Principal coordinate analysis was performed using a weighted Fast UniFrac matrix. The average number of sequence reads generated per sample was 34,584. At the phylum level, bacterial communities were composed primarily of Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes. The most abundant genera on Chinese cabbages were Chryseobacterium, Aurantimonadaceae_g, Sphingomonas, and Pseudomonas. Diverse potential pathogens, such as Pantoea, Erwinia, Klebsiella, Yersinia, Bacillus, Staphylococcus, Salmonella, and Clostridium were also detected from the samples. Although further epidemiological studies will be required to determine whether the detected potential pathogens are associated with foodborne illness, our results imply that a metagenomic approach can be used to detect pathogenic bacteria on fresh vegetables.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.65 no.5
• /
• pp.1024-1039
• /
• 2023

In this study, we performed a quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) of Salmonella through intake of egg consumption after cooking (dry-heat, moist-heat, and raw consumption). Egg samples (n = 201) from retail markets were analyzed for the presence of Salmonella. In addition, temperature and time were investigated during egg transit, storage, and display. A predictive model was developed to characterize the kinetic behavior of Salmonella in eggs, and data on egg consumption and frequency were collected. Eventually, the data was simulated to estimate egg-related foodborne illnesses. Salmonella was not found in any of the 201 egg samples. Thus, the estimated initial contamination level was -4.0 Log CFU/g. With R² values of 0.898 and 0.922, the constructed predictive models were adequate for describing the fate of Salmonella in eggs throughout distribution and storage. Eggs were consumed raw (1.5%, 39.2 g), dry-heated (57.5%, 43.0 g), and moist-heated (41%, 36.1 g). The probability of foodborne Salmonella illness from the consumption of cooked eggs was evaluated to be 6.8×10^-10. Additionally, the probability of foodborne illness not applied cooking methods was 1.9×10^-7, indicating that Salmonella can be reduced by cooking. Therefore, the risk of Salmonella infection through consumption of eggs after cooking might be low in S. Korea.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.68-73
• /
• 2005

A significant number of cases of illness has been attributed to food consumption in restaurants, and as the number of meals eaten away from home continues to rise, the potential for large-scale, foodborne illness outbreaks will continue to increase. It is critical that hospitality and culinary arts students preparing for careers as professionals in foodservice establishments or restaurants have an appropriate understanding of food safety. The level of food safety knowledge was similar between hospitality and culinary arts students, and an analysis of 266 questionnaires indicated that specific areas, such as hand washing, cross contamination in refrigerator, reheating leftovers, refrigeration of cooked food within two hours, proper temperature of food storage, using of thermometers to monitor temperatures, proper egg handling, and possible food borne illness caused by fruits, should be the primary focus of educational resources. Student respondents showed a higher awareness level of responsibility in their roles for food safety, but more emphasis needs to be given to the correct understanding of food safety issues. Hospitality and culinary arts educators can use this precise information to develop food safety education materials and programs to assist in the prevention of foodborne illness and to knowledgeably educate their graduates about food safety.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.227-232
• /
• 2000

Fresh pine needles were collected and extracted with 95% methanol and the extract was concentrated to determine its antimicrobial activity. The methanol extract had a considerable inhibitory effect on the tested bacteria, such as Esherichia coli 0157;H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella typhimurium, and Staphylococcus aureus. The methanol extract of pine needles was further fractionated to chloroform, ethylacetate, butanal, and water fractions. Among these four fractions, the butanol and water fractions, which showed a relatively strong inhibitory effect on all of the tested bacteria, were purified and the minimum ingibitory concentration (MIC) was determined for each microorganism. The MIC raged between 25 mg/ml and 45 mg/ml depending on the microorganism. the purified active fractions were applied to sterilized milk as a model food system to define the antimicrobial effectiveness and it was found that the antimicrobial activities in the water fractions were stronger than those in the butanol fractions.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.460-477
• /
• 1994

There is a direct and continuing challenge to food scientists. You can increase food safety for the world.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.207-218
• /
• 2021

This study evaluated the risk of foodborne illness from highly pathogenic Vibrio spp. (Vibrio vulnificus and V. cholerae) by raw whip-arm octopus (Octopus minor) consumption. In total 180 samples of raw whip-arm octopus were collected from markets and examined for the prevalence of V. vulnificus and V. cholerae. Predictive models describing the kinetic behavior of Vibrio spp. in raw whip-arm octopus were developed, and the data on amounts and frequency of raw whip-arm octopus consumption were collected. Using the collected data, a risk assessment simulation was conducted to estimate the probability of foodborne illness raw whip-arm octopus consumption using @RISK. Initial contamination levels of Vibrio spp. in raw whip-arm octopus were -3.9 Log colony-forming unit/g, as estimated by beta distribution fitting. The developed predictive models were appropriate to describe Vibrio spp. in raw whip-arm octopus during distribution and storage with R² values of 0.946-0.964. The consumption frequency and daily consumption amounts of raw whip-arm octopus per person were 0.47% and 57.65 g, respectively. The probability of foodborne illness from raw whip-arm octopus consumption was estimated to be 8.71 × 10^-15 for V. vulnificus and 7.08 × 10^-13 for V. cholerae. These results suggest that the risk of Vibrio spp. infection from raw whip-arm octopus consumption is low in South Korea.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.25 no.9
• /
• pp.463-472
• /
• 2022

In this study, a microbial risk assessment was performed for the bacteria Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which causes a foodborne illness following the consumption of Jeotgal, a fermented seafood in South Korea. The assessment comprised of six stages: product, market, home, consumption, dose-response, and risk. The initial contamination level (IC) was calculated based on the prevalence of V. parahaemolyticus in 90 Jeotgal samples. The kinetic behavior of V. parahaemolyticus was described using predictive models. The data on transportation conditions from manufacturer to market and home were collected through personal communication and from previous studies. Data for the Jeotgal consumption status were obtained, and an appropriate probability distribution was established. The simulation models responding to the scenario were analyzed using the @RISK program. The IC of V. parahaemolyticus was estimated using beta distribution [Beta (1, 91)]. The cell counts during transportation were estimated using Weibull and polynomial models [δ = 1 / (0.0718 - 0.0097 × T + 0.0005 × T²)], while the probability distributions for time and temperature were estimated using Pert, Weibull, Uniform, and LogLogistic distributions. Daily average consumption amounts were assessed using the Pareto distribution [0.60284,1.32,Risk Truncate(0,155)]. The results indicated that the risk of V. parahaemolyticus infection through Jeotgal consumption is low in South Korea.