• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.87-96
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• 2022

Recently, the purchase of fresh-cut produce and meal kits has increased. Ready-to-eat (RTE) fresh-cut products have potentially hazard of cross-contamination of various microorganisms in the processes of peeling, slicing, dicing, and shredding. There are frequent cases of protozoa food poisoning, such as Cyclospora and Cryptosporidium, caused by fresh-cut products. The objective of the study is to investigate the microbiological qualities of various types of RTE fresh-cut products in the domestic on/offline markets. RTE fresh-cut fruits cup (n=100), fresh-cut vegetables (n=50), and vegetables in meal kits (Vietnamese spring rolls and white radish rolls kits, n=50) were seasonally analyzed. The contamination levels of hygienic indicator organisms, yeast and mold (YM), and foodborne pathogens (Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., and Escherichia coli O157:H7) were monitored. Overall, the lowest microbiological qualities of meal kits vegetables were observed, followed by RTE fresh-cut fruits cup and fresh-cut vegetables. Contamination levels of total aerobic bacteria, coliforms, and YM in meal kits vegetables were 5.91, 3.90, and 4.71 logs CFU/g, respectively. From the qualitative analysis, 6 out of 200 RTE fresh-cut products (3%) returned positive result for S. aureus. From the quantitative analysis, the contamination levels of S. aureus in purple cabbage from a meal-kit and fresh-cut pineapple were below the acceptable limit (100 CFU/g). Staphylococcus enterotoxin seg and sei genes were detected in RTE fresh-cut celery and red cabbage from meal-kits, respectively. S. aureus contamination must be carefully controlled during the manufacturing processes of RTE fresh-cut products. Neither Cyclospora cayetanensis nor Cryptosporidium parvum was detected in the samples of RTE fresh-cut products and vegetables from meal-kits from the Korean retail markets.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.141-148
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• 2019

This study examined the effect of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I expression in the liver and muscle on the growth of Paralichthys olivaceus fed diets low in fish meal. A feeding experiment was conducted at Jeju National University, Jeju Island, Korea. Groups of P. olivaceus (total initial weight: 200 g) were maintained for 20 weeks on one of five experimental diets containing different proportions of fish meal. Diets containing 0%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% fish meal were labeled FM0, FM20, FM30, FM40, and FM50, respectively. Fish growth was observed every 4 weeks during the feeding experiment, and plasma and liver and muscle tissues were sampled. Plasma IGF-I levels were analyzed using an ELISA kit. The mechanism of IGF-I receptor signaling was examined using immunoblotting and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The greatest total weight increase was observed in the FM30 group. In parallel, plasma levels of IGF-I and IGF-binding protein were highest in the FM30 group, and mRNA and protein expression were also significantly higher in this group. The first step in the IGF-I signaling pathway, tyrosine-phosphorylation checking, occurred smoothly until 20 weeks. These results suggest that a dietary ratio of 30% fish meal best promotes growth in this species. The IGF-I signaling pathway in the liver and muscle is associated with growth in P. olivaceus.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.691-696
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of five commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits (A, B, C, D, and E) from different suppliers for detecting aflatoxin $B_1$ ($AFB_1$). $AFB_1$-free corn samples supplemented with different levels of $AFB_1$ (5, 10, and $20{\mu}g/kg$) were used as positive controls and 6 replicates of each control sample were tested to evaluate the accuracy and precision of these kits. In addition, we also evaluated the performance of these ELISA kits for $AFB_1$ in 30 feed samples, including corn, distillers dried grains with soluble, wheat samples, soybean meal, and poultry feed, which were verified by high performance liquid chromatography. Results showed that the coefficients of variation ranged from 1.18% to 16.22% in intra-plate and 2.85% to 18.04% in inter-plate for the determination of $AFB_1$. The half maximal inhibitory concentration for five kits ranged from 3.72 to $7.22{\mu}g/kg$. The quantitation limits of $AFB_1$ were all under the legal limit in China but somewhat inconsistent with kit instructions. Although the recovery rate of four of the five kits were either less than 90% or more than 110%, all these values were acceptable in practice. Two kits had high false positive rates (C and E). In conclusion, our results revealed that the qualities of five tested ELISA kits were significantly different.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.21 no.1 s.23
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• pp.132-151
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• 1988

This study was conducted to establish the control program for preventing unfavorable health effects of nitrogen dioxide($NO_2$) exposure in homes by preparing the fundamental data for evaluation of relation-ships between $NO_2$ levels and influencing factors through measurements of indoor-outdoor $NO_2$ levels and personal $NO_2$ exposures for housewives with questionnaire survey on 172 homes in Pusan area from April to June, 1987 $NO_2$ measurements were made by using diffusion tube samplers(Palmes tube $NO_2$ sampler) for one week at 4 sites in homes ; kitchen(KIT), bedroom(BED), living room(LIV), outdoor(OUT) and near the collar of housewives(personal exposure livel, PNO). The details of questionnaire were number of household members(FAM), number of regular smokers (SMOKER), daily number of meals eaten(MEAL), type of housing units(HOUSE), location of house with distance from the heavy traffic roads as walking time(DIST), and of kitchen(KAREA), kind of cooking fuels(FUEL), cooking time of each meal(CTIME), usage of kitchen fan for cooking(FAN), type of heating facilities(HEAT) and so on of subject homes. The Obtained results were as fellows : 1) The mean $NO_2$ level was significantly higher at indoors than outdoors(p<0.01) and the kitchen $NO_2$ level was the highest with $33.7{\pm}13.6ppb$(9.5-81.5ppb). The mean personal exposure level of $NO_2$ for housewives was $20.6{\pm}8.8ppb$(3.1-46.9ppb). 2) The mean indoor $NO_2$ level was significantly higher in the group of household members above 5 than below 4(p<0.05), in detached dwellings than apartments(p<0.001), within 5 minutes of distance than over 5 minutes(p<0.001), in the group of unusing fan(p<0.001), in the group of longer cooking time(p<0.001), and it was in order of coal briquette, gas, electricity and oil by kind of cooking fuels(p<0.05). 3) Variables showing significant correlation(p<0.001) with indoor $NO_2$ level were kitchen $NO_2$ level(r=0.8677), cooking time(r=0.5921), outdoor $NO_2$ level(r=0.5192), personal $NO_2$ exposure level(r=0.4615), usage of kitchen fan(r=0.3573) and location of house(r=-0.2988) 4) As a result of multiple regression analysis, the most significant influencing variable to the kitchen $NO_2$ level was cooking time[KIT=$-0.378{\pm}11.772$(CTIME)+0.298(OUT)+3.102(FAN)], it was kitchen $NO_2$ level to the indoor $NO_2$ level[IND=6.996+0.458(KIT)+0.230(OUT)-1.127(KAREA)], and it was indoor $NO_2$ level to the personal $NO_2$ exposure level[PNO=15.562+0.729(IND)-4.542(DIST)-0.200(KIT)] 5) It was recognized that aritificial ventilation in the kitchen, suppression of unnecessary combustion and replacement of cooking fuel, as much as possible, were effective means for decreasing indoor $NO_2$ levels in homes.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.619-627
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• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Colitis is a serious health problem, and chronic obesity is associated with the progression of colitis. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of natural raw meal (NRM) on high-fat diet (HFD, 45%) and dextran sulfate sodium (DSS, 2% w/v)-induced colitis in C57BL/6J mice. MATERIALS/METHODS: Body weight, colon length, and colon weight-to-length ratio, were measured directly. Serum levels of obesity-related biomarkers, triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), insulin, leptin, and adiponectin were determined using commercial kits. Serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$), interleukin (IL)-$1{\beta}$, and IL-6 were detected using a commercial ELISA kit. Histological study was performed using a hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining assay. Colonic mRNA expressions of TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) were determined by RT-PCR assay. RESULTS: Body weight and obesity-related biomarkers (TG, TC, LDL, HDL, insulin, leptin, and adiponectin) were regulated and obesity was prevented in NRM treated mice. NRM significantly suppressed colon shortening and reduced colon weight-to-length ratio in HFD+DSS induced colitis in C57BL/6J mice (P < 0.05). Histological observations suggested that NRM reduced edema, mucosal damage, and the loss of crypts induced by HFD and DSS. In addition, NRM decreased the serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-$1{\beta}$, and IL-6 and inhibited the mRNA expressions of these cytokines, and iNOS and COX-2 in colon mucosa (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that NRM has an anti-inflammatory effect against HFD and DSS-induced colitis in mice, and that these effects are due to the amelioration of HFD and/or DSS-induced inflammatory reactions.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.109-117
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• 2024

This study investigated the microbial contamination of agricultural, livestock, and marine ingredients in 55 meal kits distributed across Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Of the 55 meal kits, 48 contained agricultural ingredients, 43 contained livestock ingredients, and 16 contained marine ingredients. The detection rate of the total aerobic bacteria in the agricultural, livestock, and marine products was 100%. The average numbers of the total aerobic bacteria were 6.57 log colony-forming units (CFU)/g in the agricultural products, 4.60 log CFU/g in the livestock products, and 5.47 log CFU/g in the marine products. The coliform detection rates in the agricultural, livestock, and marine products were 81.25%, 69.77%, and 43.75%, respectively. The average numbers of coliforms were 2.83 log CFU/g in the agricultural products, 1.34 log CFU/g in the livestock products, and 1.12 log CFU/g in the marine products. Escherichia coli was detected in 13 livestock products (30.23%), with levels ranging from 0.70 to 2.36 log CFU/g. Contrastingly, E. coli was detected in only one marine product (6.25%) and was not detected in any agricultural products. The detection rates of fungi in agricultural, livestock, and marine products were 97.92%, 93.02%, and 93.75%, respectively. The average numbers of fungi were 3.82 log CFU/g for the agricultural products, 2.92 log CFU/g for the livestock products, and 2.82 log CFU/g for the marine products. The isolation rates of foodborne pathogens from the agricultural, livestock, and marine products were 35.42%, 37.21%, and 31.25%, respectively. Forty-five foodborne pathogens of seven species, including Bacillus cereus and Salmonella spp., were isolated from the raw materials of the agricultural, livestock, and marine products in 55 meal kits. To prevent foodborne diseases caused by meal kits, it is necessary to focus on washing, heating, and preventing cross-contamination during cooking.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.106-112
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• 2006

Fifty four acid-resistant and bile-resistant isolates of lactic acid bacteria were initially isolated from the faces of Korea native cattle and Holstein using MRS agar and LAPT agar, and ten strains with superior activity against bile salt were finally selected LS1, LS15, and LL6 isolates showed survival of 66.5%, 82.6% and 80.7% against the simulated stomach liquid(pH 2.5), respectively. LL6 and LL7 isolates had the highest inhibitory activities against the pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, and Clostridium perfringens. By using API 50 CHL kit LS1, LS2 and LM1 isolates were identified as a L. fermentum. LL6 and LL7 isolates as a L. acidophilus, and LS3 isolate as a L. plantarum. The other four isolates belong to genus Lactobacillus. All the isolates tested were sensitive to some antibiotics such as ampicillin, amoxicillin and erythromycin, but resistant to colistin and ciprofloxacin. LB1, LL6 and LL7 isolates were resistant to gentamicin and neomycin. Especially, the LL6 isolate showed the highest resistance to both of the simulated stomach liquid and bile salt, in addition to the highest inhibitory activities against Sal. typhimurium, Staph. aureus and Cl. perfringens.

• Food Engineering Progress
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.182-187
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• 2011

A proteolytic lactic acid bacterium was isolated from Korean traditional fermented foods. The isolate BV-26, which had a protease activity (24 U/mg-crude protein), was identified as Lactobacillus plantarum by the API 50CHL kit and 16S rDNA analysis (99.9% of homology), and named as L. plantarum BV-26. Cell growth and protease activity of L. plantarum BV-26 was determined in MRS broth using 5L jar fermentor at $30^{\circ}C$. The maximum growth of L. plantarum BV-26 was reached at 18 hr in MRS broth, while protease activity of BV-26 was detectable at 12 hr and the highest activity was obtained after 16 hr cultivation. Therefore, we expect that the proteolytic lactic acid bacteria, L. plantarum BV-26, may be used as a starter for the fermentation of animal feed. Especially, the fermentation of soybean meal with the strain can be applied for improving feed utilization.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.1-15
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• 2022

In this study, text analysis was performed on the mealkit product review data to identify factors affecting the evaluation of the mealkit product. The data used for the analysis were collected by scraping 334,498 reviews of mealkit products in Naver shopping site. After preprocessing the text data, wordclouds and sentiment analyses based on word frequency and normalized TF-IDF were performed. Logistic regression model was applied to predict the polarity of reviews on mealkit products. From the logistic regression models derived for each product category, the main factors that caused positive and negative emotions were identified. As a result, it was verified that text analysis can be a useful tool that provides a basis for maximizing positive factors for a specific category, menu, and material and removing negative risk factors when developing a mealkit product.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.116-126
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• 2022

Many studies using trademark information have suggested that trademark information is good data to monitor business trends. This study intends to analyze the trend change before and after COVID-19 using trademark information. Changes before and after COVID-19 were analyzed by using goods & service classification, similar group code, and designated goods information as trademark information. Among the trademark information, it was statistically significant that the change in trends before and after COVID-19 using designated goods names. To verify the results, the changes in keywords using designated goods names before and after COVID-19 were compared with the frequency of keywords in Google Trends. Among the top 8 keywords extracted from designated goods names, the frequency of Google trend searches for 'online, antibacterial, prevention of epidemics, meal kit, virtual' is on the rise, and 'mask, droplet' is not on the rise, but it increased rapidly at the time of COVID-19, and even after COVID-19, it showed a higher level than before. The frequency of 'unmanned' does not differ much before and after COVID-19, but it has been maintained at a consistently high level, and related businesses have been active since before COVID-19, and it can be interpreted as a keyword with high public interest. This study has academic achievements in that it specifically identified information that could be used in business trends by using three types of trademark information.