• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.323-333
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• 2009

Parabens are alkyl esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid, which are widely used in foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceutic products as preservatives. Absorbed parabens are metabolized fastly and excreted. Actually human body is exposed to complex mixture of parabens. Safety assessment at various toxicological end points revealed parabens have a little acute, subacute and chronic toxicities. Some reports have argued that as parabens have estrogenic activity, they are associated with the incidence of breast cancer through dermal absorption by cosmetics. There is an inference that antiandrogenic activity of parabens may give rise to a lesion of male reproductive system, but also there is an contrary. At cellular level, parabens may inhibit mitochondrial function of sperms and androgen production in testis, but also there is an contrary. Parabens seem to have little or no toxicity in embryonic development. Parabens can cause hemolysis, membrane permeability change in mitochondria and apoptosis, suggesting cellular toxicity of parabens. Parabens evoked endocrine disruption in several fish species and have toxic effect on small invertebrates and microbes. Therefore, the toxicity of parabens should be considered as a potentially toxic chemical in the freshwater environment. In conclusion, though parabens may be considered as a low toxic chemical, more definite data are required concerning the endocrine disrupting effect of parabens on human body and aquatic animals according to route and term of exposure as well as the residual concentration of parabens.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.375-382
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• 2018

This study was conducted to analyze the microbial community and propionic acid production ability of natural microflora in the rice cakes. Genetic analysis of natural microflora in Jorangyi rice cake was performed to select propionic acid - producing bacteria. Selected propionic acid-producing bacteria were cultivated in TSB (tryptic soy broth) supplemented with glucose, and growth characteristics were analyzed by temperature and production of propionic acid was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC-FID). Linearity, detection limit, quantitative limit, and recovery rate were measured to verify propionic acid assay. A total of 98 microbial strains were detected from microflora of Joraengyi rice cake that grew after expiration of shelf life. Lactobacillus casei group accounted for 50.48% and Lactobacillus buchneri was 29.60%. Propionic acid - producing bacteria were Propionibacterium thoenii, P. cyclohexanicum, Propionibacterium_uc, P. jensenii, and P. freudenreichii. Natural bacteria and Lactobacillus spp. did not produce propionic acid during 14 days but P. cyclohexanicum, P. freudenreichii subsp. Shermanii, P. thoenii and P. jesenii produced $263.47{\mu}g/mL$, $338.90{\mu}g/mL$, $325.43{\mu}g/mL$ and $222.17{\mu}g/mL$ during 4 days and 2,462.02 and 2,904.78, 2,220.64, $3,519.17{\mu}g/mL$ during 14 days. As a result of this study, it was affirmed that the natural microflora of Joraengyi rice cake during storage can produce propionic acid from natural sources even if a high concentration of propionic acid is not intentionally added. Because of characteristics of rice cake composed of starch and glucose. This study will be used as a recognition criterion to detect natural preservatives such as propionic acid in starchy foods such as rice cakes and as reference standard safety management data.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.6 s.73
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• pp.847-850
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• 2005

The aim of this study was to increase production of leucocin A, a kind of bacteriocin, in a transformed variety of S. cerevisiae. We investigated optical density, total secreted protein, protease activity, and antibacterial activity for the transformed S. cerevisiae in different carbon sources. The production of leucocin A growth-associated, and antibacterial activity, according to carbon source, was in the order of sucrose, glucose, glycerol, and fructose. Antibacterial activity was $10.6\%$ higher in the presence of sucrose than glucose. This is the first report regarding the effect of carbon sources on the production of leucocin A in transformed S. cerevisiae, as far as we ascertain. Our results could prove useful in the industrial production of natural preservatives.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.835-841
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• 2002

To reduce the salt content of Korean traditional kochujang, horseradish and mustard powder (1.2%) were added to kochujang ingredients with $4{\sim}6%$ of sodium chloride, and their physicochemical characteristics were monitored with those of the control (10% salt added) during fermentation at $25^{\circ}C$ for 120 days. The pH of kochujang gradually decreased and acidities increased at low-salt concentration. The salt lowered the acid production in proportion to the salt concentration. The amino-type nitrogen in kochujang increased during fermentation at higher proportion with lower salt concentration. Free amino acids showed the same trend as amino-type nitrogen, and their major amino acids were in order of aspartic acid, glutamic acid, and serine. Kochujang containing horseradish or mustard showed superior qualuty than the control, and 6% of salt was the acceptable level for low-salt kochujang preparation.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.241-246
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• 2005

Effects of antimicrobial herbs on growth of tactic acid bacteria were investigated to extend shelf-life of Dongchimi, kimchi made with radishes and spices. Marta rosemary, among eight foreign and domestic herbs, showed strongest antimicrobial activity against seven kinds of lactic acid bacteria. Spices such as spring onion, garlic, and ginger showed no antimicrobial activity against lactic acid bacteria. During fermentation of Dongchimi for 6 days at $35^{\circ}C$, addition of marta rosemary inhibited acid formation, maintaining optimal pH of 3.8-4.2 throughout fermentation period, while no inhibitory effect was observed from Sambaekho (Saurus chinensis), pepper mint, and stevia. Results show shelf-life of Dongchimi was extended by addition of marta rosemary, which controlled over-production of tactic acid by inhibiting bacterial growth.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.97-106
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• 2022

Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) is one of gram-positive foodborne pathogens with a very high fatality rate. Unlike most foodborne pathogens, L. monocytogenes is capable of growing at low temperatures, such as in refrigerated foods. Thus, various physical and chemical prevention methods are used in the manufacturing, processing and distribution of food. However, there are limitations to the methods such as possible changes to the food quality and the consumer awareness of synthetic preservatives. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-listeria activity of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from kimchi and characterize the bacteriocin produced by Lactococcuslactis which is one of isolated strains from kimchi. The analysis on the anti-listeria activity of a total of 36 species (Lactobacillus, Weissella, Lactobacillus, and Lactococcus) isolated from kimchi by the agar overlay method revealed that L. lactis NJ 1-10 and NJ 1-16 had the highest anti-listeria activity. For quantitatively analysis on the anti-listeria activity, NJ 1-10 and NJ 1-16 were co-cultured with L. monocytogenes in Brain Heat Infusion (BHI) broth, respectively. As a result, L. monocytogenes was reduced by 3.0 log CFU/mL in 20 h, lowering the number of bacteria to below the detection limit. Both LAB strains showed anti-listeria activity against 24 serotypes of L. monocytogenes, although the sizes of clear zone was slightly different. No clear zone was observed when the supernatants of both LAB cultures were treated with proteinase-K, indicating that their anti-listerial activities might be due to the production of bacteriocins. Heat stability of the partially purified bacteriocins of NJ 1-10 and NJ 1-16 was relatively stable at 60℃ and 80℃. Yet, their anti-listeria activities were completely lost by 60 min of treatment at 100℃ and 15 min of treatment at 121℃. The analysis on the pH stability showed that their anti-listeria activities were the most stable at pH 4.01, and decreased with the increasing pH value, yet, was not completely lost. Partially purified bacteriocins showed relatively stable anti-listeria activities in acetone, ethanol, and methanol, but their activities were reduced after chloroform treatment, yet was not completely lost. Conclusively, this study revealed that the bacteriocins produced by NJ 1-10 and NJ 1-16 effectively reduced L. monocytogenes, and that they were relatively stable against heat, pH, and organic solvents, therefore implying their potential as a natural antibacterial substance for controlling L. monocytogenes in food.