Informative and corrective responsive packaging: Advances in farm-to-fork monitoring and remediation of food quality and safety

Microbial growth and fluctuations in environmental conditions have been shown to cause microbial contamination and deterioration of food. Thus, it is paramount to develop reliable strategies to effectively prevent the sale and consumption of contaminated or spoiled food. Responsive packaging systems are designed to react to specific stimuli in the food or environment, such as microorganisms or temperature, then implement an informational or corrective response. Informative responsive packaging is aimed at continuously monitoring the changes in food or environmental conditions and conveys this information to the users in real time. Meanwhile, packaging systems with the capacity to control contamination or deterioration are also of great interest. Encouragingly, corrective responsive packaging attempting to mitigate the adverse effects of condition fluctuations on food has been investigated. This packaging exerts its effects through the triggered release of active agents by environmental stimuli. In this review, informative and corrective responsive packaging is conceptualized clearly and concisely. The mechanism and characteristics of each type of packaging are discussed in depth. This review also summarized the latest research progress of responsive packaging and objectively appraised their advantages. Evidently, the mechanism through which packaging systems respond to microbial contamination and associated environmental factors was also highlighted. Moreover, risk concerns, related legislation, and consumer perspective in the application of responsive packaging are discussed as well. Broadly, this comprehensive review covering the latest information on responsive packaging aims to provide a timely reference for scientific research and offer guidance for presenting their applications in food industry.     

A grid-based risk screening method for fire and explosion events of hydrogen refuelling stations

As hydrogen is a comparatively less safe fuel compared to conventional fuels such as gasoline and diesel, major accidents such as explosions and fires at hydrogen refuelling stations close to residential areas may lead to catastrophic consequences. It is difficult for a traditional quantitative risk analysis (QRA) method to efficiently assess human safety in a large region that includes not only the hydrogen refuelling station but also nearby commercial and residential areas. Therefore, a grid-based risk mapping method has been developed to enable efficient and detailed risk screening of such large areas. The target area is divided into a number of grids of an appropriate size, and a risk analysis is conducted for each grid. A total risk map can be depicted based on the risk evaluations of all grids, and a detailed risk assessment can then be applied to the most hazardous grids. Meanwhile, in order to consider multiple consequences and the complex interrelationships between risk factors, a Bayesian network (BN) model is implemented for the proposed method. At the same time, to reduce uncertainties caused by a shortage of data, three kinds of data—practical information, computational simulations and subjective judgements—are involved in the quantification of the proposed BN. The results from the case study show that the proposed method is capable of effectively conducting risk screenings for large and complex situations.     

不同降雨入渗条件下预应力锚索加固边坡稳定性分析

为了研究不同降雨条件下边坡安全系数及预应力锚索轴力变化规律,以省道S303沿线某边坡为研究对象,考虑土体饱和-非饱和渗流与非饱和强度理论,基于有限元分析,对不同降雨工况下的孔隙水压分布、锚索轴力及采用强度折减法计算的边坡安全系数变化规律进行了研究。结果表明: 降雨量一定时,降雨入渗范围随雨强增大而减小,暂态饱和区域随雨强增加而增大; 边坡在加固前后的安全系数均随降雨量增加而不断减小,采用预应力锚索加固能有效提高边坡安全系数,并减小降雨对边坡稳定性的影响; 随着降雨量增加,各锚索轴力均增大,当降雨量一定时,雨强越小,对应的锚索轴力提升幅度越大,靠近底部的锚索轴力对降雨最为敏感。     

矿井内因火灾的安全评价研究--基于熵值法和突变理论

针对矿井内因火灾的突发性、不确定性和高危害性等特点,提出熵值法和突变理论相结合的矿井内因火灾安全评价方法。选取人、物、环境和管理4个方面的因素建立了4级共20个评价指标的矿井内因火灾安全评价指标体系,运用熵值法判断各个指标的权重,利用突变级数法计算突变级数值,避免了单一熵值法主观人为赋权的弊端。以陕西省红石岩煤矿为例,运用该评价方法对其进行了内因火灾安全评价,其评价结果符合该矿井的安全状况,验证了该评价方法的可行性、实用性。     

Distribution of POPs,pesticides and antibiotic residues in organic honeys from different production areas

Demand for honey is increasing, especially if it is organic and if its nutritional properties are linked to untreated environments in order to guarantee quality for health. Sources of contamination of honey can be divided into environmental and apicultural. Therefore, the distribution of persistent organic pollutants, pesticides and antibiotic residues from geographical areas with different contamination sources (high anthropic impact, intensive farming, husbandry and low anthropic impact) was investigated in order to confirm the potential transfer of xenobiotics into the supply chain and to give beekeepers tools for the selection of areas dedicated to organic production. The presence of polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ether and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was confirmed, not only in proximity to highly urbanised centres, where the concentrations were higher, but in all environment contexts, confirming their ubiquity. No antibiotics or neonicotinoids were detected in 95 organic honeys, demonstrating the absence of apicultural treatments and consequently the good quality of honey of different areas. These results are important due to the undefined regulatory European situation on honey antibiotic limits.     

浅析食品道德责任对食品安全的影响

随着人民群众生活水平不断提高, 食品安全问题也越来越受到社会各界的关注。若要全面、彻底地解决食品安全问题, 不仅需要运用强有力的法制手段, 还必须要从社会道德重构方面着手。本文对当前国内食品安全社会道德责任的缺失现状进行了简要地介绍与论述, 并结合具体的案例来探索造成食品安全频频发生的原因, 最后从道德责任的角度来确定食品安全问题的解决办法, 以供相关从业人员参考、借鉴。     

Scheduling distributed flowshops with flexible assembly and set-up time to minimise makespan

The scheduling problems under distributed production or flexible assembly settings have achieved increasing attention in recent years. This paper considers scheduling the integration of these two environments and proposes an original distributed flowshop scheduling problem with flexible assembly and set-up time. Distributed production stage is deployed several homogeneous flowshop factories that process the jobs to be assembled into final products in the flexible assembly stage. The objective is to find a schedule, including a production subschedule for jobs and an assembly subschedule for products, to minimise the makespan. Such a scheduling problem involves four successive decisions: assigning jobs to production factories, sequencing jobs at every factory, designating an assembly machine for each product and sequencing products on each assembly machine. The computational model is first established, and then a constructive heuristic (TPHS) and two hybrid metaheuristics (HVNS and HPSO) are proposed. Numerical experiments have been carried out and results validate the algorithmic feasibility and effectiveness. TPHS can obtain reasonable solutions in a shorter time, while metaheuristics can report better solutions using more yet acceptable time. HPSO is statistically comparable yet less robust compared with HVNS for small-scale instances. For the large-scale case, HPSO outperforms HVNS on both effectiveness and robustness.     

Simplified partitioning model to simulate high pressure under-expanded jet flows impinging vertical obstacles

Various reduced-order models have been developed to quickly model high pressure underexpanded jets. One example is the two-layer partitioning model which was developed to model underexpanded jets, but it has not been evaluated for high pressure jets with obstacles in the jet flow region. This research describes an improved two-layer partitioning model based on the Abel-Noble equation of state that is applied here to model horizontal jet flows impacting a vertical obstacle with validations against high pressure gas experiments, full CFD simulations and a revised notional nozzle model based on the Abel-Noble equation of state. The improved two-layer partitioning model accurately predicts the gas concentrations on the obstacle for a 15 MPa underexpanded jet while consuming much less computational resources and time compared with the full CFD simulation.     

Application of the novel Droplet digital PCR technology for identification of meat species

The authenticity and traceability of meat products are issues of primary importance to ensure food safety. Unfortunately, food adulteration (e.g. the addition of inexpensive cuts to minced meat products) and mislabelling (e.g. the inclusion of meat from species other than those declared) happens frequently worldwide. The aim of this study was to apply a droplet digital PCR assay for the detection and quantification (copies μL⁻¹) of the beef, pork, horse, sheep, chicken and turkey in meat products. The analysis conducted on commercial meat showed the presence of traces of DNA from other animal species than those declared. We show that the method is highly sensitive, specific and accurate (accuracy = 100%). This method could be adopted by competent food safety authorities to verify compliance with the labelling of meat products and to ensure quality and safety throughout the meat supply chain, from primary production to consumption.     

Application of Cudrania tricuspidata leaf extract as a washing agent to inactivate Listeria monocytogenes on fresh-cut romaine lettuce and kale

The present study aimed to examine the antimicrobial activity of silkworm thorn (Cudrania tricuspidata) leaf extract (CTLE) and its application as a washing agent for fresh-cut romaine lettuce and kale. The antimicrobial activities of CTLE at various concentrations against Listeria monocytogenes were determined using disc diffusion and viable cell count assays, and CTLE exhibited strong inactivation of L. monocytogenes. In particular, after the treatment with 0.4% CTLE, the protein content of L. monocytogenes cells was significantly (P < 0.05) decreased from 507.21 to 254.58 μg mL⁻¹, and damaged cells were observed by scanning electron microscopy. CTLE washing resulted in approximately 2-log reduction of microbial growth, similar to that of 0.01% NaOCl. In addition, CTLE washing did not affect the quality of romaine lettuce and kale. Therefore, these results suggest that CTLE is applicable as a new washing agent for inactivating L. monocytogenes on fresh-cut romaine lettuce and kale.