EVIDENCE OF CROSS-CONTAMINATION OF AEROMONAS HYDROPHILA BY FINGERPRINTING: SIGNIFICANCE FOR FOOD SAFETY

The prevalence of Aeromonas hydrophila in a local wet market was studied and fingerprinting was used to prove the cross‐contamination. This study describes the use of antibiotic‐resistant plasmid profiles and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay to characterize strains of A. hydrophila. Almost all strains had multiple antibiotic resistances and carried small plasmid(s) of 1.4–6.0 MDa that enabled the A. hydrophila to be grouped into eight plasmid patterns. The RAPD‐polymerase chain reaction profiles observed after electrophoretic separation of the amplified products using primer GEN15007, which enable the A. hydrophila strains to be grouped into three clusters, demonstrate that the A. hydrophila strains were genetically heterogeneous. These results suggest that RAPD assay could be a valuable tool for epidemiological studies. In addition, antibiotic‐resistant and plasmid profiling can also be used as adjunct tools in this study.     

CLASSIFICATION OF ON-LINE POULTRY CARCASSES WITH BACKPROPAGATION NEURAL NETWORKS1

A transportable system equipped with an overhead shackle conveying line and a visible/near-infrared (Vis/NIR) spectrophotometer system was assembled and used at a poultry slaughter plant. The reflectance spectra of each poultry carcass hung on the moving shackle was measured with a stationary fiber optic probe, which was set 2 to 5 cm away from the carcass, depending on the size. Reflectance spectra of wholesome and unwholesome poultry carcasses on the moving shackle, set at 60 or 90 birds/min, were measured, either under room light or in a dark environment. The scanning time for each carcass was 0.32 s. Most of the unwholesome poultry carcasses for this study were septicemic and air-sacculitic. The average accuracy in classifying wholesome and unwholesome carcasses was above 94%. All the misclassified carcasses were air-sacculitic. With a shackle speed of 90 birds/min, the highest average accuracy was obtained when the reflectance was measured in the dark (97.5%). The results showed that the accuracy of classification could be improved with the maintenance of a consistent lighting environment. All results indicated the Vis/NIR spectrophotometer system would be a highly accurate, robust tool for on-line, real-time classification of wholesome and unwholesome carcasses.     

亚临界和超临界状态下甲苯-多环芳香烃体系的气液相平衡

The phase behaviors of toluene/polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon mixture systems were investigated with a continuous-flow type apparatus at 573.2,598.2.623.2 and 648.2K,while the pressure changed from 1 tp 5 MPa,The pseudo-binary phase behaviors were predicted with the Peng-Robinson equation of state with interaction parameters between toluene and pseudo-components considered.The phase diagrams of the system have been classified following the category of phase boundary diagram models.The extraction selectivity and efficiency of toluene as a solvent was discussed by comparing with that of hexane .The prediction model for selectivity was also suggested.     

Surimi-Starch Interactions Based on Mixture Design and Regression Models

Interaction effects of starch mixtures within surimi gels were investigated by modified distance-based design and analyzed by linear and nonlinear backward regression models. Nonlinear regression model showed highly significant interaction terms of starch-surimi, starch-water, and starchstarch. The response trace plot revealed that shear stress and shear strain were quite sensitive to changes in amounts of starch components. Optimum solution with combinations of various starches, surimi, and water was provided using linear and nonlinear programming.     

Effect of preparation conditions on the formation of primary ZnO particles in filter expansion aerosol generator

Abstracts are not published in this journal     

Fabrication of cast carbon steel with ultrafine TiC particles

The carbon steels dispersed with ultrafine TiC particles were fabricated by conventional casting method. The casting process is more economical than other available routes for metal matrix composite production, and the large sized components to be fabricated in short processing time. However, it is extremely difficult to obtain uniform dispersion of ultrafine ceramic particles in liquid metals due to the poor wettability and the specific gravity difference between the ceramic particle and metal matrix. In order to solve these problems, the mechanical milling (MM) and surface-active processes were introduced. As a result, Cu coated ultrafine TiC powders made by MM process using high energy ball milling machine were mixed with Sn powders as a surfactant to get better wettability by lowering the surface tension of carbon steel melt. The microstructural investigations by OM show that ultrafine TiC particles are distributed uniformly in carbon steel matrix. The grain sizes of the cast matrix with ultrafine TiC particles are much smaller than those without ultrafine TiC particles. This is probably due to the fact that TiC particles act as nucleation sites during solidification. The wear resistance of cast carbon steel composites added with MMed TiC/Cu-Sn powders is improved due to grain size refinement.     

EXTENDING THE SHELF LIFE OF SET FISH BALL

Set fish ball is an extruded surimi‐based product that is popular in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries. Oversetting of set fish ball occurs at chilled temperature during storage. Shelf‐life extension of set fish ball by reducing oversetting conditions and microbial counts were examined. Encapsulated citric acid (CT) and glucono‐delta‐lactone (GDL) were used to reduce oversetting. Acetic acid, GDL and chitosan were used to inhibit the growth of microorganisms. Shelf life was measured for a period of 21 days at 4C. At day 21, a reduction of 46, 56 and 26% in breaking force compared with the control (without additives) was observed for 0.5% GDL, 1.0% GDL and CT, respectively. GDL at 1.0% was shown to be the most effective in controlling the oversetting of set gel. Chitosan (1%) dissolved in acetic acid maintained both aerobic plate and yeast counts at <1 log cfu/g throughout 21 days of storage.