Food safety and assurance: the role of information technology

The dairy industry is under pressure to improve product security, implement efficient risk management and rapid response capabilities, and manage quality 'from trough to table' to achieve full, verifiable traceability. In order to invest proactively in the future of the industry, individual processors must reassess their handling of quality and traceability data for strategic and competitive success, make appropriate physical configuration and operational adjustments, and deploy readily available technological tools to meet legislative and consumer demands, enhance product quality and increase operational efficiency and profits.     

Some issues of traceability in the field of surface topography measurement

This paper highlights some of the reasons that surface topography measurements can have an ill-defined traceability route. Whereas the most common instruments on the shop floor are two-dimensional (2D) or profiling systems, there is a clear industrial trend towards three-dimensional (3D) surface topography instruments. Currently, there is no clear traceability route for three-dimensional measurements, and recent comparisons show alarming discrepancies between the various commercial instruments. This paper reviews these instrumental problems and highlights the need for unambiguous mathematical definitions for surface texture parameters and rigorous uncertainty evaluations. This paper also reviews some of the metrology issues that will be encountered when using three-dimensional surface texture measuring instruments to measure complex features on microsystems.     

聚合酶链式反应(PCR)荧光检测研究

本研究了荧光能量传递技术（fluorescence ersonance energy transfer,FRET)，建立了一套基于该理论在聚合酶链式反应（PCR）中用于荧光检测和溯源性研究的实验装置，并进行了检验。     

Indian perspective in food traceability: A review

India is the second largest producer of fruit and vegetables in the world. Fruit production in India has increased 89% in the last decade. In the present paper It is exposed the necessity for a proper traceability in the Indian food industry, because the sector is demanding an adequate system due to the precarious nature of existing supply chain, and to reduce the numerous cases of food safety incidents and fraudulence. This work also presents the existing traceability techniques in India which include RFID, Holograms, Barcode, Nuclear techniques and other tracking media to monitor production process. Furthermore it is revealed the initiatives implementation from APEDA and its association with GS1 India in the form of Anarnet, Peanut.net, Meat.net, and Grapenet for the Indian farming products, as well as several ICTs initiatives that are actively working in many states of India.However the development of an effective food traceability system is affected by a numbers of factors like restrictive government marketing standardization, insecure policies and unstable actions for food safety, underdeveloped and unorganized infrastructure in market area and the supply chains, from the farmers to non-existent cold chain facilities and small local stores, and inadequate agricultural practices with large number of small and medium industries and famers. Therefore an effective food traceability system is not only an important tool to manage food quality and safety risks, but also to promote the development of effective supply chain management in India.     

Improved system for the automatic calibration of standard resistors in the meg-ohm range

An automated measuring system has been developed to improve the calibration of high value standard resistors in the meg-ohm range at the National Institute for Standards (NIS), Egypt. This system is suitable for the calibration of the standard resistors from 100 kΩ to 100 MΩ using the DMM-based method by the substitution technique where the unknown resistor and the standard resistor are indirectly compared in the same position using a dummy resistor as a short-term reference standard. The system operation is automatically controlled by using a Lab VIEW program which is especially developed for this purpose. The uncertainty for the high value standard resistors measurement of this system is estimated. The performance of this system is also evaluated by comparing the measurement results obtained from this technique with those obtained by the direct comparison DMM-based method. It is found that the measurement uncertainty of with this method spans from 4.1 × 10⁻⁶ to 27 × 10⁻⁶, while it spans from 40 × 10⁻⁶ to 110 × 10⁻⁶ for the direct comparison method. The relative differences of the deviation from nominal values of the working standards resistors measured by the two methods are found to be within their expanded uncertainties.     

Metrological evaluation of skin conductance measurements

Electrodermal activity is a frequently measured physiological response in various applications. It is also being increasingly used in clinical applications. Numerous published papers report results of skin conductance measurements in absolute values, but few are concerned with the quality of results. This paper describes a procedure for metrological evaluation of skin conductance measurement. Three commercial devices for measuring skin conductance were calibrated by comparison with a precision digital ohmmeter used as a reference. Combined measurement uncertainty of skin conductance meters was calculated by means of uncertainty of reference instrument and uncertainties due to measurement repeatability, reproducibility, resolution and environmental condition. Additionally, a procedure for evaluation of the effect of electrode displacement and electrode gel was shown. A model of finger skin conductance profile was build. Measurement uncertainty analysis showed that contributions due to resolution and sensitivity of the measuring device, usually obtained from specifications, are negligible when compared to uncertainty of measuring method. Our results indicate that measurement uncertainty does not meet target uncertainty requirements for certain applications.     

Whole-chain traceability,is it possible to trace your hamburger to a particular steer,a U. S. perspective

Traceability through the entire food supply chain from conception to consumption is a pressing need for the food industry, consumers and government regulators. A robust, whole-chain traceability system is needed that will effectively address food quality, food safety and food defense issues by providing real-time, transparent and reliable information from beef production through slaughter and distribution to the consumer. Traceability is an expanding part of the food safety continuum that minimizes the risk of foodborne diseases, assures quality and cold-chain integrity. Traceability can be a positive competitive marketing edge for beef producers who can verify specific quality attributes such as humane production or grass fed or Certified Organic. In this review we address the benefits as well as the remaining issues for whole-chain traceability in the beef industry, with particular focus on ground beef for the markets in the United States.     

Listeria monocytogenes prevalence, contamination levels and strains characterization throughout the Parma ham processing chain

In order to estimate prevalence, levels and patterns of Listeria monocytogenes contamination, a total of 774 swine carcasses were traced along the Parma ham production chain. Analyses were conducted on isolates originated from the same carcass, collected at different stages during processing, resulting in 0.2% (faeces at intestine removal from carcasses), 3.0% (swabbing of carcasses), 12.5% (fresh hams) and 2.0% prevalence (dry-cured hams). The highest contamination levels of L. monocytogenes were reached in fresh hams after cutting and were followed by a marked decrease during the subsequent processing stages. All the 132 isolates were characterized by serotyping and Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE). Transfer of L. monocytogenes between different stages of the processing chain was not reported, whereas processing itself has proved to be an important cause of contamination. The sole isolate of fecal origin belonged to a pulsotype that was uncommon to any of those recovered in carcasses, fresh hams and dry-cured hams, indicating that contaminations from farms does not significantly affect Parma ham production. For the majority of the strains isolated from the same production plants, PFGE profiles were highly similar. In several cases, the same pulsotypes were recurrently detected, over time, in carcasses and fresh ham samples sharing the same processing environment. A_w levels were also measured, showing that drying of the ham surface was able to induce a considerable decrease of the contamination levels, although unable to ultimately remove L. monocytogenes.     

纳米力学测量系统的载荷与位移溯源校准方法研究

对纳米力学测量系统在准静态压入模式下的载荷因子、位移因子的量值溯源校准方法进行了研究。通过一组标准砝码产生标准载荷,拟合标准砝码质量和传感器输出电压得到载荷因子;利用激光干涉仪测量压针位移,拟合干涉仪位移值和传感器输出电压得到位移因子。采用标准样品对校准结果进行了试验验证,校准后的纳米力学测量系统在国际比对测量中取得了良好结果。