The overuse and misuse of antibiotics has contributed to the rise and spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria. To address this global public health threat, many countries have restricted the use of antibiotics as growth promoters and promoted the development of alternatives to antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine and animal farming. In food-animal production, acidifiers, bacteriophages, enzymes, phytochemicals, probiotics, prebiotics, and antimicrobial peptides have shown hallmarks as alternatives to antibiotics. This review reports the current state of these alternatives as growth-promoting factors for poultry and swine production and describes their mode of action. Recent findings on their usefulness and the factors that presently hinder their broader use in animal food production are identified by SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat) analysis. The potential for resistance development as well as co- and cross-resistance with currently used antibiotics is also discussed. Using predetermined keywords, we searched specialized databases including Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Antibiotic resistance cannot be stopped, but its spreading can certainly be hindered or delayed with the development of more alternatives with innovative modes of action and a wise and careful use of antimicrobials in a One Health approach.

Poly lactic acid (PLA) is a compostable, as well as recyclable, sustainable, versatile and environmentally friendly alternative, because the monomer of PLA-lactide (LA) is extracted from natural sources. PLA’s techno-functional properties are fairly similar to fossil-based polymers; however, in pristine state, its brittleness and delicacy during processing pose challenges to its potential exploitation in diverse food packaging applications. PLA is, therefore, re-engineered to improve its thermal, rheological, barrier and mechanical properties through nanoparticle (NP) reinforcement. This review summarises the studies on PLA-based nanocomposites (PLA NCs) developed by reinforcing inorganic metal/metallic oxide, graphite and silica-based nanoparticles (NPs) that exhibit remarkable improvement in terms of storage modulus, tensile strength, crystallinity, glass transition temperature (Tg) value, antimicrobial property and a decrease in water vapour and oxygen permeability when compared with the pristine PLA films. This review has also discussed the regulations around the use of metal oxide-based NPs in food packaging, PLA NC biodegradability and their applications in food systems. The industrial acceptance of NCs shows highly promising perspectives for the replacement of traditional petrochemical-based polymers currently being used for food packaging.

This study was conducted to investigate the components of a new resource food in China, peony seed oil (PSO) by GC-MS (gas chromatography–mass spectrometry), its inhibitory effects on carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes in vitro and its anti-diabetic effects on mice induced by streptozotocin (STZ). The results showed that peony seed oil showed weak anti-α-amylase activity; however, strong anti-α-glucosidase activity was noted. The GC-MS analysis of the oil showed 9 constituents of which α-linolenic acid was found to be the major component (38.66%), followed by linoleic acid (26.34%) and oleic acid (23.65%). The anti-diabetic potential of peony seed oil was tested in STZ induced diabetic mice. Administration of peony seed oil and glibenclamide reduced the blood glucose level and the area under curve (AUC) in STZ induced diabetic mice. There were significant increases in body weight, liver glycogen content, serum insulin level, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and decreases in glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C), total serum cholesterol (TC), and triglyceride (TG) in test groups as compared to the untreated diabetic groups. In vivo antioxidant studies on STZ induced diabetic mice revealed the reduction of malondialdehyde (MDA) and increase of glutathione peroxides (GSH-px), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione (GSH). The results provided a sound rationale for future clinical trials of oral administration of peony seed oil to alleviate postprandial hyperglycemia in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice.

Bacteria use quorum sensing (QS) systems to communicate with each other and regulate microbial group behavior, such as the secretion of virulence factors, including biofilm formation. In order to explore safe, edible agents, the potential of star anise (SA) as an anti-QS and antibiofilm agent and its possible application in milk safety were investigated. Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella Typhimurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and biosensor strain Chromobacterium violaceum were selected as test strains for QS, biofilm, and exopolysaccharide assays. The percent acidities and total plate counts were determined to evaluate the quality of biofilm-inoculated and noninoculated milk. The yield of SA extraction was 25.90% ± 0.2% (w/w). At sub-MIC, SA extract did not show any effect on bacterial growth. The production of violacein was inhibited by 89% by SA extract. The extract also inhibited the formation of biofilm by up to 87% in a dose-dependent manner. Inhibition rates of 70.45%, 42.82%, and 35.66% were...