Stainless steel, widely present in the food industry, is frequently exposed to bacterial colonization with possible consequences on consumers’ health. 288 stainless steel disks with different roughness (0.25, 0.5 and 1 μm) were challenged with four Gram-negative (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 1402, Yersinia enterocolitica ATCC 9610 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27588) and four Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, Bacillus cereus ATCC 14579 and Listeria monocytogenes NCTT 10888) and underwent three different sanitizing treatments (UVC, alcohol 70% v/v and Gold lotion). Moreover, the same procedure was carried out onto the same surfaces after a nanotechnological surface coating (nanoXHAM^® D). A significant bactericidal effect was exerted by all of the sanitizing treatments against all bacterial strains regardless of roughness and surface coating. The nanoXHAM^® D coating itself induced an overall bactericidal effect as well as in synergy with all sanitizing treatments regardless of roughness. Stainless steel surface roughness is poorly correlated with bacterial adhesion and only sanitizing treatments can exert significant bactericidal effects. Most of sanitizing treatments are toxic and corrosive causing the onset of crevices that are able to facilitate bacterial nesting and growth. This nanotechnological coating can reduce surface adhesion with consequent reduction of bacterial adhesion, nesting, and growth.

BIOGENIC AMINE CONTENT AND CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL FEATURES OF ITALIAN FORMAGGIO DI FOSSA

Depression‐related disorders are the first cause of disability worldwide according to the World Health Organization, and there is limited availability of effective antidepressant medications without side effects. Similarly, pain management is a public health concern particularly due to the increase in use of opioid medications, which have a significant side effect profile. Flavonoids can modulate numerous physiological functions including emotional and anti‐nociceptive processes. Gold lotion (GL) is a natural product based on the extract of six citrus peels rich in flavonoids (0.45 mg/ml) with numerous reported biological activities. In the present study, we investigated the effect of repeated administration of GL in a battery of behavioral tests, including the open field test (OFT), forced swim test (FST), and von Frey test (vFT), in rats. While the OFT measured anxiolytic‐related effects, the FST evaluated depression‐related behavior. The vFT evaluated mechanical allodynia in two rat models of peripheral inflammation induced by carrageenan or complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) administration. Treatment with GL reduced mechanical allodynia after either carrageenan or CFA administration. On the other hand, repeated GL administration did not modulate any behavior evaluated by OFT or FST. Consumption of GL inhibits behavioral signs of inflammatory pain. Therefore, GL may be a valuable analgesic product to be used for inflammatory pain.

One of the main concerns of the food industry is microbial adhesion to food contact surfaces and consequent contamination. We evaluated the potential bacteriostatic/bactericidal efficacy of aluminum surfaces with different large-scale roughness (0.25, 0.5 and 1 μm) before and after the surface treatment with a special anodizing based on titanium oxide nanotechnology (DURALTI^®) and after 3 different sanitizing treatments, e.g., UV, alcohol and a natural product named Gold lotion. Four Gram-negative (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 1402, Yersinia enterocolitica ATCC 9610 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27588) and four Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, Bacillus cereus ATCC 14579 and Listeria monocytogenes NCTT 10888) bacteria were screened. As far as concerns aluminum surfaces without nanotechnology surface treatment, an overall bacteriostatic effect was observed for all strains with respect to the initial inoculum that was 10⁶ CFU/mL. Conversely, an overall bactericidal effect was observed both for Gram-negative and -positive bacteria on DURALTI^®-treated aluminum disks, regardless of roughness and sanitizing treatment. These results are innovative in terms of the great potential of the antibacterial activity of nanotechnologically treated food contact surfaces and their combination with some sanitizing agents that might be exploited in the food industry.

In the last century, the exponential increase of industrial food production led to the disappearance of “Italian traditional niche products”. However, national regulations allowed the preservation of several of these products, including the burrata cheese. Twenty-one samples from three different batches of “Burrata di Andria” Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) were purchased from dairy factories of the PGI consortium. Moisture value of PGI Burrata cheese was significantly higher than that before the PGI release. Moreover, a significantly lower NaCl value was detected in PGI raw milk Burrata cheeses with respect to non-PGI ones, while an opposite situation was detected in pasteurized milk Burrata cheeses. As for pH, in all PGI products lower values were observed with respect to non-PGI products, which resulted significant only in pasteurized ones. No Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, and Bacillus cereus were detected, while nine samples were positive for a nonpathogenic strain of Yersinia enterocolitica. Total viable count (TVC) and Escherichia coli resulted significantly lower in pasteurized than in raw milk PGI Burrata cheese samples. Although samples analyzed can be considered microbiologically safe, these were borderline and/or unsatisfactory for E. Coli and coagulase-positive staphylococci (CPS) according to process hygiene criteria established by European regulation. Therefore, different strategies should be adopted to improve products hygiene in the considered dairy factories.

The flow of information between farms and slaughterhouses about animal health, is a fundamental process for modern meat inspection. The information provided by Food Chain Information (FCI) systems in medium-small sized slaughterhouses in central Italy, focusing on the data provided on the animal’s health status, was performed through a five-year survey together with the number of organ and carcass condemnation for bovine, swine and ovine. The annual prevalence of condemnation was higher in bovine (from 10.49% in 2015 to 17.16% in 2019) than swine (from 6.39% in 2015 to 12.64% in 2019) and ovine (from 8.05% in 2019 to 8.98% in 2017), and an overall prevalence increase was observed in bovine and swine, throughout the years. The frequent lack of Food Chain Information (FCI) from farms to slaughterhouses should be emphasised, taking into consideration that a poor implementation of the system by farmers, could lead to a persistent risk of disease at farm level for these two species.