Nile red staining for rapid screening of plastic-suspect particles in edible seafood tissues.

Concerns regarding microplastic (MP) contamination in aquatic ecosystems and its impact on seafood require a better understanding of human dietary MP exposure including extensive monitoring. While conventional techniques for MP analysis like infrared or Raman microspectroscopy provide detailed particle information, they are limited by low sample throughput, particularly when dealing with high particle numbers in seafood due to matrix-related residues. Consequently, more rapid techniques need to be developed to meet the requirements of large-scale monitoring.

Observation of a temperature dependent anomaly in the UV translucency of milk useful for UV-C preservation techniques.

Milk fat globules and casein micelles are the dispersed particles of milk that are responsible for its typical white turbid appearance and usually make it difficult to treat with modern ultraviolet light (UV) preservation techniques. The translucency of milk depends largely on the refractive indices of the dispersed particles, which are directly affected by temperature changes, as incorporated triglycerides can crystallize, melt or transition into other polymorphs. These structural changes have a significant effect on the scattering properties and thus on the UV light propagation in milk, especially by milk fat globules.

Characterisation of iron oxide-containing pearlescent pigments used as food colourants: nano-labelling required in the EU?

Pearlescent pigments are used as colourants to increase the attractiveness of food products, especially in the patisserie and confectionery sector. They can be seen as composite materials and consist of thin potassium aluminium silicate (E 555, mica) platelets as carrier material, coated with a thin metal oxide layer of TiO (E 171) and/or iron oxides (E 172). The European Food Safety Authority stated in 2020 that mica-based pearlescent pigments as a whole should be evaluated as new food additives.

Predicting the time to detect moderately virulent African swine fever virus in finisher swine herds using a stochastic disease transmission model.

Background: African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious and devastating pig disease that has caused extensive global economic losses. Understanding ASF virus (ASFV) transmission dynamics within a herd is necessary in order to prepare for and respond to an outbreak in the United States. Although the transmission parameters for the highly virulent ASF strains have been estimated in several articles, there are relatively few studies focused on moderately virulent strains.

Simulated Flock-Level Shedding Characteristics of Turkeys in Ten Thousand Bird Houses Infected with H7 Low Pathogenicity Avian Influenza Virus Strains.

Understanding the amount of virus shed at the flock level by birds infected with low pathogenicity avian influenza virus (LPAIV) over time can help inform the type and timing of activities performed in response to a confirmed LPAIV-positive premises. To this end, we developed a mathematical model which allows us to estimate viral shedding by 10,000 turkey toms raised in commercial turkey production in the United States, and infected by H7 LPAIV strains. We simulated the amount of virus shed orally and from the cloaca over time, as well as the amount of virus in manure.