About this Research Topic
During any stage of the food production process, from transportation, storage and packaging, the products can be contaminated with foodborne pathogens. For meat products specifically, the meat can be accidently contaminated during, or after, the slaughter process. Such pathogens include Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, which is an important cause of illness after eating undercooked or raw contaminated meat. Furthermore, pathogens such as Cronobacter sakazakii, that are found naturally in the environment can adhere to equipment and food packaging thus contaminating food products in this way.
Furthermore, fungi can grow in many different food products like milk, fruit, vegetables, cereals and meat, producing mycotoxins which cause spoilage and compromise food safety. Current decontamination strategies, like thermal technologies, can successfully reduce spoilage by fungi, but can also adversely impact the nutritional value, shelf life and sensory properties of the food products, thus decreasing marketability.
With the need to ensure safe and nutritious produce, methods and technologies for disinfection have been developed, including chemical, physical, non-physical and natural treatments. With the unsuitability of heat treatment on fresh produce, such as fruit and leafy vegetables, washing alone may also inadequately remove microbes. Therefore disinfectants are required to better remove microbiological load left behind after washing, but these must not present a threat to public or environmental health. However, chemical disinfectants for example, may present a risk to the environment and so the development of natural disinfectants is of particular interest.
This Research Topic aims to explore advances in such methods and the development of novel technologies for the disinfection of food products, to ensure safety for consumption while not compromising quality or nutritional value.
Subjects of interest include but are not limited to:
• Novel methods for the microbial disinfection of food products, such as raw meat, fruit, vegetables and grains
• Advances and future perspectives in technologies for disinfection applications to improve food safety
• Identification of natural disinfectants and their mechanisms and potential use in food industry
This Research Topic will accept Original Research, Review, Mini-Review, Opinion, Methods and Perspective articles.
Furthermore, fungi can grow in many different food products like milk, fruit, vegetables, cereals and meat, producing mycotoxins which cause spoilage and compromise food safety. Current decontamination strategies, like thermal technologies, can successfully reduce spoilage by fungi, but can also adversely impact the nutritional value, shelf life and sensory properties of the food products, thus decreasing marketability.
With the need to ensure safe and nutritious produce, methods and technologies for disinfection have been developed, including chemical, physical, non-physical and natural treatments. With the unsuitability of heat treatment on fresh produce, such as fruit and leafy vegetables, washing alone may also inadequately remove microbes. Therefore disinfectants are required to better remove microbiological load left behind after washing, but these must not present a threat to public or environmental health. However, chemical disinfectants for example, may present a risk to the environment and so the development of natural disinfectants is of particular interest.
This Research Topic aims to explore advances in such methods and the development of novel technologies for the disinfection of food products, to ensure safety for consumption while not compromising quality or nutritional value.
Subjects of interest include but are not limited to:
• Novel methods for the microbial disinfection of food products, such as raw meat, fruit, vegetables and grains
• Advances and future perspectives in technologies for disinfection applications to improve food safety
• Identification of natural disinfectants and their mechanisms and potential use in food industry
This Research Topic will accept Original Research, Review, Mini-Review, Opinion, Methods and Perspective articles.
Keywords: disinfection, contamination, cross-contamination, food safety, technology, foodborne pathogens
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
