Bacteriophages are ubiquitous in our world, mainly in the oceans, soil, the water and food
we consume. They can be used efficiently in modern biotechnology, as well as alternatives
to antibiotics for many antibiotic resistant bacterial strains. Phages can be used as vehicles
for vaccines both DNA and protein, for the detection of pathogenic bacterial strain, as biocontrol
agents in agriculture and food industry. This review outlines the properties as well
as the influence of different external physical and chemical factors like temperature and
acidity on phage persistence. A better understanding of the complex problem of phage
sensitivity to external factors may be useful for other researchers working with phages.
Furthermore, the applications of bacteriophages were described in this paper as well.
Foodborne illness is a global burden that impacts a country politically, economically and
socio-economically. The severity of the burden can be unmeasurable as foodborne illness
is often an underestimated problem. In order to enlighten the burden, appropriate food
safety control measures should be taken. This study aimed to optimize a multiplex
Polymerase Chain Reaction (mPCR) detection method to identify foodborne pathogens
simultaneously. Six foodborne pathogens namely, Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli O157,
Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio cholerae, Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter
spp., were targeted in the mPCR detection method. Each mPCR parameter was tested and
the outcome was analysed to obtain a successful mPCR protocol to detect the targeted
foodborne pathogens. The amplified PCR products showed that the optimized mPCR
protocol will be a potential rapid diagnostic tool in foodborne pathogen detection.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), globally 600 million people suffer
from food-borne diseases (FBD), and 420,000 people die as a result. The European Food
Safety Authority (EFSA) has stated that FBD are linked to the food industry, with the
most common means of transmission being due to poor food handling and hygiene by
food handlers working in the food industry. The aim of this research was to investigate the
effectiveness of mandatory food handler training programmes (FHTP) to prevent FBD in
Malaysia and Ireland. To do this, the FHTP existing in Malaysia and Ireland were
analysed, in addition to the legislation they fall under in each respective country.
Effectiveness was determined by investigating the level of food safety knowledge (FSK)
and food safety practices (FSP) of food handlers in Malaysia and Ireland. A systematic
literature review (SLR) and a narrative literature review (NLR) were conducted for this
research. The SLR was based on the PRISMA diagram, using the Confidence in the
Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research (CERQual) approach to evaluate the
studies used for this research. A total of 8 Malaysian studies and 1 Irish study were used to
determine the level of FSK and FSP of food handlers in each respective country, to
examine the effectiveness of FHTP. The results of the studies used for this research have
depicted overall good FSP and FSK of food handlers in Malaysia and Ireland; yet trends
continue to show that food handlers are one of the biggest contributors to FBD,
demonstrating that FHTP are not effective in preventing FBD. The findings from this
research highlights that although these trainings can be an effective tool to prevent FBD, if
they are not executed correctly, food handlers will continue to contribute to FBD.
Food safety in Malaysia is not considered an issue yet. From the previous year (2005-
2015) records, the incidence rate of food poisoning had been fluctuating and despite that,
cases continue to occur especially among school students. As a developing nation, it is
high-time that Malaysia begins to emphasize on food safety to reduce the burden of
foodborne illness in the socio-economic development of the country, and at the same time,
gain benefits in terms of economic returns and trade through food safety enforcement.
Most importantly, public health is achieved through food safety implementation and
accentuation. The current standing point of the Malaysia’s food safety is discussed in this
review. In addition, the review will also discuss the role of academicians as intervention
contributions in tackling food safety issues. The review is hoped to provide valuable and
concentrated information and knowledge to readers in the light to drive Malaysia into
ensuring safer food for the public.
The continued and increasing development of antimicrobial resistant bacteria among the
foodborne pathogens had caused worldwide to be alarmed. Being the earliest to develop
antimicrobial resistance, Staphylococcus aureus is constantly monitored for any new
resistance development. The resistance development is often linked to wastewater and the
treatment plants where the pressure of antibiotic is the highest. Hence, this study
investigated on the prevalence of high antimicrobial resistant S. aureus in the wastewater
eluted from a poultry slaughterhouse. A total of thirty wastewater samples were collected
from a poultry slaughterhouse in Semenyih, Selangor. Most probable number (MPN)-
plating method was employed to enumerate the S. aureus count in the wastewater. The
results indicated that S. aureus was highly present whereby all samples (100%) were
positive and the concentration ranged between 11 – 2.1 x 104 MPN/ml. Isolated S. aureus
strains were screened for their antimicrobial susceptibility using the Kirby-Bauer Disk
Diffusion Test method to classify their antimicrobial resistance eleven antibiotics. The
MAR index measured was between 0.18 and 0.91, inferring that the strains are highly
antimicrobial resistance. All S. aureus strains were 100% resistant to ampicillin (25 µg)
and cefazolin (30 µg). 94.1% of the strains were resistant to penicillin (10 µg) which
phenotypically indicated these strains are Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA).
Notably, 17.6% of the strains developed resistance to vancomycin and was categorized as
Vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA). There is a need to take drastic preventive
measures to control the resistance development in S. aureus to conserve public health.
The revolution of agriculture through biotechnology have produced large-scale of genetically
modified crops which brought up a controversy on the safety usage of genetically modified
organisms (GMOs). It has been implemented globally that all GMO products and its derived
ingredients should have regulations on the usage and labelling. Thus, it is necessary to develop
methods that allow rapid screening of GMO products to comply with the regulations. This
study employed a reliable and flexible multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method for
the rapid detection of transgenic elements in genetically modified soy and maize along with
the soybean LECTIN gene and maize ZEIN gene respectively. The selected four common
transgenic elements were 35S promoter (35S); Agrobacterium tumefaciens nopaline synthase
terminator (NOS); 5-enolypyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (epsps) gene; and Cry1Ab
delta-endotoxin (cry1Ab) gene. Optimization of the multiplex PCR methods were carried out
by using 1% Roundup ReadyTM Soybean (RRS) as the certified reference material for soybean
that produced fourplex PCR method detecting 35S promoter, NOS terminator, epsps gene and
soybean LECTIN gene and by using 1% MON810 as the certified reference material for maize
that produced triplex PCR method detecting 35S promoter, cry1Ab gene and maize ZEIN gene
prior to screening of the GMO traits in various food products and animal feeds. 1/9 (11.1%) of
the animal feed contained maize and 1/15 (6.7%) of the soybean food products showed positive
results for the detection of GMO transgenic gene. None of the maize food products showed
positive results for GMO transgenic gene. In total, approximately 4% of the food products
and animal feed were positive as GMO. This indicated GMOs have not widely entered the
food chain. However, it is necessary to have an appropriate screening method due to GMOs’
unknown potential risk to humans and to animals. This rapid screening method will provide
leverage in terms of being economically wise, time saving and reliable.
To date, cholera has cycle the world seven times through the seven pandemic cycles that has
affected tens of millions of people. The objective of this study was to determine the presence
and density as well as the antibiotic resistance profile of Vibrio cholerae isolated from catfish
(Pangasius hypohthalamus). From the combination of the Most Probable Number-Polymerase
Chain Reaction-plating on TCBS agar methods, V. cholerae was detected in 32 samples and
V. cholerae O139 was detected in 7 samples, with a density ranging between
Irrespective of its health effects, street foods are very popular with the consumers. The main
purpose of this research was to study the biosafety of Escherichia coli in popiah, a Malaysian
street food sold at a roadside food stall and a restaurant in Sri Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia,
using the combination of the most probable number (MPN)-Polymerase Chain Reaction
(PCR) assay-plating on Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) agar methods. Using these biomolecular
methods, E. coli was detected in 12/15 (80%) and 11/15 (73%) of the collected samples from
the roadside food stall and the restaurant respectively. The incidence of stx virulence-associated
genes was detected in 1/15 (7%) among the E. coli isolated from samples taken from the
roadside food stall while the E. coli isolated from the restaurant was 3/15 (20%). The density
of E. coli ranged from 1100 MPN/g and the density of E. coli positive with stx genes
was