Antonio Valero

University of Cordoba (Spain) | UCO · Department of Bromatology and Food Technology

The General State Administration establishes the food safety control and cooperation mechanisms with the competent authorities of the administrations responsible for official controls. In order to improve the quality and homogeneity of official controls related to biological hazards in food, the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN)...

Cocoa tree plantations aim to harvest grains found in the cob to produce cocoa and chocolate. There has been a growing interest in valorizing the secondary components of the cocoa fruit, such as the peel, placenta, and mucilage/pulp, as valuable sources of nutrients for healthy food preparation. In other words, by-products derived from these raw ma...

The genus Salicornia is a perennial halophyte found in saline ecosystems in the Mediterranean area and presents socioeconomic, ecological, and numerous health interests. This work aimed to examine the nutritional profile of the aerial part of Salicornia arabica (S. arabica), as well as the antioxidant properties, antimicrobial activity, and cytotox...

Besides protecting food from contact with the external environment and from airborne contamination, packaging can also contribute to prolong food shelf-life and increase food safety. The gaseous environment within a package can delay or inhibit microbial growth or modify the microbial ecology of the product. Evaluating the microbiological safety an...

Salmonellosis is globally recognized as one of the leading causes of acute human bacterial gastroenteritis resulting from the consumption of animal-derived products, particularly those derived from the poultry and pig industry. Salmonella spp. is generally associated with self-limiting gastrointestinal symptoms, lasting between 2 and 7 days, which...

Artisanal salami is produced in small-scale production plants, where the lack of full automation might result in higher variability in food intrinsic properties. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the inter- and intra-batch variability in physicochemical parameters and its impact on microbial quality and occurrence of foodborne pathogens...

A study was conducted to evaluate the microbiological quality, safety, and variability along the production chain of two artisanal salchich´ on factories in Andalusia. Aerobic mesophilic bacteria (AMB), total coliforms, coagulasepositive Staphylococcus spp. (CPS), lactic-acid bacteria, moulds and yeasts and the presence of bacterial pathogens were...

Different varieties of table olives have suitable morphological characteristics that allow them to be processed as Spanish‐style green table olives. However, the Campiñesa cultivar presents difficulties when submitted to a lactic fermentation, in spite of being inoculated with dedicated starter cultures such as OleicaStarter. The strategy followed...

Artisanal fermented products constitute a worthwhile source of autochthonous lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Their potential as biopreservatives is noticeable given their pathogen-antagonistic capabilities, technological and organoleptical efficiency. This study aimed to characterise the fate of autochthonous LAB in artisanal fresh raw goat milk cheese...

Aquaculture is becoming a strategic sector for many national economies to supply the increasing demand for fish from consumers. Fish culture conditions and processing operations can lead to an increase in microbial contamination of farmed fish that may shorten the shelf-life of fish products and byproducts, and ready-to-eat fishery products. The ob...

In the present study, the efficiency of the combined effect of microwave irradiation treatments together with salt concentration was assessed against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Microbial survival has been modeled through a one-step Weibull equation considering the non-isothermal profiles during the heating treatments. Three sodium...

The occurrence of Cronobacter spp. was investigated in table eggs and egg-based desserts obtained from retail stores. Cronobacter was isolated from 57 out of 180 (31.7%) (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 26–43%) examined samples of eggs and egg-based desserts. The prevalence of Cronobacter spp. was significantly higher in farm eggs (67%) (P < 0.05) th...

This study focused on optimizing the fermentation-based production of Exopolysaccharides (EPS) from Enterococcus faecium F58 initially isolated from traditional Moroccan Jben, a fresh goat cheese. Using the central composite design, yeast extract, MnSO4, and time affect EPS concentration. The highest experimental and predicted EPS production yields...

The collection of high-quality data, which are generally obtained through the performance of challenge tests, is essential for building predictive models. In these tests, food samples or modified culture media are artificially contaminated with target microbial cultures and exposed to a series of environmental conditions, mimicking real-life scenar...

Essential oils (EOs) are a class of natural products that exhibit potent antimicrobial properties against a broad spectrum of bacteria. Inhibition diameters (IDs) and minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) are the typical measures of antimicrobial activity for extracts and EOs obtained from Cinnamomum, Salvia, and Mentha species. This study used...

Rice pudding is a popular artisanal dairy dessert highly consumed in the main rice-producing countries, including Egypt. This study aimed to evaluate and model the growth of Listeria monocytogenes in rice pudding dessert stored at different temperatures (4-25 °C) over its shelf-life. Lab-scale rice pudding samples were prepared following a traditio...

A harmonised microbiological survey was performed in two artisanal factories of raw goat milk cheeses (A and B) located in the Andalusian region (Spain). A total of 165 different control points or samples (raw materials, final products, food-contact surfaces [FCS], and air) were examined as microbial and pathogen sources of contamination of artisan...

Domiati cheese is the most popular type of white soft cheese in Egypt. Staphylococcus aureus is a common microorganism that can easily contaminate Domiati cheese during processing and distribution. Enterotoxigenic S. aureus strains produce staphylococcal enterotoxins (SE) that have been involved in food poisoning outbreaks worldwide. The aim of the...

Diffusion methods, including agar disk-diffusion and agar well-diffusion, as well as dilution methods such as broth and agar dilution, are frequently employed to evaluate the antimicrobial capacity of extracts and essential oils (EOs) derived from Origanum L., Syzygium aromaticum, and Citrus L. The results are reported as inhibition diameters (IDs)...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the resistome and virulome diversity of 43 isolates of Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica and S. aureus collected from artisanal fermented meat and dairy products and their production environments in Portugal, Spain, Italy and Morocco. After DNA extraction, genomes were sequenced, and de novo...

Table olives are one of the most important fermented vegetables in the Mediterranean countries. Although this fermented vegetable has a long record of microbial safety, various studies have shown the presence of Listeria monocytogenes during table olive processing. This study focused on evaluating the behaviour of a cocktail of L. monocytogenes str...

The importance of thermotolerant Campylobacter spp. as a food-borne pathogen continues to increase and there is a great need for rapid quantitative results in routine diagnostics. However, currently, only the culture-based ISO method is authorized for use in the context of official food control. The present study therefore aimed to assess the suita...

A real-time Delphi-type expert knowledge elicitation (EKE) survey was conducted aimed at identifying the points in the production chain where contamination with Listeria monocytogenes would be most likely to occur as well as the sites where contamination niches harboring it was most likely to be found in food facilities. The survey focused on three...

Artisanal cheeses are produced in small-scale production plants, where the lack of full automation and control of environmental and processing parameters suggests a potential risk of microbial contamination. The aim of this study was to perform a longitudinal survey in an Italian artisanal factory producing a spreadable soft cheese with no rind to...

BACKGROUND The purpose of the present study was to examine the inactivation of Salmonella enterica (50 μL; 10⁹ CFU g⁻¹), Listeria monocytogenes (50 μL; 10⁹ CFU g⁻¹), and murine norovirus (MNV‐1; 50 μL; 10⁷ 50% tissue culture infectious dose (TCID50) mL⁻¹) on whole and fresh‐cut strawberries after 2 min disinfection treatments (water (H2O), chlorine...

This study was carried out to assess the bacteriological profile and to model the combined effects of physicochemical parameters on Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 levels in Amlou, a typical Moroccan traditional spread food made with argan oil, sweet almonds, and honey or sugar. Microbiological analyses of the samples (n = 44), collected from different...

Predictive microbiology and quantitative microbial risk assessment software tools for food safety management and assessment should cover the needs of a variety of target-users. Current trends on software development evidence the efforts made to harmonize data formats and model annotations, which foster the interoperability between the available res...

The behaviour of Listeria monocytogenes was investigated in soft pasteurized milk cheese elaborated with different salt concentrations (1.17 and 0.30% w/w) and in cured raw sheep milk cheese over storage up to 189 days at different isothermal conditions. Commercial 25-g cheese samples were inoculated with a 4-strain cocktail of L. monocytogenes (se...

La presente investigación está enfocada al desperdicio de mucílago fresco del cacao Theobroma cacao L., proveniente de las plantaciones de cacao de diversas zonas del Cantón Quevedo, ubicadas en la provincia de Los Ríos, perteneciente al Ecuador. La zona es tropical, húmeda con una temperatura media de 16 grados centígrados. La variedad de cacao em...

Knowing the Campylobacter spp. load at each stage of production can be helpful in selecting appropriate control methods. The aim of the present study was therefore to evaluate the quantitative contamination of broilers with Campylobacter spp. at different levels of production (pre-harvest, harvest, and post-harvest) by using the culture method, and...

Beer spoilage caused by microorganisms, which is a major concern for brewers, produces undesirable aromas and flavors in the final product and substantial financial losses. To address this problem, brewers need easy-to-apply tools that inform them of beer susceptibility to the microbial spoilage. In this study, a growth/no growth (G/NG) binary logi...

“Turrialba cheese” is a Costa Rican fresh cheese highly appreciated due to its sensory characteristics and artisanal production. As a ready-to-eat dairy product, its formulation could support Listeria monocytogenes growth. L. monocytogenes was isolated from 14.06% of the samples and the pathogen was able to grow under all tested conditions. Due to...

The presence of Vibrio species in table olive fermentations has been confirmed by molecular biology techniques in recent studies. However, there has been no report of any foodborne outbreak caused by Vibrio due to the consumption of table olives, and their role as well as the environmental conditions allowing their survival in table olives has not...

Chicken breast meat is an important vehicle of pathogenic Escherichia coli, which raises public health concerns. The objective of this study was to evaluate and model the combined effects of caffeine and UV-C irradiation on E. coli levels on raw chicken breast fillets. Chicken breast samples were pre-treated with different concentrations of caffein...

Aims: To reduce the burden of Campylobacter at different stages of the food chain, recent studies have shown the effectiveness of organic acids as a risk mitigation strategy. However, very little is known about possible adaptation responses of Campylobacter that lead to reduced susceptibility to organic acids. Here we investigated adaptive respons...

In this study, small-sized green olives were assessed for processing as Spanish-style table olives. Technological adaptations included the selection of three lye treatments, combined with a 3 h washing, a subsequent fermentation for 105 days in brine (12% NaCl (w/v) acidified with hydrochloric acid, 2.3 mL/L of brine) using a starter culture (Oleic...

Strawberry production represents an agriculture sector of high relevance for the Spanish economy, due to their strawberries, highly appreciated for their organoleptic characteristics and health benefits. However, the reported outbreaks in different countries by enteric pathogens associated with this product have increased the safety concerns among...

Cheeses are traditional products widely consumed throughout the world that have been frequently implicated in foodborne outbreaks. Predictive microbiology models are relevant tools to estimate microbial behavior in these products. The objective of this study was to conduct a review on the available modeling approaches developed in cheeses, and to i...

Increasing consumption of blueberries is associated with appreciation of their organoleptic properties together with their multiple health benefits. The increasing number of outbreaks caused by pathogenic microorganisms associated with their consumption in the fresh state and the rapid spoilage of this product which is mainly caused by moulds, has...

La legislación en materia de seguridad alimentaria ha ido encaminada hacia una mayor estandarización de las produccio­nes que, junto con las certificaciones de calidad existentes, tienen como objetivo un incremento del nivel de protección de la salud pública. Está constatada la necesidad de que la industria agroali­mentaria disponga de herramientas...

Legislation on food safety has led towards the standardization of food productions which, together with the existing quality certifications, aim to increase the level of protection of public health. It is recognized the need for the agri-food industry to have tools to harmonize their productions and to adequately manage their quality systems in ord...

Zoonotic hepatitis E, mainly caused by hepatitis E virus (HEV) genotype (gt) 3, is a foodborne disease that has emerged in Europe in recent decades. The main animal reservoir for genotype 3 is domestic pigs. Pig liver and liver derivates are considered the major risk products, and studies focused on the presence of HEV in pig muscles are scarce. Th...

The microbial interaction between Salmonella enterica and the main postharvest fungal pathogens of strawberries was evaluated. Inoculation of fungal suspension was done 2 (D2) and 1 (D1) day(s) before and at the same time (D0) as S. enterica. Fruits were stored at 20 °C and 4 °C. At both temperatures, Botrytis cinerea and Rhizopus stolonifer caused...

In this study, the inhibitory capacity of Lactobacillus sakei strain L115 against Listeria monocytogenes has been assayed at 4, 8, 11, 15 and 20 °C in broth culture. Besides, the use of predictive microbiology models for describing growth of both microorganisms in monoculture and coculture has been proposed. A preliminary inhibitory test confirmed...

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is one of the most concerning foodborne pathogens due to its ability to produce wide varieties of heat-stable enterotoxins. Hence, this study was designed to investigate the prevalence of the enterotoxigenic S. aureus strains and their enterotoxins in milk and in some representative artisanal Egyptian dairy product...

Contamination of raw poultry meat with foodborne pathogens could occur because of improper handling at primary production and slaughterhouse levels. Low microbial prevalence data often consists of a high amount of non-detections (zero positives), so a flexible framework is required to characterise the underlying microbial distribution and conduct r...

Processed cheese from cow's milk is one of the most consumed dairy products worldwide. Since this product is defined as ready-to-eat, foodborne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes can represent a health concern for susceptible populations. In this study, the individual and combined kinetic behaviour of four L. monocytogenes serogroups (namely,...

The Ultraviolet-C technology is proposed as an alternative to thermal pasteurization for decontamination of soymilk, as heat treatments may adversely affect its quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate and model the influence of different processing temperatures (4-30 ºC) on the inactivation of Salmonella Enteritidis in soymilk at different U...

The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of milk collection frequency (24 h versus 48 h) and milking dayshift (morning and evening) on total mesophilic aerobic bacteria (MAB) and psychrotrophic bacteria (PSY) counts in raw milk samples. MAB counts were determined by flow cytometry (BactoScan) and PSY counts by the plate counting agar meth...

Campylobacter is considered an important foodborne pathogen, having a high impact on public health burden. Source allocation studies identified broiler meat as the most important food transmission vehicle of Campylobacter. In this regard, microbiological limits are under development in the EU and characterisation of microbial contamination seems to...

The European Food Safety Authority asked the Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) to deliver a scientific opinion providing: (i) a review of the approaches used by the BIOHAZ Panel to address requests from risk managers to suggest the establishment of microbiological criteria; (ii) guidance on the required scientific evidence, data and methods/tool...

Our study aims at establishing and implementing the HACCP and traceability system, in an integrated approach, of ice cream processing in order to control food borne safety hazards, to minimize the production and distribution of unsafe or poor quality products, thereby the potential food safety risks and associated food recalls. Internal information...

The kneading treatment of the fresh curd in hot water is a critical control point in the manufacturing of mozzarella. Factors such as the ratio between hot water and curd mass, the rheological properties, and the mixing and kneading activity affect the processing time and the internal temperature of the curd. The aim of this study was to investigat...

Traditionally, fish processors have regarded quality assurance as the responsibility of the regulatory governmental agency, and the means used by these agencies have been the formulation of food laws and regulations, inspection of facilities, and processes and final product testing. Microbiological hazards in foodstuffs form a major source of foodb...

The process of transforming the olive drupe into a palatable food is the result of complex biochemical reactions that are influenced by microorganisms, which determine the quality, safety, and flavor of the final product. Enterobacteriaceae, Propionibacteriaceae, lactic acid bacteria (LAB), and yeasts are among the most relevant microbial groups th...