Papers by Giampaolo Colavita
Italian Journal of Food Safety
Microplastics (MPs) are an emerging threat to marine ecosystems. One of the primary environmental... more Microplastics (MPs) are an emerging threat to marine ecosystems. One of the primary environmental risks is their bioavailability for aquatic organisms. Some fish and bivalves are of particular interest because their feeding strategies expose them to particles present in the water column. The aim of the study was to assess an extraction method in order to isolate and quantify MPs from fish gastrointestinal tract (n.8) and muscle (n.4), and bivalves (n.8) samples. The accuracy of the method was assessed through the calculation of the recovery percentage in samples spiked with a known number of MPs using microscopic observation. Successively, the extraction was preliminarily applied on n.20 mussels collected from mariculture plants of the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic Sea. The results of the digestion protocol showed an average extraction yield of 80% in fish gastrointestinal tracts, 90% in fish muscle samples, and 95% in mussels. Preliminary analysis carried out on farmed mussels showed...
Listeria ivanovii and L. monocytogenes, are the only pathogenic species of the genus Listeria and... more Listeria ivanovii and L. monocytogenes, are the only pathogenic species of the genus Listeria and share many virulence factors and mechanisms of pathogenicity. L. ivanovii shows host tropism towards small ruminants and rodents and much lower virulence for humans compared to L. monocytogenes. However, severe infections caused by L. ivanovii, resulting in bacteremia, abortion and stillbirth, occasionally occurred in immunocompromised persons and in pregnant women, while in immunocompetent hosts L. ivanovii can cause gastroenteritis. In this review the updated knowledge on virulence aspects and distribution of L. ivanovii in the environment and in food are summarized. Recent research on its virulence characters at genome level gave indications on how pathogenicity evolved in this bacterial species. As for L. monocytogenes, L. ivanovii infections occur after the ingestion of contaminated food, so an overview of reports regarding its distribution in the food products was carried out to o...
Microorganisms
This study aims to explore the intra-species distribution of genetic characteristics that favor t... more This study aims to explore the intra-species distribution of genetic characteristics that favor the persistence in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and host interaction of bacteria belonging to species of the Lacticaseibacillus genus. These bacterial species comprise commercial probiotics with the widest use among consumers and strains naturally occurring in GIT and in fermented food. Since little is known about the distribution of genetic traits for adhesion capacity, polysaccharide production, biofilm formation, and utilization of substrates critically important for survival in GIT, which influence probiotic characteristics, a list of genetic determinants possibly involved in such functions was created by a search for specific genes involved in the above aspects in the genome of the extensively characterized probiotic L. rhamnosus GG. Eighty-two gene loci were retrieved and their presence and variability in other Lacticaseibacillus spp. genomes were assessed by alignment with the ...
Nutrients, 2022
Lactobacilli constitute the dominant microbiota in many fermented foods and comprise widely used ... more Lactobacilli constitute the dominant microbiota in many fermented foods and comprise widely used probiotics. However, these bacteria cause rare infections mostly in diabetic and immunocompromised subjects in presence of risk factors such as prosthetic hearth valves and dental procedures or caries. The scope of this survey was re-assessing the pathogenic potential of lactobacilli based on the infection case reports published in the last three years. In 2019, 2020, and 2021, total of 17, 15, and 16 cases, respectively, including endocarditis, bacteremia, and other infections, were reported. These annual numbers are higher than those observed previously. Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus (13 cases), comprising strain GG (ATCC 53103) with established applications in healthcare, L. paracasei (7 cases), Lactobacillus acidophilus (5 cases), L. jensenii (5 cases), Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (3 cases), L. paraplantarum, L. delbrueckii subsp. delbrueckii, L. gasseri, L. paragasseri, Limosilacto...
Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxigenic strains frequently cause large outbreaks of food-borne into... more Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxigenic strains frequently cause large outbreaks of food-borne intoxication all over the world. To date, several antigenic types of staphylococcal enterotoxins have been identified ranging from SEA to SEJ. Generally, an enterotoxigenic strain of S. aureus produces only one type of SE, but at times strains which produce 2 or more types have been reported. From January 1998 to December 2000, 2,854 food handlers living in the province of Isernia (Italy) were tested for nasal carriage of S. aureus strains, in particular, those producing more than one enterotoxigenic strain. S. aureus was isolated in 728 of the 2,854 people tested (25%) and 217 of these strains were enterotoxigenic (29,8% of the total). 63% produced only one toxin (mainly the A toxin, followed by B, D and C) whereas another 37% produced two or more toxins contemporarily.
Industrie Alimentari, 2003
The Pampanella is a meat-based traditional typical precooked product of Molise and upper Puglia r... more The Pampanella is a meat-based traditional typical precooked product of Molise and upper Puglia regions. It is prepared with pork abundantly spiced with garlic, sweet and spicy chilly that confer to the product a clear taste and an intense colour. Pampanella is cooked in oven at 280°-300°C for about 2 hours. This process reduces big part of the microbial population of the raw materials, except the aerobe spore-forming Bacillus kind originated from the meat and above all from the spices.
Annali Di Microbiologia Ed Enzimologia, 1991
Microorganisms, 2020
This study evaluates the hazards posed by foodborne bacteria of the Listeria genus by analyzing t... more This study evaluates the hazards posed by foodborne bacteria of the Listeria genus by analyzing the occurrence, diversity and virulence of Listeria spp.in food and food-manufacturing plants. Seventy-five isolates obtained from the routine analysis of 653 samples taken by three diagnostic laboratories in Northern Italy were genotypically differentiated by Repetitive Extragenic Palindrome (rep) PCR, with the GTG5 primer identified by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene and examined by specific PCR tests for the presence of L. monocytogenes virulence determinants occasionally found to occur in other species of the genus. Within this sample, 76% (n = 57) isolates were identified as L. innocua, 16% (n = 12) as L. monocytogenes, 6.6% (n = 5) as L. welshimeri and 1.3% (n = 1) as L. seeligeri. All L. monocytogenes isolates belonged to the serotype 1/2a and were predicted to be virulent for the presence of the inlJ internalin gene. Potentially virulent strains of L. innocua, L. seeligeri and L. wel...
Facta Universitatis, Series: Working and Living Environmental Protection, 2018
The no profit organizations manage food under the respect of the EU food safety rules. The EU foo... more The no profit organizations manage food under the respect of the EU food safety rules. The EU food safety legislation provides the application of simplified procedures considering the level of complexity of each charitable organization (COs) and encourages the elaboration of Good Hygiene Practices Manuals (GHP) according to Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004. Recently, a study conducted by the working group of the Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety (University of Milan), has focused on the application of a new inspection-scoring model based on the use of a checklist. Checklist was elaborated taking into account the Manual of good practices for COs, validated by the Italian Ministry of Health. The aim of the checklist has been to verify the suitability to the sanitary hygiene requirements of the COs. (The GHP manual is available at http://cdn. bancoalimentare.it/sites/bancoalimentare.it/files/manualecaritasbanco_eng_007.pdf
LWT, 2018
Little is known about the role of traditional dairy products in naturally supplying beneficial mi... more Little is known about the role of traditional dairy products in naturally supplying beneficial microorganisms able to survive in the human gastrointestinal tract (GIT). To investigate this aspect, a fresh artisanal Pasta Filata cheese was administered daily to 18 healthy children, 3-6 years of age, for seven days. Counts and type of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and propionic acid bacteria (PAB) were carried out on the cheese and children's faeces before and after cheese consumption. In most cases, statistically significant increases of presumptive LAB were observed after seven days from suspension compared to values before and at the end of consumption. Based on repetitive element palindromic PCR (rep-PCR) genotyping, six cheese isolates were identical to faecal isolates. Identity was confirmed by sequencing regions of clpP and rpoD genes for LAB and pepN and proW genes for PAB. Among those cheese isolates P. freudenreichii S-1-P, L. plantarum S-2-2 and L. helveticus S-2-6 stimulated the production of high interleukin 10 (IL-10) and low tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) levels by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Therefore they could exert anti-inflammatory effects in vivo. Results suggested that traditional dairy products should be more efficiently exploited as a natural source of health-promoting microorganisms.
Italian Journal of Food Safety, 2019
The aim of this study was to analyze different aspects of food waste in the specific context of p... more The aim of this study was to analyze different aspects of food waste in the specific context of prisons by introducing the nudging method, thanks to the collaboration of District House and Prison of Larino (Italy) involving staff and guests of the penitentiary structure, providing them with the knowledge of the topic and encouraging them to propose creative and effective solutions to prevent and reduce food waste. The study involved n. 50 participants out of total of about 200 prisoners. Data were collected using n.3 questionnaires related to the knowledge of food waste food, the second related to the origin of consumed and food waste and the third collected the participants’ proposals how to reduce food waste. The results show that effects of nudging has awakened the prisoners’ conscience about the social, ethical and economic importance of reducing food waste and a proactive attitude in providing proposals for the reduction of food waste. The most wasted food is bread (35%), pasta...
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Papers by Giampaolo Colavita