Climate change has been reported as a driver for emerging food and feed safety issues worldwide and its expected impact on the presence of mycotoxins in food and feed is of great concern. Aflatoxins have the highest acute and chronic toxicity of all mycotoxins; hence, the maximal concentration in agricultural food and feed products and their commodities is regulated worldwide. The possible change in patterns of aflatoxin occurrence in crops due to climate change is a matter of concern that may require anticipatory actions. The aim of this study was to predict aflatoxin contamination in maize and wheat crops, within the next 100 years, under a +2 °C and +5 °C climate change scenario, applying a modelling approach. Europe was virtually covered by a net, 50 × 50 km grids, identifying 2254 meshes with a central point each. Climate data were generated for each point, linked to predictive models and predictions were run consequently. Aflatoxin B 1 is predicted to become a food safety issue in maize in Europe, especially in the +2 °C scenario, the most probable scenario of climate change expected for the next years. These results represent a supporting tool to reinforce aflatoxin management and to prevent human and animal exposure.Climate change has been reported as a driver for emerging food and feed safety issues worldwide [1][2][3][4] .The expected impact of climate change on the presence of mycotoxins in food and feed is of great concern. These fungal metabolites are important causes of chronic toxicity from exposure via food 5,6 ; in particular, aflatoxins, which have the highest acute and chronic toxicity of all mycotoxins 7 . Hence, the maximal concentration of aflatoxins in agricultural food and feed products and their commodities is regulated worldwide, with specific restrictions in Europe (Commission Regulation EU/574/2011, 2006/1881/EC and amendments). The possible change in patterns of aflatoxin occurrence in food and feed crops due to climate change is a matter of concern that may require anticipatory actions.Crop growth and its interaction with beneficiary and pathogenic and/or toxigenic microorganisms vary from year to year, mainly depending on local weather, making the agricultural sector particularly exposed to climate change 8 . The topic is of great economic and societal interest both for the quantitative and qualitative effects on crop yield and the impact on the occurrence of mycotoxins 9 .Around nine million hectares of maize and 26 million hectares of common wheat are yearly grown in Europe, and cereals in general contribute to approximately 30% of the human diet of industrialised countries (data from FAOStat http://faostat3.fao.org/home/E), as well as to roughly 50% of the animal feed in Europe (European Commission, Agricultural and Rural Development, Short term outlook, 2015). Therefore, any problem related to food and feed crops is of great economic and health concern.The most toxic mycotoxins are aflatoxins, which can occur in host crops infected by some species of Aspergillus. Aflatoxins are...

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Strains of Escherichia coli O157 isolated from patients with clinical cases of food-borne illness and other sources exhibited wide differences in resistance to high hydrostatic pressure. The most pressure-resistant strains were also more resistant to mild heat than other strains. Strain C9490, a representative pressure-resistant strain, was also more resistant to acid, oxidative, and osmotic stresses than the pressure-sensitive strain NCTC 12079. Most of these differences in resistance were observed only in stationary-phase cells, the only exception being acid resistance, where differences were also apparent in the exponential phase. Membrane damage in pressure-treated cells was revealed by increased uptake of the fluorescent dyes ethidium bromide and propidium iodide. When strains were exposed to the same pressure for different lengths of time, the pressure-sensitive strains took up stain sooner than the more resistant strain, which suggested that the differences in resistance may be related to susceptibility to membrane damage. Our results emphasize the importance of including stress-resistant strains of E. coli O157 when the efficacy of a novel or mild food preservation treatment is tested.

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Aims: To investigate the effect of inoculum size and physiological state on the ability of Listeria monocytogenes cells to initiate growth under suboptimal conditions of salt concentration and pH. Methods and Results: Cell suspensions were serially diluted in media of different salt concentration or pH and replicate inocula distributed into 96-well microplates. The proportion of wells showing growth at each dilution level was determined after incubation for 6 weeks for each set of conditions. Growth occurred from single cells up to a concentration of 1á2 mol l )1 NaCl; above this threshold, the inoculum size needed to initiate growth became progressively larger. A similar effect was seen with decreasing pH but only very close to the growth/no growth boundary. The threshold for inoculum-dependent growth was lower in exponential phase cells than in stationary phase ones and sublethal injury greatly decreased the probability of growth from small inocula. Conclusions: The growth/no growth boundary for L. monocytogenes is not an absolute cut-off point but represents a region where the probability of growth rapidly decreases as conditions become more extreme. We interpret the requirement for a critical inoculum size for growth as being due to death of a proportion of cells in the inoculum rather than to co-operative population effects. Signi®cance and Impact of the Study: Physiological heterogeneity within the cell population and inoculum size will affect the risk of L. monocytogenes growing in food.