Global Food Safety : Microbial Interventions and Molecular Advancements

Foodborne microbial outbreaks are a serious food safety and public health concern worldwide. One of the most challenging issues in food safety is the identification and characterization of foodborne microbial communities, which is a core objective of research by food scientists and food microbiologists. This book reviews the molecular advances in food science related to the safety and quality of food along with recent diagnostic tools for the detection of emerging pathogens based on the food commodities. It presents a wide selection of methods for the identification and characterization of foodborne infectious agents.

This book provides an overview of foodborne pathogens, diseases, and outbreaks and then proceeds to delve into techniques for characterizing foodborne pathogens using molecular approaches. It reviews state-of-the-art methods for detecting and tracing foodborne pathogens using next-generation sequencing and whole-genome sequencing for controlling foodborne illnesses as well as the application of microorganisms in food production for preventing foodborne illnesses. The book ends with an overview of management systems and analytical tools for public health protection from foodborne illnesses.

Saher Islam, PhDVisiting Lecturer, Lahore College for Women University, Pakistan
Saher Islam, PhD, is a Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Biotechnology of Lahore College for Women University, Pakistan. She received her PhD in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. She was an IRSIP Scholar at Cornell University, New York, and Visiting Scholar at West Virginia State University, West Virginia, USA. She has keen research interests in genetics, molecular biology, biotechnology, and bioinformatics and has ample hands-on experience in molecular marker analysis, whole-genome sequencing (WGS), and RNA sequencing. She has edited five books, including Sequencing Technologies in Microbial Food Safety and Quality and Beneficial Microbes for Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Management. She has visited the USA, UK, Singapore, Germany, Italy, and Russia for academic and scientific trainings, courses, and meetings. She is the recipient of the 2016 Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Travel Grant from European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Germany.

Devarajan Thangadurai, PhDAssociate Professor, Karnatak University, Dharwad, IndiaDevarajan Thangadurai, PhD, is an Associate Professor at Karnatak University, Dharwad in India, and did his postdoctoral research at the University of Madeira, Portugal, University of Delhi, India, and ICAR National Research Center for Banana, India. He is the recipient of the Best Young Scientist Award with Gold Medal from Acharya Nagarjuna University, India, and the VGST-SMYSR Young Scientist Award of the Government of Karnataka, India. He has a keen interest and expertise in the fields of biodiversity and biotechnology, genetics, and genomics of food crops and beneficial microbes for crop productivity and food safety towards sustainable agricultural development. He has authored and edited more than 35 books, including Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (3 Vols.), Genes, Genomes, and Genomics (2 Vols.), Genomics and Proteomics, Biotechnology of Microorganisms, and Sequencing Technologies in Microbial Food Safety and Quality with international scientific publishers in USA, UK, Canada, Switzerland, and India. He has extensively traveled to many universities and institutes in Africa, Europe, and Asia for academic works, scientific meetings, and international collaborations. He is also a reviewer for several journals, including Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Food Science and Technology International, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Journal of Food Science, Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, and International Journal of Plant Production.

Jeyabalan Sangeetha, PhDAssistant Professor, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod, India
Jeyabalan Sangeetha, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod, India. She earned her BSc in Microbiology (2001) and PhD in Environmental Sciences (2010) from Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. She holds an MSc in Environmental Sciences (2003) from Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. Between 2004 and 2008, she was the recipient of the Tamil Nadu Government Scholarship and the Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship of University Grants Commission, Government of India, for doctoral studies. She served as Dr. D. S. Kothari Postdoctoral Fellow and UGC Postdoctoral Fellow at Karnatak University, Dharwad, South India, during 2012–2016 with funding from the University Grants Commission, Government of India, New Delhi. She has carried out her doctoral and postdoctoral research in the fields of microbiology and metagenomics, respectively. She has authored a textbook on Molecular Mycology and edited 10 books, including Genomics and Proteomics, Industrial Biotechnology, Biotechnology of Microorganisms, and Sequencing Technologies in Microbial Food Safety and Quality. She has got trained in next-generation sequencing (NGS) and data analysis at Malaysia Genome Institute, Malaysia.

Natália Cruz-Martins, PhD
Invited Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Researcher at the Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences (FPCEUP); and Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S), University of Porto, Portugal
Natália Cruz-Martins, PhD, is an invited Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences and at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S) at the University of Porto, Portugal. She has academic and research background in dietetics, nutrition, natural product chemistry, biochemistry, drug discovery, phytochemistry, phytopharmacology, functional foods, and nutraceuticals. She has been increasingly focused on the use of naturally occurring bioactives for human health, not only from a health promotion and disease prevention point of view, but also from a treatment point of view. She has worked as university professor since 2017, was an advisor of several MSc and PhD theses, and is a member of the evaluation panel of the College of Nutritionists (Porto, Portugal). She has participated in various research projects, received several grants and awards, published more than 130 articles in peer-reviewed international journals (h-index: 25) and several book chapters, and presented more than 40 communications at national and international conferences. She is a member of the Council for Nutritional and Environmental Medicine (CONEM, Norway), reviewer for more than 50 highly reputed international journals, invited reviewer for several book publishers, and editorial board member of several international journals. She also edited several special issues on research topics in highly reputed journals and is currently editing several books for renowned publishers.