Food security – Page 9
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CareersFarm gates and facial fungi: Tanu charts her journey towards commercialisation
AMI Global Ambassador for New Zealand Tanushree Gupta is bringing an antifungal product to market that will make a huge difference to the hundreds of farms affected by facial eczema - so here’s how it’s going.
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NewsStudy probes industrial scale lactoferrin production with synthetic biological systems
A new study explores the innovative technologies developed to increase lactoferrin production in order to meet market demand in food, pharma, and cosmetics.
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NewsWorld’s oldest cheese found with ancient mummies reveals origins of kefir
For the first time, scientists have successfully extracted and analyzed DNA from ancient cheese samples found alongside the Tarim Basin mummies in China, dating back approximately 3,600 years, suggesting a new origin for kefir cheese.
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NewsHuman urine could be used as eco-friendly crop fertilizer
Bacterial communities in soil are as resilient to human urine as synthetic fertilisers – making recycling the bodily fluid as a fertiliser for agricultural crops a viable proposition, according to a new study.
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NewsGood nutrition boosts honey bee resilience against pesticides and viruses
In a new study, researchers investigate how nutritional stress, viral infections and exposure to pesticides together influence honey bee survival. By looking at all three stressors together, the scientists found that good nutrition enhances honey bee resilience against the other threats.
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NewsStrategies needed to combat biofilm formation in the food industry to enhance food safety
A research team reveals that biofilm formation on food-contact surfaces in the food supply chain poses a significant challenge, providing an environment for harmful bacteria that can lead to foodborne illnesses and degrade food quality.
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NewsPlant pathogen battle: SlSYTA protein’s dual role in defense and susceptibility
A pivotal study has uncovered the dual role of the Solanum lycopersicum Synaptotagmin A (SYTA) SlSYTA protein in regulating tomato plants’ immune response.
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NewsBacterial strains from Himalayan night-soil compost support plant growth in crops
Researchers have isolated a consortium of bacterial strains from night-soil compost in a Himalayan valley that support plant growth in wheat and maize, offering promise as a bioinoculant for sustainable agriculture in cold semiarid conditions.
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NewsResearchers take power and efficiency of biological sensing to record level
Scientists have developed a new biological sensing method that can detect substances at the zeptomolar level – an astonishingly miniscule amount.
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NewsPowered by renewable energy, microbes turn CO2 into protein and vitamins
Researchers can harvest protein and vitamin B9 from microbes by feeding them nothing much more than hydrogen, oxygen, and CO2, a new study reveals.
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NewsKiller yeasts may help remedy a craft beer brewing bother
Brewing researchers have found that proteins called killer toxins, which are produced naturally by many strains of S. cerevisiae, suppress diastatic strains which can spoil craft beer through hyperattenuation, which can cause bottles to explode.
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NewsReport recommends ‘highly ambitious enterprise’ to create world-leading UK Microbiome Biobank
A new report calls for a ’highly ambitious enterprise’ to create a microbiome biobank that will contribute significantly to the advancement of science and its application to human health.
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NewsFungal foe fended off: DNA demethylation boosts tomato resistance
A recent study discovered that applying 5-Azacytidine, a DNA methylation inhibitor, significantly reduces tomato susceptibility to gray mold, a common postharvest fungal disease.
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NewsAttenuated viruses could be used to enhance crop performance
Researchers propose using viruses as vehicles for crop improvement, an approach established in human therapies but little explored in agriculture.
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FeaturesFlour power: why it’s not a great idea to eat it raw
The UKHSA Food, Water and Environmental (FW&E) microbiology team has published a study on the safety and quality of flour sold in the UK and discovered that eating it raw is not a great idea!
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NewsStudy on E. coli outbreak in the UK demonstrates increasing impact of climate change on public health and food security
A study to investigate an UK E. coli outbreak identified contaminated lettuce as the most likely source of the infection, and determined that heavy rainfall and flooding may have carried STEC from animal feces to the lettuce crops.
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NewsProtect your teeth with fruit and coconut: antimicrobial effects found in biomass compounds
To find an antibacterial that is easy to use and effective in preventing periodontal disease at all ages, researchers verified the antibacterial effect of seven different compounds against the periodontal pathogenic bacteria, Porphyromonas gingivalis.
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NewsResearch group identifies novel probiotics in traditional Brazilian cheeses
Researchers have identified lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that have probiotic properties and are beneficial to human health in samples of traditional Brazilian cheeses.
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NewsClimate change increases foodborne illness risk from raw produce
New research shows that bacterial leaf spot of lettuce and high humidity promote Salmonella enterica growth in lettuce, and climate change is predicted to increase humid periods.
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NewsFighting fungal foes: Walnut’s genetic armor against anthracnose revealed
A pivotal study has pinpointed a gene module crucial for enhancing walnut trees’ resistance to anthracnose, a widespread fungal disease threatening the walnut industry.