BACKGROUND: Chestnut fruit quality is affected by fungal contamination. The study of the patterns of contamination in the postharvest is crucial to individuate the critical phases and propose solutions. To understand how fungal colonization varies on fruits, the composition of mycobiota was investigated in postharvest handling and in between tissues (shell and kernel).
RESULTS: Fungal sequences were clustered into 308 operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Biodiversity was higher in shell than kernel tissues. Results evidenced the risk of new contamination in specific phases such as the \'cold bath\' and storage. Genera known as mycotoxin producers were detected in all phases. Specifically, 47 OTUs belonging to Penicillium, eight to Fusarium and two to Aspergillus genera were identified. While Fusarium spp. was sensitive to \'warm bath\' phase, Penicillium spp. was largely insensitive and accumulated in storage conditions. Surprisingly, Aspergillus spp. was poorly represented. Aflatoxin, ochratoxin A, fumonisins and T-2/HT-2 detection was performed for shell and kernel, and process phases. Higher contamination was observed on shell than in kernel samples. While aflatoxins were within the European Union (EU) limits for dry fruits, Ochratoxin exceeded the EU limits. The present study represents the first report of fumonisins and T-2/HT-2 detection in chestnuts.
CONCLUSIONS: Fungal contamination taxa is high in chestnut fruits following postharvest handling and storage. A parametrization of process phases such as the \'warm bath\' is functional to reduce the risk for some taxa. For other spoilage and mycotoxigenic genera strict sanitation procedures of equipment and water must be individuated and implemented to reduce their impact. © 2024 The Author(s). Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Food products are susceptible to mold contamination, releasing moldy odors. These moldy odors not only affect the flavor of food, but also pose a risk to human health. Moldy odors are a mixture of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by the fungi themselves, which are the main source of moldy odors in moldy foods. These VOCs are secondary metabolites of fungi and are synthesized through various biosynthetic pathways. Both the fungi themselves and environmental factors affect the release of moldy odors. This review summarized the main components of musty odors in moldy foods and their producing fungi. In addition, this review focused on the functions of moldy volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) and the biosynthetic pathways of the major MVOCs, and summarized the factors affecting the release of MVOCs as well as the detection methods. It expected to provide a basis for ensuring food safety.

The potential biopreservative role of a Type III sourdough (tIII-SD), produced by starter cultures of Fructilactobacillus sanfranciscensis and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum ATCC 8014, was assessed for its antifungal activity in baking applications. Fermentation was carried out using different substrates to enhance the production of antifungal metabolites for 24 and 48 h. The tIII-SD samples were analyzed in relation to pH, total titratable acidity (TTA) and the production of organic acids. The water/salt-soluble extract of the tIII-SD was evaluated in relation to the inhibition potential against key fungi that contaminate bakery products including Penicillium roqueforti, Penicillium chrysogenum and Aspergillus niger. Finally, breads with 10 % of the tIII-SD were prepared and the fungi contamination was evaluated throughout the shelf life period. The lowest pH value in sourdough was obtained from 48-hour fermentation by L. plantarum. The saline extracts exhibited varying degrees of inhibition in the in vitro test; however, the greatest enhancement of this effect was obtained when whole wheat grain flour was used. The tIII-SD crafted from a blend of wheat and flaxseed flours and fermented with F. sanfranciscensis for 48 h (BSWF48h-FS), demonstrated superior performance compared to other formulations. This variant exhibited a total shelf life of 10 days, suggesting that the utilization of tIII-SD could serve as a viable alternative for natural antifungal agents, proving beneficial for the bakery industry.

We report a cluster of 9 isolates of Parengyodontium album recovered from 4 patients who had surgical tissue specimens processed after dilution with a multiuse diluent saline solution. P album was also identified from a nonclinical sample on agar prepared with the same lot number of saline solution. Our epidemiological investigation revealed this to represent a pseudo-outbreak related to contaminated saline used to process specimens in the microbiology laboratory.

This review analyzes the occurrence and co-exposure of aflatoxins and fumonisins in conventional and organic corn, and compares the vulnerability to contamination of both. The risks of fungal contamination in corn are real, mainly by the genera Aspergillus and Fusarium, producers of aflatoxins and fumonisins, respectively. Aflatoxins, especially AFB1, are related to a high incidence of liver cancer, and the International Agency Research of Cancer (IARC) classified them in group 1A \'carcinogenic to humans\'. The occurrence in conventional corn is reported in many countries, including at higher levels than those established by legislation. IARC classified fumonisins in group 2B \'possibly carcinogenic to humans\' due to their link with incidence of esophageal cancer. However, comparing corn and organic and conventional by-products from different regions, different results are observed. The co-occurrence of both mycotoxins is a worldwide problem; nevertheless, there is little data on the comparison of the co-exposure of these mycotoxins in corn and derivatives between both systems. It was found that the agricultural system is not a decisive factor in the final contamination, indicating the necessity of effective strategies to reduce contamination and co-exposure at levels that do not pose health risks.

Corydalis Rhizoma (CR, Yanhusuo in Chinese) has been widely used as an analgesic in herbal medicine and functional food. Cases of fungal and mycotoxin contamination in CR have been reported. In this study, the composition and diversity of fungal microbiome in CR samples from four herbal markets and two processing methods were investigated by DNA metabarcoding. Variations of the fungal microbiome in CR during cold and conventional storage were monitored. Results showed that Aspergillus was the dominant genus and saprotroph was the dominant trophic mode. Six potential toxigenic fungi, namely, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus ostianus, Aspergillus terreus, Penicillium citrinum, Penicillium oxalicum, and Trichothecium roseum, were detected. Differences in fungal composition and diversity among various groups based on collection areas and processing methods were also observed. Moreover, the relative abundance of dominant genera in CR samples stored at different temperatures was significantly different and changed with storage time. This study is the first to reveal the influence of collection areas, processing methods, and storage conditions on the fungal microbiome in CR, which was expected to provide a basis for control strategies of fungal contamination in the industrial chain of CR.

UNASSIGNED: Multidose vials (MDVs) for local anesthetic injections are routinely used in dental practice. MDVs contain multiple doses of a parenteral drug intended for administration to the same or multiple patients. Potentially harmful microbes have been shown to be able to live and occasionally multiply in MDVs if not handled aseptically. The goal of this study thus was to evaluate the bacterial and fungal contamination (FC) of lignocaine MDVs after use in a dental hospital.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 27 MDVs of lignocaine free of any microbial contamination were distributed to different departments of the dental hospital and they were asked to use them on patients routinely. The samples were recollected from the departments either at the end of the 28th day or as and when the contents in the MDVs reached a predetermined level marked on the bottle during its usage, whichever was earlier. These leftover samples were subjected to a microbiological investigation by inoculation into thioglycolate broth and subsequent subculturing onto agar plates.
UNASSIGNED: None of the inoculated broths showed turbidity. Subcultured agar plates, even on the 7th day of incubation, did not show any bacterial or fungal growth. The lignocaine MDVs tested after use were thus found to be sterile.
UNASSIGNED: There was no bacterial or FC detected in MDVs of lignocaine subjected to testing after use in the dental hospital.
UNASSIGNED: Multidose vials (MDVs) continue to be used in clinics for economic reasons. But the clinician opting for MDVs should be conscious of their potential for microbial contamination and should meticulously follow the protocol for their aseptic use.
UNASSIGNED: Renu SM, Rao AP, Biranthabail D, et al. Screening for Microbial Contamination of Multi-dose Lignocaine Vials in a Dental Hospital: A Prospective Study. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2023;16(5):678-680.

Fungi are pathogens that infect all types of poultry and farmers, leading to economic losses in poultry production. Fungi can be isolated from environmental samples and are ubiquitous in the air. This study aimed to evaluate fungal contamination in domestic duck farm environments and analyze biosecurity risk factors associated with fungal infection incidence to assess the vulnerability of the farms to fungal infection. The average fungal concentration was 203 colony-forming units (CFU)/m3 in the air and 365 × 103 CFU/m2 in the wall surface samples. Sixteen fungal genera were recovered from air and wall surface samples from 19 duck-breeding farms, Aspergillus being the most frequently isolated (air: 43.2%; wall surface: 40%). Eleven additional fungal genera (Acrophialophora, Byssochlamys, Fusarium, Lichtheimia, Paecilomyces, Penicillium, Polycephalomyces, Rhizomucor, Scopulariopsis, Talaromyces, and Thermoascus) were isolated from air samples. Also, 8 additional fungal genera (Chaetomium, Lichtheimia, Penicillium, Petriella, Rhizomucor, Rhizopus, Talaromyces, and Trichosporon) were isolated from wall surface samples. The characteristics of the poultry farms (geographic region, stocking density, breeding house type, affiliate, duck age, and season) and fungal concentrations in the air and wall surface samples were analyzed to evaluate the biosecurity risk of the farms. Fungal infections were significantly affected by high stocking density (>2 ducks/m2), duck age (18-25 wk and >60 wk), and high fungal concentration in the wall surface samples (>300 × 103 CFU/m2).

BACKGROUND: Microalgae are widely considered as multifunctional cell factories that are able to transform the photo-synthetically fixed CO2 to numerous high-value compounds, including lipids, carbohydrates, proteins and pigments. However, contamination of the algal mass culture with fungal parasites continues to threaten the production of algal biomass, which dramatically highlights the importance of developing effective measures to control the fungal infection. One viable solution is to identify potential metabolic pathways that are essential for fungal pathogenicity but are not obligate for algal growth, and to use inhibitors targeting such pathways to restrain the infection. However, such targets remain largely unknown, making it challenging to develop effective measures to mitigate the infection in algal mass culture.
RESULTS: In the present study, we conducted RNA-Seq analysis for the fungus Paraphysoderma sedebokerense, which can infect the astaxanthin-producing microalga Haematococcus pluvialis. It was found that many differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism (FOCM) were enriched in P. sedebokerense, which was assumed to produce metabolites required for the fungal parasitism. To verify this hypothesis, antifolate that hampered FOCM was applied to the culture systems. Results showed that when 20 ppm of the antifolate co-trimoxazole were added, the infection ratio decreased to ~ 10% after 9 days inoculation (for the control, the infection ratio was 100% after 5 days inoculation). Moreover, application of co-trimoxazole to H. pluvialis mono-culture showed no obvious differences in the biomass and pigment accumulation compared with the control, suggesting that this is a potentially algae-safe, fungi-targeted treatment.
CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that applying antifolate to H. pluvialis culturing systems can abolish the infection of the fungus P. sedebokerense and the treatment shows no obvious disturbance to the algal culture, suggesting FOCM is a potential target for antifungal drug design in the microalgal mass culture industry.

UNASSIGNED: Medical masks are widely used in health care settings to protect healthcare workers from respiratory infections, particularly in the context of the recent Covid-19 disease.
UNASSIGNED: A cross-sectional study of 52 used masks collected from 52 forensic healthcare practitioners was conducted to culture for fungal isolation and identification. A study of fungal contamination was conducted by making an impression of the mouth mask cut piece on Sabouraud agar for selective isolation; each health worker completed a questionnaire, which included age, sex, type of mask, and duration of mask use.
UNASSIGNED: Twenty five of the 52 used masks tested positive for fungal contamination (48,08%). A total of 44% of the contaminated masks belong to health workers between the ages of 21-30 years. Surgical masks (80%), KN95 (8%), and N95 (4%) were the most contaminated protective devices. Usage duration of 1-2 h was associated with 4% of fungal contamination, while a usage duration of 5-6 h was associated with 36% of fungal contamination. Alternaria sp (32%), Penicillium sp (20%), Aspergillus sp (16%) were the most predominant isolated fungi discovered on the inside areas of the masks.
UNASSIGNED: Because fungi are known to cause allergies and serious adverse health effects following recommendations to properly wear a medical mask is critical to preventing fungal contamination, especially among health care workers who are wearing the same mask for a long period during the pandemic.