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As microorganisms, in particular bacteria, are found virtually everywhere, harmful microorganisms may be reduced to acceptable levels rather than actually eliminated. In food preparation, microorganisms are reduced by preservation methods such as cooking, cleanliness of utensils, short storage periods, or by low temperatures.
A food contaminant is a harmful chemical or microorganism present in food, which can cause illness to the consumer. Contaminated food . The impact of chemical contaminants on consumer health and well-being is often apparent only after many years of processing and prolonged exposure at low levels (e.g., cancer). Unlike food-borne pathogens ...
Endotoxins most commonly refer to the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or lipooligosaccharide (LOS) that are in the outer plasma membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. The botulinum toxin , which is primarily produced by Clostridium botulinum and less frequently by other Clostridium species, is the most toxic substance known in the world. [ 1 ]
Foodborne illness (also known as foodborne disease and food poisoning) [1] is any illness resulting from the contamination of food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites, [2] as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease), and toxins such as aflatoxins in peanuts, poisonous mushrooms, and various species of beans that have not been boiled for at least 10 minutes.
Each antibiotic has different bacteria that it is effective against and has different mechanisms to kill that bacteria. For example, doxycycline inhibits the synthesis of new proteins in both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, which makes it a broad-spectrum antibiotic capable of killing most bacterial species. [51]
Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. [1] Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell (cytotoxicity) or an organ such as the liver (hepatotoxicity).
Additional side effects can result from interaction with other drugs, such as the possibility of tendon damage from the administration of a quinolone antibiotic with a systemic corticosteroid. [51] Some antibiotics may also damage the mitochondrion, a bacteria-derived organelle found in eukaryotic, including human, cells. [52]
Carl Nägeli, a Swiss botanist, discovered in 1893 that the ions of various metals and their alloys such as silver and copper, but also mercury, iron, lead, zinc, bismuth, gold, aluminium and others, have a toxic effect on microbial life by denaturing microbial enzymes and thus disrupting their metabolism.