Institute of Food Safety Feed and Environment

Unit Activity

‘What does ‘bromatology’ mean?’ This is one of the most frequently asked questions when presented with the Institute’s name: The Institute for Food Hygiene and Bromatology.

The ‘hygiene’ part is self-evident – it deals with the identification of microbiological suitability. However, very few people know that the meaning of ‘bromatology’ is actually the chemical analysis of food. The beginnings of research span half-a-century in history when the focus of the Institute’s work was on microbiological analysis and the chemical composition of food. Increased demand for food and industrialisation have, on the one hand, worsened our living environment, whilst on the other hand, scientific progress has enabled better control of the quality of the environment. Breeders have started to use a whole range of new veterinary medical preparations, both for prevention and treatment. Remains of therapeutic preparations in foods of animal origin have had an impact on the health of users therefore it was necessary to begin to control them. The focus of the Institute’s work for the last 25 years has been the control of residues of veterinary drugs and microbiological control of foods of animal origin.

Education

Employees at the Institute are lecturers at undergraduate studies – 1^st cycle, postgraduate studies – 2^nd cycle and postgraduate studies – 3^rd cycle. The syllabus deals with foods, mainly foods of animal origin.

Lectures, which are conducted in the single cycle masters study programme at the Veterinary Faculty are:

• Introduction to Food Hygiene, Subject Head: prof. dr. Andrej Kirbiš

• Veterinary Sanitary Control of Animals for Slaughter and Meat,  Subject Head: prof. dr. Andrej Kirbiš

• Hygiene and the Control of Milk, Milk Products and Food of Plant Origin, Subject Head: prof. dr. Andrej Kirbiš

• Hygiene and the Control of Meat, Fish and Products,  Subject Head: prof. dr. Andrej Kirbiš

At the Faculty of Health Sciences our teachers participate at lectures for the university study programme Sanitary Engineering at first and second-cycle:

• Technology and Food Safety (first-cycle), prof. dr. Andrej Kirbiš and prof. dr. Ksenija Šinigoj Gačnik

• Quality – related Hygiene and Food Safety (second-cycle), prof. dr. Andrej Kirbiš and prof. dr. Ksenija Šinigoj Gačnik

Additionally, the institute cooperates with the Biotechnical faculty, Department of Food Science and Technology, where our teachers hold part of the lectures in the Food Hygiene course of Academic Study Programme (1^st cycle) of Food science and Nutrition.

At third-cycle doctoral studies teachers participate in the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Programme in Biomedicine in Veterinary Medicine field with the subject Food Safety, subject head: prof. dr. Andrej Kirbiš, performer also prof. dr. Ksenija Šinigoj Gačnik

Research

In the programme group P4-0092 the Institute works in various fields with the execution of analytic methods which enable monitoring of experiments. For example, in the research of cross-contaminated animal feed for laying hens with coccidiostat, the Institute monitors the levels of lasalocid in eggs.
Research which is executed at the Institute concerns problematic remains of veterinary medicine in various animal tissues and products. Studies include the development of appropriate analytic methods and their application in studying the secret of active ingredients from animal organisms and in studies of the stability of active ingredients in the production of food. The group also studies the contamination of food of animal origin with metals and other pollutants (pesticides, PCBs). The group is also interested in the influence of the use of veterinary medicine on the eventual changes in the quality of such foods. It has studied the frequency and interdependence of L. monocytogenes and L. innocua in food of animal origin.
Assessments were made on the functioning of the physio–chemical factors on the survival of the bacteria E. coli:H7 and Camplobacter jejuni/coli. The Institute introduced diagnostics and determined the prevalence of the bacteria Y. enterocolitica in pigs. It studies the presence of VTEC and the bacteria Vibrio parahaemoliticus in food from the sea. Procedures have also been developed to determine the presence of biotoxins in these foods.

Research Projects

In the field of detection of antibacterial substances, well developed microbiological screening methods are still in the early stages. Acceleration of progress in this field enabled the Institute to target the research project entitled ‘Quantitive Validation of Confirmatory Methods for Determining Tetracyclines and Beta-Lactams’ under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Ksenija Šinigoj Gačnik. Within the project, methods of determining tetracyclines in honey with LC-MS/MS have already been introduced. Ahead are the greater challenges of penicillins and cephalosporins divided into a group of b-lactam antibiotics.
The Institute also participates in the target research project ‘The Typing of Salmonella and Campylobacter for Ensuring Safe Food’, in which colleagues from the Institute for Health Care and Institute of Protecting Health. The purpose of the project is to identify and confirm the main source of infection with zoonotic agents in humans.