Browsing by Author "Fredrick Ojija"

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Detection of Microbial Contaminants in Food and Food Products.
(IGI Global Scientific Publishing, 2025) MaMatthew Chidozie Ogwu; Tonjock Rosemary Kinge; Soumia El Malahi; Fredrick Ojija
The detection of microbial contaminants in food and food products is a cornerstone of public health protection and food safety assurance. As foodborne diseases continue to pose a global burden, with pathogens such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, and norovirus accounting for millions of illnesses annually, the need for robust and reliable detection methodologies has become increasingly urgent. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the evolving landscape of microbial detection in food systems. It begins by exploring the sources and path ways of microbial contamination across the “farm- to- fork” continuum, highlighting critical control points and microbial risk factors. Emphasis is placed on sampling strategies, including representative sampling, sample preparation, and enrichment protocols, which form the foundation of accurate microbial detection. The chapter then examines diverse detection strategies, including culture- based methods, immunological assays (such as enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay and lateral flow tests), and molecular techniques like polymerase chain reaction (PCR), quantitative PCR, loop- mediated isothermal amplification, and next- generation sequencing. Emerging technologies such as biosensors, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats- based diagnostics, and metagenomics are also discussed for their potential to enhance sensitivity, specificity, and rapidity in pathogen detection. Each technique is assessed in terms of sensitivity, specificity, operational feasibility, and its integration into food safety risk management frameworks. Special attention is given to validation standards, harmonization efforts, and the challenges of deploying these technologies in low- resource settings. The chapter concludes by identifying emerging trends, such as artificial intelligence- assisted detection and portable diagnostics, which hold promise for revolutionizing microbial monitoring in food systems. By bridging microbiological principles with practical applications and regulatory contexts, offering critical insights for researchers, food safety practitioners, and policymakers.
Impact of climate change on biodiversity and food security: a global perspective—a review article
(BMC, 2021-03-03) Fredrick Ojija
Climate change is happening due to natural factors and human activities. It expressively alters biodiversity, agricultural production, and food security. Mainly, narrowly adapted and endemic species are under extinction. Accordingly, concerns over species extinction are warranted as it provides food for all life forms and primary health care for more than 60–80% of humans globally. Nevertheless, the impact of climate change on biodiversity and food security has been recognized, little is explored compared to the magnitude of the problem globally. Therefore, the objectives of this review are to identify, appraise, and synthesize the link between climate change, biodiversity, and food security. Data, climatic models, emission, migration, and extinction scenarios, and outputs from previous publications were used.
Taxonomic and functional variation of carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) diversity in pioneer black pine and secondary broad-leaved Karst forests
(Elsevier B.V, 2026-05-05) Giovanni Bacaro; Federica Fonda; Miris Castello; Fredrick Ojija; Valentina Olmo; Gaia Foltran; Simona Maccherin; Emilia Pafumi; Giorgio Colombetta; Pietro Brandmayr
Carabid beetles are widely used as bioindicators because they respond rapidly to changes in near-ground microclimate, litter and understory structure, and habitat continuity. In the Classical Karst of the North Adriatic region, forest management is shaped by two concurrent trajectories: the aging of Pinus nigra stands established during late 19th-century afforestation and the recovery of secondary thermophilous broad-leaved forests. Pine plantations, although now old and prone to biotic and abiotic disturbances, have played an important role in shaping present forest ecosystems, and their future is currently debated. To evaluate the effectiveness of pioneer pine plantations in reconstructing forest conditions, we assessed differences in carabid species composition and functional structure between the two forest types using long-term pitfall-trap data collected across multiple sites and years. We quantified taxonomic diversity through richness-based comparisons, rarefaction and additive partitioning, and examined compositional turnover using β-diversity contribution metrics and ordination with permutation-based testing. Functional structure was evaluated using distance-based functional diversity indices, functional rarefaction based on expected Rao’s Q and decomposition of functional α-β-γ components, and a ternary framework separating dominance, functional diversity and redundancy. Finally, we used indicatororiented analyses (species-level and trait-informed) to identify taxa associated with each forest type. Overall, broad-leaved and pine stands showed limited divergence in mean richness and in conventional functional indices, whereas clearer differences emerged in turnover, site uniqueness and diagnostic species subsets. Functional rarefaction indicated that expected functional diversity may differ even when aggregate indices appear similar. Overall, results support the contribution of black pine stands to the maintenance of forest grounddwelling biodiversity and functional structure in karst forests and suggest that conversion strategies should prioritise continuity of microhabitat conditions and microclimatic buffering rather than assuming that replacement by broad-leaved stands will automatically increase biodiversity