This review describes studies on ensuring the microbiological safety of food. These studies contribute to the processing and storage of high-quality and highly safe foods. The studies are focused on these areas of investigation: 1) simple and rapid methods for detecting and identifying various foodborne pathogens and bacterial toxins; 2) scientific evidence at the basis of hygiene management for the production of agricultural produce, such as food poisoning bacterial contamination from the cultivation environment of produce that are raw materials for food products and the survival of pathogens on the produce; 3) effective decontamination methods through the combination of treatment with detergents and sterilizers for agricultural produce; and 4) elucidating the mechanisms of action of food ingredients on growth inhibition of vegetative cells and spores, on activity of bacterial toxin, and on inhibition of biofilm formation of foodborne pathogens that are the basis for the development of safe storage technologies for food. The findings of these studies contribute to improving the microbiological safety of foods, which leads to the development of food science and technology and the food industry.

In recent years, many companies and research institutes have been conducting research on food 3D printers. The most commonly known 3D printing method is the thermal melting and lamination method, fused deposition modeling (FDM), in which plastic materials are melted and then ejected from a nozzle. The plastic materials used in this method are thermoplastic resins such as ABS and PLA. In order to 3D print a variety of materials, various types of 3D printing methods have been developed, and it is currently already possible to 3D print materials including metal, wood, and gel. There is also a growing movement to apply this technology to the food industry to create food using 3D printers. There are a variety of food materials, such as chocolate, jelly, and dough, and accordingly, there are various types of 3D printing methods, such as the syringe method and the screw method. In this paper, we introduce various types of food 3D printers and their applications.

The addition of sugar to the dosage process in the final stage of champagne making is extremely important. However, there are few studies on dosage, and no examination has yet been conducted in Japan. In this study, we investigated the effect of sugar addition to the dosage in domestic sparkling wine making from Koshu, Chardonnay and Muscat Bailey A on chemical components and sensory evaluation. For the produced sparkling wines, the addition of sugar to the dosage did not have a significant effect on chemical components other than sugar content. Results of the sensory evaluation on all 3 grape varieties revealed that the sparkling wines with added sugar were superior in taste and also showed a high total evaluation score compared to the sparkling wines with no sugar added. Regarding the amount of sugar added, sensory evaluation of brut (8 g/L sucrose) was higher than that of extra brut (2 g/L sucrose). From the above, the importance of sugar addition to the dosage in the production of domestic sparkling wine was clarified.

The purpose of this study was to obtain basic data for promoting food use of native crops, vegetables and fruits produced in Shizuoka Prefecture. The antioxidant capacity of 96 native crops and 45 major crops, a total of 141 items, was evaluated for DPPH activity, H-ORAC, and total polyphenol content. DPPH activity was highest in oni walnut (6513 µmol TE/100g FW), H-ORAC was highest in tosu (Citrus sp.) pericarp (68089 µmol TE/100 g FW), and total polyphenol was highest in tous pericarp (2113 mg GAE/100 g F.W.). All of these were native crops. In fruit vegetables, there was a high correlation between DPPH activity and total polyphenol content, and between H-ORAC and total polyphenol content. Citrus fruits and leafy vegetables also showed a high correlation between DPPH activity and total polyphenol content, and between H-ORAC and total polyphenol content.

In order to enhance collaboration between food safety communities (industry, academia and government) and to ensure the safety of food, a new public network platform named Japan Food Safety Access Network (J-FSAN) has been in use since May 2021. Diverse food safety experts from different sectors, e.g., scientists, researchers of institutes, quality control managers of food industries and government officers, have been participating in J-FSAN. J-FSAN enables participants to share various information including domestic and international food safety trends, and directly discuss food safety issues. Consequently, J-FSAN will be beneficial to participants by reducing information gathering costs, and finding idea flows and different views. In digital transformation, J-FSAN will evolve into a more sophisticated tool as part of the digital government and change the work style of food safety policy-making in the future.