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The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has established that vinegar is a liquid only obtained by fermentation. Although in Pakistan mostly synthetic vinegar is marketed, production of vinegar through fermentation at industrial level is also carried out. However, vinegar produced by this method tends to be of inferior quality due to uncontrolled conditions. In industry a mixed culture of Acetobacter is used for the production of acetic acid but no attention is given towards its proper maintenance and culture is contaminated with other kinds of microorganisms and still no work has been done along these lines in Pakistan. There is a need to develop pure vinegar cultures for vinegar production so that the use of synthetic vinegar may be avoided as it is prohibited in most countries. Keeping in view all of these points, the present work was conducted to isolate a pure culture of Acetobacter aceti, the maintenance of this culture and finally its utilization in fermentation for vinegar production.

In this study efforts were made to isolate vinegar culture (Acetobacter aceti) from sugar cane juice, rotten apples, flowers, wine, canal water and vinegar as a primary source for Acetobacter by continuous sub‐culturing on standard medium glucose, yeast extract and calcium carbonate (GYC). The culture was identified on the basis of colony characteristics and morphology. It was finally confirmed by different biochemical/enzymatic tests and further specified by nutritional and temperature requirements for the growth. The isolated strain was later used for the production of vinegar through fermentation.

Among canal water, crushed apples, sugar cane juice, alcohol, vinegar and flowers, the alcohol and vinegar were found to be the most suitable sources for isolation of Acetobacter spp. The colonies of purified culture were found to be pale to off‐white, circular, raised, convex, smooth and not >3 mm in diameter with morphology of Gram‐ve, ellipsoidal, rods, squat bacilli, roundish, single, in pairs and in chains. The isolated and identified spp. gave excellent results for the production of vinegar and this vinegar was more acceptable rather than commercially available fermented vinegar.

At industrial level good quality vinegar can be produced by using pure culture of Acetobacter aceti for acetic acid fermentation.

The research carried out is one of an original type as no work has been done in Pakistan previously. Further, for the accuracy of the results, all the practices were carried out in triplicates.

Present study aimed to nanosilver-treat some commercially dyed denim fabric using an eco-friendly cross-linker of citric acid for possible application in the fabrication of sustainable antibacterial and nontoxic surgical gowns.

The conventional untreated surgical gowns are prone to bacterial attack making them unprotective and infection carriers. Thereby, nanosilver finishing of the surgical-grade dyed denim fabric was achieved via citrate cross-linking under the pad-dry-cure method. The hence treated denim fabrics were characterized for surface chemical, crystalline, textile, color and antibacterial attributes using both conventional and advanced analytical approaches.

The results expressed that the prepared denim specimens contained surface roughness at the nanoscale besides some alterations in their textile and color parameters. Both textile and comfort properties of the finished fabric remained in the acceptable range with effective antibacterial activity.

The silver nano-finished dyed denim expressed broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and qualified as a potential substrate in the fabrication of surgical gowns. Such sustainable application of nanosilver finishing could be perused for industrial implications.

This study presents citric acid as a crosslinking agent to impregnate the commercially dyed denim fabric for potential application in the fabrication of surgical gowns. The application of nanosilver on prior citrated dyed-grown fabrics could be a novel approach. This study used approximately all the reagents and auxiliaries as bio-based to ensure the nontoxicity and sustainability of the resultant fabric.

This paper aims to develop an indigo-dyed denim fabric treated with a nanosilver colloid in the presence of a natural crosslinker of citric acid for possible surgical gown fabrication applications.

A bleached denim fabric was dyed with the sustainable indigo dye followed by silver nanofinishing through citric acid crosslinking under the pad-dry-cure method. The prepared denim samples were analyzed for chemo-physical, textile, dyeing, antibacterial and finish release properties.

The results demonstrated that the comfort and textile characteristics of nanosilver-treated/indigo-dyed cellulosic fabric were affected due to the crosslinking, surface amphiphilicity and air permeability. These properties were, still, in the acceptable range for the fabrication of naturally dyed and antibacterial nanofinished denim gowns.

The dyeing of denim with synthetic dyes may cause harmful effects on the skin and health of the wearer, and the authors present an eco-friendly sustainable approach.

The authors used the fabric substrate, natural indigo dye and reducing/crosslinker agent of citric acid, all being bio-based, in the fabrication of antibacterial dyed fabric for health care garments.

The objective of this research is to investigate the influence of family involvement in business and innovation capability on sustainable longevity of family firms.

Data collected from 553 executives of 200 family firms that survived to the second generation and beyond was analyzed using partial least square (PLS) approach of structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypotheses and validate the model.

The results provided evidence of the significant influence of family involvement in business on sustainable longevity of family firms and partial mediation of innovation capability between family involvement in business and corporate sustainable longevity.

The sample included family firms owned and governed by the owner family. The future researchers may focus on professionally managed or publicly listed family firms.

The path to family firms' sustainable longevity goes through innovation capability apart from effective family control, succession, commitment to the business and family enrichment. That requires the family firm to be proactive in innovation capability.

Family firms are the dominant form of business representing around 80% of global business structure that strives for survival and consistently pursues sustainable longevity strategies. In the current globally competitive environment, innovation capability has become a matter of life and death for any firm. Based on the transaction cost economics (TCE) theory of family firms, this study proposes an integrative model of sustainable longevity for family firms.

The purpose of this study is to apply silver nanoparticles on the cellulosic fabric via a green cross-linking approach to obtain antibacterial textiles. The cellulosic fabrics may provide an ideal enclave for microbial growth due to their biodegradable nature and retention of certain nutrients and moisture usually required for microbial colonization. The application of antibacterial finish on the textile surfaces is usually done via synthetic cross-linkers, which, however, may cause toxic effects and halt the biodegradation process.

Herein, we incorporated citrate moieties on the cellulosic fabric as eco-friendly crosslinkers for the durable and effective application of nanosilver finish. The nanosilver finish was then applied on the citrate-treated cellulosic fabric under the pad-dry-cure method and characterized the specimens for physicochemical, textile and antibacterial properties.

The results expressed that the as-prepared silver particles possessed spherical morphology with their average size in the nano range and zeta potential being −40 ± 5 mV. The results of advanced analytical characterization demonstrated the successful application of nanosilver on the cellulosic surface with appropriate dispersibility.

The nanosilver-treated fabric exhibited appropriate textile and comfort and durable broad-spectrum antibacterial activity.

The treated cellulosic fabric expressed that the cross-linking, crystalline behavior, surface chemistry, roughness and amphiphilicity could affect some of its comfort and textile properties yet be in the acceptable range for potential applications in medical textiles and environmental sectors.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the prevalence and antibiograms of bacteria isolated from various fresh fruit juices at a local market in Faisalabad.

Fresh fruit juice samples (n=125) were randomly collected using aseptic technique. Each sample (10 mL) was serially diluted with 90 mL of sterile peptone water, from 1×10⁻¹ to 1×10⁻⁵. Each dilution was then used to inoculate nutrient agar by surface spread plating. Aerobic colony counts (ACCs) were determined by colony counting. The isolates were sub-cultured on blood and MacConkey agar. Preliminary identification was achieved on the basis of colony morphology and culture characteristic, and confirmed by API® 20E, 20NE, and API® Staph testing. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was carried out using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion assay, per CLSI 2015 guidelines.

The mean ACC ranged from 2.0×10⁶ CFU/mL to 4.93×10⁶ CFU/mL, with the highest ACC determined for orange juice. Overall, 153 polymicrobial were identified in 125 samples; 103 of these were Gram-negative rods (GNR) and 28 were Gram-positive cocci (GPC). Escherichia coli (n=38), Klebsiella pneumoniae (n=32) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=24) were the predominant GNR; Staphylococcus aureus (n=28) was the predominant GPC. Antibiogram analysis revealed that all GNR were resistant to ampicillin. However, most E. coli isolates were resistant to ceftazidime (72.4 percent of isolates), and ceftriaxone and cefepime (68.9 percent), while most K. pneumoniae isolates were resistant to cefepime (72 percent) and ceftriaxone (64 percent). All S. aureus isolates were resistant to penicillin, while most (64 percent) were resistant to piperacillin; the most effective drugs against bacteria were vancomycin and imipenem.

The findings suggest that the local government regulatory food and public health authorities should take immediate emergency measures. Appropriate surveillance studies and periodic monitoring of food items should be regularly performed to safeguard public health.

The current study revealed the prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacteria in freshly prepared fruit juices sold by local street vendors.

The purpose of this review is to narrate the microbiological quality of variety of street foods which are largely consumed by the Bangladeshi people of all ages. However, these foods are prone to microbial contamination. Most of the vendors lack the awareness on hygiene during preparing, processing or handling the foods. The insufficiency in regular microbiological analysis further casts the possibility of disease onset. The need of microbial analyses of these foods also remains unclear to the consumers, which, in turn, results in microbial infections and intoxications remaining unnoticed.

The present review focused on the microbiological quality of the street foods projected from the locally conducted researches on street foods, and pondered on the possible management from a microbiological perspective for ensuring consumer safety.

This paper provides comprehensive information on the microbiological quality of street foods, requirement of maintenance of hygiene by the vendors and consumers and the necessity of adopting proper management during food preparation.

Demonstration of microbial prevalence in the street foods may bring imperative information on food safety and security. The conclusive message of this review is about the general consciousness on the microbiological aspects of street food contamination.

The present study aimed at analyzing the hypothesized relationship between human resource (HR) flexibility and firm performance with the mediating effect of firm innovation and the moderating role of firm-level power distance orientation.

The proposed hypotheses were tested with the two-wave data collected from 209 registered information technology (IT) firms operating in Pakistan. The SMART-PLS examined the model’s hypothesized moderated, mediated and moderated-mediation relationships.

The results confirmed significant relationships between HR flexibility, firm innovation and performance while showing that the link between HR flexibility and firm performance is mediated by firm innovation. The results demonstrated that the firm-level power distance orientation negatively affected the HR flexibility–firm innovation link. These findings provide implications on how HR flexibility leverages firm innovation and performance. However, a power distance orientation in firms may diminish the positive effect of HR flexibility.

HR practitioners and top management can leverage these findings to design and implement policies that promote HR flexibility within IT firms for superior innovation and performance.

Our study offers valuable insights into the contribution of HR flexibility to firm innovation and performance. Specifically, the findings indicate that power distance orientation negatively affects the relationships between HR flexibility, firm innovation and performance. Therefore, HR practitioners and top management can leverage these findings to design and implement policies that promote HR flexibility within IT firms for superior innovation and performance.