Research Publications (Food Safety)

Salmonella enterica is one of the most common foodborne illnesses in the United States and worldwide, with nearly one-third of the cases attributed to contaminated eggs and poultry products. Vaccination has proven to be an effective strategy to reduce Salmonella load in poultry.

Salmonella Typhimurium (ST) is a foodborne pathogen that adversely affects the health of both animals and humans. Since poultry is a common source and carrier of the disease, controlling ST infection in chickens will have a protective impact on human health.

The inactivation kinetics of Listeria monocytogenes during High Hydrostatic Pressure (HHP) treatments was studied in a purple smoothie based of fresh fruit and vegetables. Pressure intensity studied was 300, 350, 400 and 450 MPa. Untreated samples were used as control. Furthermore, the effects on quality attributes (sensory, total soluble solids content, colour, titratable acidity, pH, vitamin C and total phenolics content) were also monitored.

Cronobacter sakazakii, as a most important foodborne pathogen in powdered infant formula (PIF), can cause diseases with high mortality in infants and young children, and has become a key monitoring target in dairy industry. In this study, a visual detection strategy based on DNAzyme and asymmetry recombinase polymerase amplification (aRPA) was developed for monitoring C. sakazakii in PIF.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a major food-borne pathogen and the leading cause of seafood-associated enteric infections worldwide. In addition, imprudent use of antibiotics has contributed to increasing antibiotic resistance in V. parahaemolyticus. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel control strategies to reduce V.

Metabolomics based on the mass spectrometry approach can serve as a platform to detect pathogens and spoilage microorganisms. However, the accurate quantification of biomarkers with lower molecular weight based on mass spectrometry is generally limited by isotope-labeled standards and complicated protocols, which is not conducive to large-scale applications.

Foodborne illness constitutes a substantial health and economic burden on society, and most cases are believed to be due to mishandling of food practices. This study aimed to establish the relationship between food handling practices and Campylobacter contamination in commercial restaurant kitchens. The handling practices of chefs during chicken preparation were observed and recorded.

Salmonella enterica is capable of entering the interior of leafy greens and establishing in the apoplastic area, a phenomenon known as internalization. The ability of internalized bacteria to evade common disinfection practices poses a well-established risk. Our aim was to study the effect of: i) inoculum size and ii) prior adaptation of Salmonella to sublethal stresses, on the internalization of the pathogen in four leafy vegetables.

Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen with high mortality in young children, elderly persons, pregnant women, and immune-compromised individuals. Most human listeriosis cases are associated with four serotypes (1/2a, 1/2b, 1/2c and 4b) within lineages I and II. The intracellular metabolic changes in L. monocytogenes from different lineages and serotypes remain unclear.

This study aimed to determine Salmonella enterica occurrence along the soybean meal production chain (raw material, in-processing samples, final products, and in the environment of five processing plants), characterize the isolates, and assess the survival of Salmonella Se

Autoinducer-2 (AI-2), a quorum-sensing signal molecule from the human pathogen Vibrio vulnificus, was assessed for its effect on the gut microbiome of mice. For this, we employed 16S rRNA sequencing to compare the gut microbiome of mice infected with either wild-type V. vulnificus or with the isotype ΔluxS that has a deletion in luxS which encodes the biosynthetic function of AI-2.

Dysphagia associated with upper esophageal sphincter (UES) dysfunction remarkably affects the quality of life of patients. UES injection of botulinum toxin is an effective treatment for dysphagia. In comparison with skeletal muscles of the limb and trunk, the UES is a special therapeutic target of botulinum toxin injection, owing to its several anatomical, physiological, and pathophysiological features.

The antimicrobial and immunomodulatory capacities of the peptide Css54 and the chemokine MCP-1 were tested. The first, a peptide isolated from the venom of the scorpion Centruroides suffusus suffusus was synthesized chemically. In contrast, the second is a monocyte chemoattractant expressed as a recombinant protein in our lab. It was observed in vitro that Css54 inhibited the growth of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (6.2 µg/mL).

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus (MRS) is a leading cause of skin and soft tissue infections in companion animals, with limited treatment options available due to the frequent cross-resistance of MRS to other antibiotics.

It has been a challenge in developing effective thermal pasteurization processes for foods with high-fat and low-moisture contents like peanut butter, due to a general lack of reliable data on thermal resistance of pathogens in those food matrices.

Fresh juices are often exposed to microbial contamination due to their minimal processing, which can lead to foodborne disease.

Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus biofilm infections using conventional antibiotic therapy is challenging as only doses that are sublethal to the biofilm can be administered safely to patients. A potential solution to this challenge is targeted drug delivery. In this study, we tailored an aptamer-targeted liposomal drug delivery system for accumulation and delivery of antibiotics locally in S. aureus biofilm.

Aquatic pathogens, including Vibrio, Edwardsiella, Pseudomonas, and Aeromonas, which could result in bacterial diseases to aquaculture, have seriously threatened the world aquaculture production. Marine-derived fungi, which could produce novel secondary metabolites with significant antibacterial activity, may be an important source for finding effective agents against aquatic pathogens.

We report a case of severe outflow graft infection following left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation. A 51-year old male LVAD patient was readmitted to our hospital presenting signs of systemic infection. One year previously, LVAD implantation (HeartMate3, Abbott, Chicago, IL, USA) with concomitant patent foramen ovale closure had been performed in the context of end-stage heart failure due to dilative cardiomyopathy (INTERMACS III).

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are considered to be a major global healthcare challenge, in large part because of the development of microbial resistance to currently approved antimicrobial drugs. HAIs are frequently preventable through infection prevention and control measures, with hand hygiene as a key activity. Improving hand hygiene was reported to reduce the transmission of healthcare-associated pathogens and HAIs.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a Gram-positive bacterium that may cause life-threatening diseases and some minor infections in living organisms. However, it shows notorious effects when it becomes resistant to antibiotics. Strain variants of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites that have become resistant to existing multiple antimicrobials are termed as superbugs. Methicillin is a semisynthetic antibiotic drug that was used to inhibit staphylococci pathogens. The S.

Journal of Food Science, EarlyView. The occurrence of disease outbreaks involving low-water-activity (aw) foods has gained increased prominence due in part to the fact that reducing free water in these foods is normally a measure that controls the growth and multiplication of pathogenic microorganisms. Salmonella, one of the main bacteria involved in these outbreaks, represents a major public health problem worldwide and in Brazil, which highlights the importance o

by Jason R. Devlin, William Santus, Jorge Mendez, Wenjing Peng, Aiying Yu, Junyao Wang, Xiomarie Alejandro-Navarreto, Kaitlyn Kiernan, Manmeet Singh, Peilin Jiang, Yehia Mechref, Judith Behnsen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) is one of the leading causes of food-borne illnesses worldwide. To colonize the gastrointestinal tract, S. Typhimurium produces multiple virulence factors that facilitate cellular invasion.

by Kasturi Chandra, Atish Roy Chowdhury, Ritika Chatterjee, Dipshikha Chakravortty Salmonella is a facultative intracellular pathogen that has co-evolved with its host and has also developed various strategies to evade the host immune responses. Salmonella recruits an array of virulence factors to escape from host defense mechanisms. Previously chitinase A (chiA) was found to be upregulated in intracellular Salmonella.

Traditional culture-based detection methods for Campylobacteri jejuni, a leading cause of human bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide, are time-consuming, cumbersome, and lacking in reliability. While polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been frequently used for pathogen testing, it might generate false-negative results due to inadequate sensitivity. This study was the first to explore novel single-tube nested PCR (STN-PCR) to detect pathogens in food.