Research Publications (Food Safety)

An in-package atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge cold plasma (CP) treatment integrated with malic acid (MA)-incorporated whey protein isolate coating treatment (MA-WPI + CP treatment) was developed to inactivate Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes in steamed fish paste packaged in a plastic container. MA-WPI + CP treatment inactivated Salmonella and L.

Bacillus velezensis FTL7 which exhibited potent antimicrobial peptide producing capacity was isolated from a marine sediment sample of the West Coast region, South India, and characterized through experimental and genomic analysis approaches.

Plasmid-borne colistin resistance is considered one of the most complex public health concerns worldwide. Several studies reported the presence of the mcr-1.1 harboring Salmonella from the foodstuffs worldwide; still, there is a knowledge gap about the occurrence of these isolates in the Middle East. In this study, we report an mcr-1.1-mediated colistin resistance in two multidrug-resistant (MDR) S.

With the increasing bacterial resistance to traditional antibiotics, there is an urgent need for the development of alternative drugs or adjuvants of antibiotics to enhance antibacterial efficiency. The combination of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and traditional antibiotics is a potential alternative to enhance antibacterial efficiency.

In this study, calcium phosphate nanoparticles-based (STCNV) and montanide oil adjuvant vaccine (STOAV) containing outer membrane proteins (Omps) of S. Typhi were evaluated for inducing oxidative stress indicators [reduced glutathione (GSH), lipid peroxidation (LPO), catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and total protein] in the tissues of mice after vaccination.

The enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli pathotype is responsible for severe and dangerous infections in humans. Establishment of the infection requires colonization of the gastro-intestinal tract, which is dependent on the Type III Secretion System.

Phages show promise in replacing antibiotics to treat or prevent bacterial diseases in the chicken breeding industry. Chicks are easily affected by their environment during early growth. Thus, this study investigated whether oral phages could affect the intestinal barrier function of chicks with a focus on the cecal microbiome.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Ahead of Print. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) for public health surveillance and epidemiological investigation of foodborne pathogens predominantly relies on sequencing platforms that generate short reads.

Ceftazidime/avibactam (CZA) is an alternative antibiotic used for the treatment of infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE). However, the CZA-resistant CRE strains have been detected worldwide. Therefore, it is critical to screen CZA-resistant CRE strains in colonized patients or a specific population so as to rapidly implement infection control measures to limit their transmission.

Microbiology Resource Announcements, Ahead of Print. Salmonella enterica continues to be a pervasive food safety concern in the poultry industry, contributing to the annual burden of foodborne illnesses in the United States. Poultry litter is a known environmental source for the transmission of Salmonella among broiler flocks. Here, we describe the draft genome sequences of 278 S. enterica isolates collected from poultry litter in Florida.

Salmonella enterica constitutes a global public health concern as one of the main etiological agents of human gastroenteritis. The Typhimurium serotype is frequently isolated from human, animal, food, and environmental samples, with its sequence type 19 (ST19) being the most widely distributed around the world as well as the founder genotype.

Journal of Food Science, EarlyView. This study aimed at developing predictive models for Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli in lettuce iceberg (Lactuca sativa) locally grown in Taiwan. The models were developed under constant temperature levels (5, 10, 15, 20, and 25°C) and validated under dynamic temperature conditions (18°C for 4 h, 7°C for 48 h, 23°C for 4 h).

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. The increasing incidence of foodborne illnesses worldwide has become an economic and public health problem. In order to reduce the risks associated with food safety, the Normative Instruction n° 79, 2018, modified the inspection of jowl in pork slaughterhouses in Brazil and requires the submission to validated treatments such as heat or other methods approved.

Enteric fever is caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi A, B, and C. While S. Typhi remains the primary causative agent of enteric fever, S. Paratyphi A is responsible for an increasing portion of enteric fever incidence. However, the current available vaccines for enteric fever are all developed from S. Typhi, and lack adequate cross immune protection against paratyphoid fever A. Therefore, paratyphoid A vaccines are urgently needed.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) is one of the common causes of human colitis. In the present study, two lytic phages vB_SenS-EnJE1 and vB_SenS-EnJE6 were isolated and the therapeutic effect of the combination of phages and faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) on S. Typhimurium-induced mouse colitis was investigated. The characteristics and genome analysis indicated that they are suitable phages for phage therapy.

Salmonella is one of the leading causes of foodborne illnesses worldwide. The rapid emergence of multidrug-resistant Salmonella strains has increased global concern for salmonellosis.

Molecular Microbiology, Accepted Article. Some prokaryotes compartmentalize select metabolic capabilities. Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Typhimurium LT2 (hereafter S. Typhimurium) catabolizes ethanolamine (EA) within a proteinaceous compartment that we refer to as the ethanolamine utilization (Eut) metabolosome.

Salad and other fresh produce were collected in England from retail and catering during 2020-21 and  were tested for Salmonella, Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC), Listeria , Bacillus cereus , and generic E. coli. Of the 604 samples collected , 57% were from retail and 43% from catering: 61% were either salad leaves or salad leaves mixed with other products. Equal numbers of samples were prepacked or loose and 50% were refrigerated at the time of sampling.

For bacteria that follow log-linear thermal inactivation in food, D values are obtained in multiple isothermal inactivation experiments at different temperatures, and the z value obtained from them.  In a previous work, it was shown mathematically that the cumulative lethality integral can be solved in closed-form if temperature in the food increases linearly with time.  Moreover, the solution showed that each non-isothermal experiment could yield both D and z values, eliminating th

Salmonella enterica Typhimurium represents one of the most frequent causal agents of food contamination associated to gastroenteritis. The sequence type ST19 is the founder and worldwide prevalent genotype within this serotype, but its replacement by emerging genotypes has been recently reported. Particularly, the ST213 genotype has replaced it as the most prevalent in clinical and contaminated food samples in Mexico and has been recently reported in several countries.

Journal of Food Processing and Preservation, Volume 46, Issue 6, June 2022. In this study, the effect of cholesterol on antibiotic resistance of Salmonella Typhimurium was investigated. Antibiotic resistance patterns revealed that the bacterium was susceptible to ampicillin, streptomycin, sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, and gentamicin and resistant to penicillin, erythromycin, and vancomycin.

Rapid and accurate detection of foodborne pathogens is crucial for safeguarding human health. Herein, we constructed a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/Cas9-integrated lateral flow strip (Cas9-LFS) for detecting Salmonella. A primer set targeting the fimA gene of Salmonella spp. was used to amplify all Salmonella serovars.

Poultry is a major source of human foodborne illness caused by broad host range Salmonella serovars (paratyphoid), and developing cost-effective, pre-harvest interventions to reduce these pathogens would be valuable to the industry and consumer. Host responses to infectious agents are often regulated through phosphorylation.

Salmonella spp. is the most frequent cause of foodborne diseases, and the increasing occurrence of MDR strains is an additional and increasing problem. We collected Salmonella spp. strains isolated from meat (poultry and pork) and analysed their antibiotic susceptibility profiles and the occurrence of resistance genes. To determine the susceptibility profiles and identify MDR strains, we used two MIC methods (MICRONAUT and VITEC2 Compact) and 25 antibiotics.