Research Publications (Food Safety)

Publication date: August 2015
, Volume 49
Author(s): Christopher Sommers , Kathleen T. Rajkowski , O. Joseph Scullen , Jennifer Cassidy , Pina Fratamico , Shiowshuh Sheen

Publication date: Available online 5 March 2015

Author(s): Adriana Albanese , Elizabeth Gerhardt , Hugo García , Natalia Amigo , Angel Cataldi , Elsa Zotta , Cristina Ibarra

Publication date: September 2015
, Volume 50
Author(s): Jinling Shen , Lydia Rump , Wenting Ju , Jingdong Shao , Shaohua Zhao , Eric Brown , Jianghong Meng

Publication date: April 2015
, Volume 111
Author(s): Insook Son , Rachel Binet , Andrew Lin , Thomas S. Hammack , Julie A. Kase
To rapidly identify the presence of potentially virulent O157:H7 and non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), a PCR-based Luminex suspension assay was developed to detect the genes coding for four virulence factors ( stx 1, stx 2, eae , and ehxA ) plus the O157:H7-specific + 93 uidA single nucleotide polymorphism.

Aim
The objective of this study was to determine the effect of lysozyme and antibiotics on zoonotic pathogen shedding in faeces from nursery pigs housed without and with an indirect disease challenge.

Publication date: September 2015
, Volume 55
Author(s): Byong Kwon Yoo , Yanhong Liu , Vijay Juneja , Lihan Huang , Cheng-An Hwang

Foodborne Pathogens and Disease , Vol. 0, No. 0.

Strawberries are an important fruit in Belgium in both production and consumption, but little information is available about the presence of Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in these berries, the risk factors in agricultural production, and possible specific mitigation options. In 2012, a survey was undertaken of three soil and three soilless cultivation systems in Belgium. No Salmonella spp. were isolated.

Small- and medium-size farms in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States use varied agricultural practices to produce leafy greens during spring and fall, but the impact of preharvest practices on food safety risk remains unclear. To assess farm-level risk factors, bacterial indicators, Salmonella enterica, and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) from 32 organic and conventional farms were analyzed.

In addition to Escherichia coli O157:H7shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) O26 was added to the zero-tolerance adulterant list together with other 5 non-O157 STEC serogroups in 2012. Four farm O26 isolates were used in this study; they were obtained from a on-farm survey study conducted in Alabama. The presence of 3 major pathogenic genes (stx1, stx2, and eaeA) was determined through multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O26 infections can be comparable with STEC O157 infections in severity of the acute haemolytic-uremic syndrome HUS and long-term sequelae. Among O26 STEC isolates, highly virulent clone O26:H11/H- Sequence Type 29 (ST 29) emerged in Germany in mid-1990s and spread to European countries. However, up to date, no STEC O26:H11/H- belonging to ST29 has been documented in Poland.

Veal cutlets were surface inoculated with ca. 6.6 cfu/g of an eight-strain rifampicin-resistant cocktail of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) (O26:H11, O45:H2, O103:H2, O104:H4, O111:H-, O121:H19, O145:NM and O157:H7). Cutlets were mechanically tenderized and cordon bleu was prepared by adding slices of ham and cheese between two cutlets prior to batter/breading and cooking. Fully assembled cordon bleu were cooked in preheated (191.5C) extra virgin olive oil (45 mL) on a griddle.

Liao, Yen-Te et al. Non-O157 Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is an emerging risk for food safety. Although numerous postharvest antimicrobial interventions have been effectively used to control E. coli O157:H7 during beef harvesting, research regarding their effectiveness against non-O157 STEC is scarce.

Kalchayanand, Norasak et al. Several antimicrobial compounds have been used in commercial meat processing plants for decontamination of pathogens on beef carcasses, but there are many commercially available, novel antimicrobial compounds that may be more effective and suitable for use in beef processing pathogen-reduction programs.

Rangel-Vargas, Esmeralda et al. Data on the presence of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli pathotypes (DEPs) in alfalfa sprouts and correlations between the presence of coliform bacteria (CB), fecal coliforms (FC), E. coli, DEPs, and Salmonella in alfalfa sprouts are not available. The presence of and correlations between CB, FC, E. coli, DEPs, and Salmonella in alfalfa sprouts were determined. One hundred sprout samples were collected from retail markets in Pachuca, Hidalgo State, Mexico.

Virulence markers in Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and their association with diseases remain largely unknown. This study determines the importance of 44 genetic markers for STEC (O157 and non-O157) from human clinical cases and their correlation to disease outcome. STEC isolated from a cattle surveillance program were also included. The virulence genes tested were present in almost all O157:H7 isolates but highly variable in non-O157 STEC isolates.

The objective of this study was to assess the genetic diversity of non-O157 STEC isolates from cattle. Multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) was used to identify and compare the sequence types (STs) of 43 non-O157 STEC cattle isolates using the EcMLST database curated by the STEC Center at Michigan State University. For the 43 isolates, 19 STs were identified and 10 of those STs were novel compared to those in EcMLST. For the 43 isolates, 19 different serotypes were identified.

Publication date: 4 May 2015
, Volume 200
Author(s): Xiangning Bai , Hong Wang , Youquan Xin , Rongjie Wei , Xinyuan Tang , Ailan Zhao , Hui Sun , Wang Zhang , Yan Wang , Yanmei Xu , Zhengdong Zhang , Qun Li , Jianguo Xu , Yanwen Xiong

Escherichia coli isolates (n = 658) obtained from drinking water intakes of Comox Lake (2011 to 2013) were screened for the following virulence genes (VGs): stx1 and stx2 (Shiga toxin-producing E. coli [STEC]), eae and the adherence factor (EAF) gene (enteropathogenic E. coli [EPEC]), heat-stable (ST) enterotoxin (variants STh and STp) and heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) genes (enterotoxigenic E. coli [ETEC]), and ipaH (enteroinvasive E. coli [EIEC]).

Foodborne Pathogens and Disease , Vol. 0, No. 0.

Foodborne Pathogens and Disease Feb 2015, Vol. 12, No. 2: 118-121.

The main pathogenic enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) strains are defined as Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing E. coli (STEC) belonging to one of the following serotypes: O157:H7, O26:H11, O103:H2, O111:H8, and O145:H28. Each of these five serotypes is known to be associated with a specific subtype of the intimin-encoding gene (eae).

Sergio Sánchez, María Teresa Llorente, María Aurora Echeita, Silvia Herrera-León

Human infection with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a major cause of postdiarrheal hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), a life-threatening condition characterized by hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and acute renal failure. E. coli O157:H7 is the dominant STEC serotype associated with HUS worldwide, although non-O157 STEC serogroups can cause a similar disease. The detection of anti-O157 E.

Strains of Escherichia coli O26:H11 that were positive for stx2 alone (n = 23), which were not epidemiologically related or part of an outbreak, were isolated from pediatric patients in France between 2010 and 2013. We were interested in comparing these strains with the new highly virulent stx2a-positive E.