Research Publications (Food Safety)

Increasing microbial safety and prolonging the shelf life of products is one of the major challenges in the food industry. Active food packaging made from nanofibrous materials enhanced with antimicrobial substances is considered a promising way.

Salmonella spp. continues to figure prominently in world epidemiological registries as one of the leading causes of bacterial foodborne disease. We characterised 43 Brazilian lineages of Salmonella Typhimurium (ST) strains, characterized drug resistance patterns, tested copper (II) complex as control options, and proposed effective antimicrobial measures.

Letters in Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. Antimicrobial resistance has silently turned into one of the biggest threats to global health, marking the fall of the Golden age of antibiotics. In the search for antibiotic replacement or enhancement, plant-derived natural compounds have attracted lots of interest. Even though firmly believed, the low resistance tendency of pathogenic bacteria against plant extracts has been scarcely demonstrated.

Journal of Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. In food animals, Salmonella can exist as multiserovar populations, and the goal of this study was to determine whether Salmonella-positive animal feed samples also consist of multiserovar populations. Fifty Salmonella positive samples, collected from ten countries, were cultured using three different media for Salmonella isolation: Universal pre-enrichment broth,

Salmonella spp. is one of the most important zoonotic pathogens with economic impact in public health worldwide. The relevance of Salmonella increases with the appearance of resistant strains. The aim of this study was to determine the level of antimicrobial resistance in 332 Salmonella isolates selected from 3 different poultry productive orientations in Eastern Spain during 3 years (2015 to 2017).

Journal of Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. This study was conducted to test the ability of a carvacrol-based formulation (Phodé, France) to decrease the C. jejuni caecal load in inoculated broiler chickens and to study the impact of the C. jejuni inoculation alone or combined with the product, on the caecal microbiota. At day 1, chickens were either fed a control feed or the same diet supplemented with a carvacrol-based product.

Campylobacter enteritis (En) is the most frequently diagnosed bacterial En worldwide, including in Japan. Campylobacter spp. can also cause bloodstream infection (BSI), reactive arthritis, and Guillain-Barré syndrome. The purpose of this study was to clarify the characteristics of Campylobacter jejuni strains that cause BSI in comparison with En-causing strains.

Bacillus cereus is a major food poisoning pathogen that generates spores and biofilms, allowing it to survive in varied food systems. This study revealed the incidence, virulence toxin gene profiling, multi-drug resistance of B.

by Duarte N. Guerreiro, M. Graciela Pucciarelli, Teresa Tiensuu, Diana Gudynaite, Aoife Boyd, Jörgen Johansson, Francisco García-del Portillo, Conor P. O’Byrne The general stress response (GSR) in Listeria monocytogenes plays a critical role in the survival of this pathogen in the host gastrointestinal tract. The GSR is regulated by the alternative sigma factor B (σB), whose role in protection against acid stress is well established.

Globally, healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are the most frequent adverse outcome in healthcare delivery. Although bacterial biofilms contribute significantly to the incidence of HAI, few studies have investigated the efficacy of common disinfectants against dry-surface biofilms (DSB).

Vibrio alginolyticus is a devastating bacterial pathogen of Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), which often causes acute hepatopancreatic necrosis syndrome (AHPNS) and early mortality syndrome (EMS). Elucidation of molecular mechanisms of L. vannamei in responding to infection is essential for controlling the epidemic. In the present study, transcriptomic profiles of L.

Listeriosis is a foodborne disease caused by Listeria monocytogenes (LM) and has been linked to the consumption of sliced mozzarella cheese.

This work reports a sensitive and accurate multimode detection method to detect Salmonella typhimurium using inherent color, photothermal and catalytic properties of Prussian blue@gold nanoparticles (PB@Au). The inherent color of PB@Au can realize direct visual detection while the temperature increase (ΔT) of it can realize sensitive and quantitative photothermal detection. Moreover, catalytic coloration detection is applied to further amplify detection signal.

The study was to evaluate the antimicrobial impacts on Melissa officinalis L. essential oil (MOEO) against Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of MOEO on Vibrio parahaemolyticus was 1 μL⋅mL–1. The kill-time curve exhibited that MOEO had good antimicrobial activity. The analysis of cellular ingredients leakage and cell viability illustrated that MOEO has destruction to the morphology of the cell membrane.

Escherichia coli O157 (E. coli O157) is one of the most dangerous foodborne pathogens worldwide. A convenient, sensitive, and specific method for the E. coli O157 detection is necessary. The present study developed an isothermal real-time recombinase polymerase amplification (real-time RPA) assay and an RPA combined with lateral flow strip (LFS-RPA) to detect E. coli O157 targeting the conserved region of the rfbE gene.

Donkeys (Equus asinus) are in decline in Europe. Occupational exposure to farm animals has been associated with increased staphylococci carriage. We aimed to isolate S. aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) from donkeys and handlers and characterize the antimicrobial resistance profiles and genetic lineages of S. aureus strains. Oral and nasal swab samples were collected from 49 Miranda donkeys and 23 handlers from 15 different farms.

Letters in Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. This is the first report of acute deaths in five European brown hares (Lepus europaeus) attributed to mucoid and necrotizing typhlocolitis caused by genetically different Cronobacter (C.) turicensis strains in northeastern Austria.

The inhibitory mechanism of CUM on Staphylococcus aureus exotoxins and invasive enzyme, and the effect of CUM on sauced beef were investigated. Treatment with sub-minimum inhibitory concentrations of CUM observed very little decrease in cell density after 24 h. Additionally, CUM reduced hemolytic activity by inhibiting the formation of heptamer, and inhibited the content of enterotoxin in culture medium and sauced beef.

Effects of thyme essential oil (TEO) emulsion (TEE) with cationic charge formulated using cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) on attachment strength and inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7 on romaine lettuce surface were examined in this study.

Bacillus cereus is a common foodborne pathogen that causes vomiting and diarrheal symptoms. Due to its spore-forming ability, B. cereus can resist physical sterilization and possess a relatively high contamination level in dairy products; therefore, it is necessary to develop an efficient strategy to control the growth of B. cereus. In this study, a novel bacteriophage, named DLn1, was isolated and characterized, and its endolysin was expressed.

Yersinia enterocolitica is a psychrotrophic zoonotic foodborne pathogen. Pigs are considered the main reservoir of Y. enterocolitica 4/O:3, which is the most commonly isolated bioserotype in many European countries. Consuming pork contaminated with Y. enterocolitica can be a health threat, and antimicrobial-resistant strains may complicate the treatment of the most severe forms of yersiniosis. We analyzed the antimicrobial resistance of 1,016 pathogenic porcine Y.

Diarrheal diseases caused by Salmonella pose a major threat to public health, and assessment of bacterial viability is critical in determining the safety of food and drinking water after disinfection. Viability PCR could overcome the limitations of traditional culture-dependent methods for a more accurate assessment of the viability of a microbial sample.

Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157, and Shigella flexneri are typical foodborne pathogens in ground beef, which can cause severe infection even when present as a single cell. Flow cytometry (FCM) methods are widely applied in the rapid detection of pathogens in food products. In this study, we report an FCM-based method for detecting single cells of Salmonella, E.

Journal of Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. This study evaluated the behaviour of the Salmonella enterica serotypes in osmotically-stressful BHI broth (0.940 ≤ aw ≤ 0.960), assessing inoculum from two stages of the bacterial life cycle (exponential and stationary) and two temperatures (25 and 35 °C). Four S.

Avocados are popular fruits; however, contamination of whole fresh avocados and avocado products with foodborne pathogens has raised concern about their safety. Recalls and import alerts of avocado products due to contamination with Listeria monocytogenes cause important economic losses. The behavior of Salmonella, L.