Research Publications (Food Safety)

Abstract This report by the European Food Safety Authority and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control presents the results of the zoonoses monitoring and surveillance activities carried out in 2022 in 27 Member States (MSs), the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) and 11 non‐MSs. Key statistics on zoonoses and zoonotic agents in humans, food, animals and feed are provided and interpreted historically.

Human norovirus (HNoVs) and Salmonella are both very important foodborne pathogens with mixed infection of HNoV and Salmonella reported clinically.

Vegetables, especially those eaten raw, have been implicated in several foodborne disease outbreaks. Since multiple vegetable matrices and hazards are involved, risk managers have to prioritize those with the greatest impact on public health to design control strategies. In this study, a scientific-based risk ranking of foodborne pathogens transmitted by leafy green vegetables in Argentina was performed.

In recent years, rapid detection methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) have been continuously developed to improve the detection of food-borne pathogens in food samples. The recent developments of PCR and qPCR in the detection and identification of these food-borne pathogens are described and elaborated throughout this review.

Water is a vital resource to every living thing on the earth. Once the water is contaminated (physically, chemically, biologically, or radiologically), it brought negative impacts to the living thing. This paper provides a brief review of the characterization of biological pollutants in drinking water and their effects on human health.

Background The National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) captures data on foodborne, waterborne, and enteric illness outbreaks in the United States. This study describes enteric illness outbreaks reported during 11 years of surveillance. Methods We extracted finalized reports from NORS for outbreaks occurring during 2009–2019.

Environmental monitoring (EM) programs are designed to detect the presence of pathogens in food manufacturing environments with the goal of preventing microbial contamination of food. Nevertheless, limited knowledge exists regarding the influence of environmental conditions on microbial recovery during EM. This study utilizes a commercially-available polyurethane foam (PUF) EM tool to determine the influence of environmental factors on the recovery of foodborne pathogens.

Phagemid particles based on the Neisseria gonorrhoeae filamentous phage NgoΦ6 were used as a vaccine delivery system. We demonstrate that the host proteins incorporated into/associated with these particles can be encoded by chromosomal genes of the host bacterium or from plasmids able to replicate as an autonomous entity in the phagemid host. Phagemid particles were prepared from three types of cells, namely, Salmonella enterica ser.

Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Accepted Article. Background The purpose of the present study was to examine the inactivation of Salmonella enterica (50 μL; 109 CFU/g), Listeria monocytogenes (50 μL; 109 CFU/g), and murine norovirus (MNV-1; 50 μL; 107 TCID50/mL) on whole and fresh-cut strawberries after 2-min disinfection treatments (water (H2O), chlorine 200 mg/L (NaClO), water-assisted UV-C (WUV), and th

A previously conducted national survey of restaurant inspection programs associated the practice of disclosing inspection results to consumers at the restaurant point-of-service (POS) with fewer foodborne outbreaks. We used data from the national Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System (FDOSS) to assess the reproducibility of the survey results.

Background The Thermo Scientific™ SureTect™ Salmonella species PCR Assay utilizes Solaris™ reagents for performing PCR for the rapid and specific detection of Salmonella species in a broad range of foods and select environmental surfaces. Objective The aims were to demonstrate the reproducibility of the Thermo Scientific SureTect Salmonella species PCR Assay in a collaborative study using a challenging matrix, cocoa powder, and to extend the scope of the method.

Background A wide variety of pathogens can cause disease in humans via consumption of contaminated food.

Foodborne diseases affect an estimated 600 million people worldwide annually, with the majority of these illnesses caused by Norovirus, Vibrio, Listeria, Campylobacter, Salmonella, and Escherichia coli. To elicit infections in humans, bacterial pathogens express a combination of virulence factors and toxins.

Fresh vegetables and shellfish are prone to microbial contamination through irrigation or breeding with sewage-polluted waters, as well as by infected food handlers. In this work, we studied the presence of human and bovine polyomaviruses and human norovirus in fresh lettuces, strawberries and oysters produced in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. In oysters, we also investigated F-specific RNA bacteriophages, indicator Escherichia coli (E.

Author(s): Omar Hernández Hernández, Ana L. Gutiérrez-Escolano, Cleo Cancio-Lonches, Montserrat H. Iturriaga, Juan Ramiro Pacheco-Aguilar, Rocío Morales-Rayas, Sofía M. Arvizu-Medrano A multiplex PCR method was developed for the simultaneous detection of murine norovirus (MNV-1) as a surrogate for human norovirus (HuNoV) GI and GII, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., and Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in fresh produce.

Introduction. The identification of enteropathogens is critical for the clinical management of patients with suspected gastrointestinal infection. The FLOW multiplex PCR system (FMPS) is a semi-automated platform (FLOW System, Roche) for multiplex real-time PCR analysis.

Fresh vegetables and shellfish are prone to microbial contamination through irrigation or breeding with sewage-polluted waters, as well as by infected food handlers. In this work, we studied the presence of human and bovine polyomaviruses and human norovirus in fresh lettuces, strawberries and oysters produced in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. In oysters, we also investigated F-specific RNA bacteriophages, indicator Escherichia coli (E.

Toxoplasma gondii , hepatitis E virus (HEV) and Salmonella are zoonotic foodborne pathogens that may be transmitted to humans through the consumption of raw or undercooked pork.  The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of anti- Toxoplasma gondii , anti-HEV and anti- Salmonella antibodies from healthy pigs at slaughter in Switzerland.

Author(s): Trond Møretrø, Christophe Nguyen-The, Pierrine Didier, Isabelle Maître, Tekla Izsó, Gyula Kasza, Silje E. Skuland, Maria João Cardoso, Vania B. Ferreira, Paula Teixeira, Daniela Borda, Loredana Dumitrascu, Corina Neagu, Anca Ioana Nicolau, Eduard Anfruns-Estrada, Mike Foden, Phil Voysey, Solveig Langsrud

Refugee camps provide basic necessities such as food, water, shelter, and medical treatment for displaced persons. Unsanitary conditions in refugee camps due to overcrowding, poor sanitation systems, lack of clean water, minimal ways to cook and store food can lead to an increased risk of foodborne illness. This article reviews the limited literature on the epidemiology of foodborne illness in refugee camps, effective risk mitigation strategies and opportunities for future research.

Author(s): J. Ortiz-Solà, I. Abadias, P. Colàs-Medà, M. Anguera, I. Viñas

This study focuses on foodborne outbreaks of microbial infection associated with fresh produce in Europe and North America from this millennium. A total of 277 outbreaks with 44,524 individual cases were identified. Foodborne pathogens associated with the most outbreak frequency include Cryptosporidium (20.5%) in Europe and Salmonella (52.2%) in North America although Norovirus (54.3%) and Salmonella (61.3%) were associated with the number of cases in Europe and North America respectively.

In Japan, strategies for ensuring food safety have been developed without reliable scientific evidence on the relation between foodborne infections and foods. The aim of this research was to provide information on the proportions of foodborne diseases caused by seven major causative pathogens ( Campylobacte r spp., Salmonella spp., EHEC, V. parahaemolyticus , Clostridium perfringens , Staphylococcus aureus , and Norovirus) attributable to foods using analysis of outbreak surveillance data.

The Florida Complaint and Outbreak Reporting System (FL-CORS) database is used by the Florida Department of Health’s Food and Waterborne Disease Program (FWDP) as one of the tools to detect foodborne disease outbreaks. We present a descriptive and spatial network analysis of the FL-CORS data collected during 2015-2018.

Author(s): Graham A.J. Redweik, Zachary R. Stromberg, Angelica Van Goor, Melha Mellata