Research Publications (Food Safety)

Salmonella enterica are important foodborne bacterial pathogens globally associated with poultry. Exposure to Salmonella-contaminated eggs and egg-related products is a major risk for human salmonellosis. Presently, there is a huge data gap regarding the prevalence and circulating serovars of Salmonella in chicken eggs sold in Ghana.

In bacteria and primitive eukaryotes, sulfonamide antibiotics block the folate pathway by inhibiting dihydropteroate synthase (FolP) that combines para-aminobenzoic acid (pABA) and dihydropterin pyrophosphate (DHPP) to form dihydropteroic acid (DHP), a precursor for tetrahydrofolate synthesis. However, the emergence of resistant strains has severely compromised the use of pABA mimetics as sulfonamide drugs.

Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium infections in pigs are major source associated with enteric disease such as post-weaning diarrhea. Lactic acid bacteria, one of the most essential probiotics, can colonize the digestive tract and increase nutritional digestion and maintain the stability of the intestinal flora. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Pediococcus pentosaceus in weaned piglets challenged with pathogen bacteria.

Supplementing tryptophan (Trp), threonine (Thr), and methionine (Met) above the requirements might support immune system energetic and protein costs during a sanitary challenge. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between protein deposition (PD) and immune response in challenged pigs.

Early-life microbiome establishment and colonization is essential for gut development, nutrient digestion and metabolism, and modulation of the immune system. Microbial colonization of the infant digestive tract begins at birth, and as such, maternal microbiota has an important influence on the early-life establishment and colonization of the infant gut microbiota.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of a specialty energy source, which comprises of 28% fat and 55% corn-syrup solids (Solu-E; International Ingredient Corporation, Fenton, MO) on growth performance and fecal microbiota population of nursery pigs. Two hundred and eighty-eight (initial body weight = 5.91 kg) mixed gender pigs were assigned to 4 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design with body weight as a blocking factor.

This study was designed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of selected essential oils (AITC, carvacrol, eugenol, and thymol) in combination with Salmonella phage-encoding endolysin (LysPB32) against Salmonella Typhimurium KCCM 40253 in vitro and in cooked ground beef. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of AITC, carvacrol, eugenol, and thymol against S.

Background Salmonella spp. and pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli are among the major foodborne zoonotic pathogens. These bacterial pathogens cause human illnesses characterized by hemorrhagic colitis, vomiting, nausea, and other agent-related symptoms. The increasing occurrence of antimicrobial resistance in these pathogens is also a serious public health concern globally.

A new DNA microarray test kit has been developed to detect foodborne pathogens in various food matrices. This study focuses on evaluating the PathogenDx microarray-based system to detect Salmonella in ground beef and verify critical parameters that could interfere with the method's effectiveness, such as enrichment incubation time, ground beef fat content, inclusivity, exclusivity, and analytical sensitivity.

Summary Bacteria adherence to the surface and the resulting biofilm have serious harmful effects in food. Biofilm formation in foods can lead to food deterioration and disease transfer easily. Some alternative applications are being tried in removing biofilms. Among these, biosurfactants and bacteriophages are promising owing to their low toxicity, easy availability, and high activity.

Salmonella Dublin and Campylobacter spp. are two foodborne pathogens of importance. A small number of studies reported that consumption of veal liver was associated with an increased risk of human illness from these two pathogens.

Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Heidelberg (Salmonella Heidelberg) has caused several multistate foodborne outbreaks in the United States, largely associated with the consumption of poultry. However, a 2015-2017 multidrug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak was linked to contact with dairy beef calves.

Salmonellosis is one of the leading causes of gastrointestinal infections in humans. In Canada, it is estimated that approximately 87,500 cases of salmonellosis occur every year in humans, resulting in 17 deaths. In the United States, it is estimated that 26,500 hospitalizations and 420 deaths occur every year. In dairy cattle, infections caused by nontyphoidal Salmonella enterica can cause mild to severe disease, including enteritis, pneumonia, and septicemia.

Salmonella spp. can be present in pasteurized liquid egg products because of its heat resistance or post-processing contamination, thereby representing a food safety risk.

Recently, the hybrid Broussonetia papyrifera (BP) has been extensively cultivated and predominantly utilized in ruminants because of its high protein and bioactive compound content. In the present study, the effects of an ethanolic extract of BP leaves (BPE, 200 mg/kg) on mitigating 2% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced intestinal inflammation in mice were evaluated.

The effect of select antibiotics on Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 persistence in a porcine cecal continuous flow culture was examined under two different washout rates. Porcine continuous flow cultures were conducted in the presence or absence of gram-positive antibiotic carbadox. Carbadox eliminated chemostat anaerobes culturable on Brucella agar under 24 h turnover conditions, allowing Salmonella Typhimurium to persist for 15 days.

The Ligilactobacillus salivarius 7247 (LS7247) strain, originally isolated from a healthy woman’s intestines and reproductive system, has been studied for its probiotic potential, particularly against Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) and Salmonella Typhimurium (ST) as well as its potential use in synbiotics. LS7247 showed high tolerance to gastric and intestinal stress and effectively adhered to human and animal enterocyte monolayers, essential for realizing its probiotic properties.

Foodborne diseases are caused by food contaminated by pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter, and Clostridium, a critical threat to human health. As a novel antibacterial agent against foodborne pathogens, endolysins are peptidoglycan hydrolases encoded by bacteriophages that lyse bacterial cells by targeting their cell wall, notably in Gram-positive bacteria due to their naturally exposed peptidoglycan layer.

The concentration of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) in plasma-activated water (PAW) can be increased by increasing the input power, discharge voltage, and discharge time under a constant discharge frequency. However, knowledge regarding RONS concentration prepared under different discharge frequencies is lacking. This study investigated how decreasing the discharge frequency affects the chemical and physical properties of PAW.

Microbiology Resource Announcements, Ahead of Print. This manuscript reports the complete genome sequence of a Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium strain (designated “Bnaya”), isolated from a dead dairy calf with severe diarrhea in Israel. The isolate exhibited multi-drug resistance, which is highly unusual in bovine Salmonella spp. in Israel, prompting further investigation.

Foodborne pathogens pose substantial health hazards and result in considerable economic losses in the U.S. Fortunately, the National Center for Biotechnology Information Pathogen Detection Isolates Browser (NPDIB) provides valuable access to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes and antimicrobial assay data. This study aimed to conduct the first comprehensive investigation of AMR genes in pathogens isolated from U.S.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (STm) is a major foodborne pathogen and poultry are a key reservoir of human infections. To understand the host responses to early stages of Salmonella infection in poultry, we infected 2D and 3D enteroids, the latter of which contains leukocytes, neurons, and mesenchymal cells that are characteristic of the lamina propria.

The use of right sample preparation protocols is critical when analyzing challenging matrices containing inhibitory compounds inhibiting Salmonella growth during pre-enrichment step. The use of right sample preparation protocols will not only avoid a false negative result, but it can also have a huge positive impact on laboratory operations, as it is used for every type of method (cultural, ELISA, or PCR), every day in every laboratory.

Summary Systematic review and meta‐analysis aggregate quantitative data from different studies into unified effect size estimates with better statistical power in risk assessment model parameterization. This study uses systematic review and meta‐analysis to estimate Salmonella decontamination during broiler slaughter from scalding to post‐chilling, with meta‐regression applied to explore modifier variables.

To investigate the prevalence of Blastocystis and Dientamoeba fragilis in diarrhea patients and healthy individuals in Corum, Türkiye, fecal samples from 92 diarrhea patients and 50 healthy individuals were collected and evaluated using direct microscopy and molecular methods to screen for bacteria, protozoa, and viruses. The prevalence of Blastocystis was 24.6% in total and more frequent in the healthy group (30.0%).