Research Publications (Food Safety)

This study investigated the bactericidal activity of plasma-activated water (PAW) generated with a remote discharge reactor against Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Listeria monocytogenes.

Lymphostatin is a virulence factor of enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) and non-O157 serogroup enterohaemorrhagic E. coli. Previous studies using whole-cell lysates of EPEC showed that lymphostatin inhibits the mitogen-activated proliferation of bulk human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and the production of cytokines IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, and IFN-γ.

Journal of Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. Aim This study was done to determine the effects of temperature, pH, and sodium chloride (NaCl) on antimicrobial activity of magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles (NPs) against Escherichia coli O157:H7. Methods and Results Culture conditions were established by varying the pH (5.0, 7.2, and 9.0), NaCl concentration (0.5, 2.0, 3.5, and 5.0%, w/v), and incubation temperatures (4, 12, 22, and 37°C).

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) is a leading cause of diarrhoeagenic diseases in humans and cattle worldwide. The emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) EPEC from cattle sources is a public health concern. A total of 240 samples (75 diarrhoeic calves, 150 milk samples, and 15 workers) were examined for prevalence of EPEC in three dairy farms in Egypt.

Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) are an important cause of foodborne illness in humans with infections ranging from mild non-bloody diarrhea to bloody diarrhea (BD) and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). This study aimed to investigate the distribution of STEC in shellfish from coastal shores of Lake Timsah in Ismailia Governorate, Egypt and its probable hazard to seafood consumers.

Escherichia coli O157:H7-contaminated beef has been implicated in numerous foodborne outbreaks. Contamination occurs despite the use of antimicrobial interventions such as lactic acid (LA). In addition, resistance to antibiotics such as ampicillin and streptomycin among isolates has been frequently reported. The influence of antibiotic resistance (ABR) on growth rates and cross-tolerance of lettuce isolate E. coli O157:H7 H1730 to LA was evaluated.

Journal of Food Science, EarlyView. The antimicrobial potential of switchgrass extractives (SE) was evaluated on cut lettuce leaves and romaine lettuce in planta, using rifampicin-resistant Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Typhimurium strain LT2 as model pathogens. Cut lettuce leaves were swabbed with E. coli O157:H7 or S.

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) is a nonthermal processing technology that can maintain the original color, flavor and nutritional components of food during preservation. In this study, the mechanism of HHP to inactivate Escherichia coli O157:H7 was studied and clarified. Along with the increase of treatment pressure, the total number of viable bacteria decreased significantly (p < 0.05).

Escherichia coli belonging to the enterohemorrhagic (EHEC), Shiga toxin-producing (STEC) and atypical enteropathogenic (aEPEC) pathotypes are significant foodborne zoonotic pathogens posing serious health risks, with healthy cattle as their main reservoir. A representative sampling of Hungarian cattle farms during 2017–2018 yielded a prevalence of 6.5 and 5.8% for STEC and aEPEC out of 309 samples.

The objective of the present study was to analyze the combined effect of heat treatment (55 to 62.5 °C) and citral (0 to 3%) on the heat resistance of Escherichia coli O104:H4 inoculated in ground beef. Inoculated meat packages were immersed in a circulating water bath stabilized at 55, 57.5, 60 and 62.5 °C for different times. The surviving microbial cells were counted in tryptic soy agar.

Endolysins encoded by bacteriophages are considered bacteriostatic agents for the prevention of pathogenic bacteria proliferations. In this study, a possible endolysin from bacteriophage JN01, namely LysJN01, belonging to the lysozyme-like superfamily, was cloned, expressed and characterized. Meanwhile, the bactericidal activity of recombinant LysJN01 (rLysJN01) against E. coli O157:H7 was evaluated in Tris-HCl buffer and on lettuce.

Escherichia coli O157 belongs to a diverse serogroup including different H serotypes. E. coli O157: H7 is the most common serotype that can cause acute gastroenteritis, hemorrhagic colitis (HC), and hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) in humans. In recent years, some E. coli O157:non-H7 strains have been reported to cause sporadic cases and outbreaks of diarrheal diseases. However, the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of E.

Chlorine dioxide (ClO2) and sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) are two chlorinated oxidizing agents that are implemented in water treatment and postharvest processing of fresh produce. While the antibacterial mechanisms of NaClO have been investigated, there are comparatively few studies that have looked at how ClO2 kills bacteria. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare the inactivation pathways of ClO2 and NaClO against Escherichia coli O157:H7.

A laboratory-acquired E. coli O157:H7 infection with associated severe sequelae including hemolytic uremic syndrome occurred in an individual working in the laboratory with a mixture of nalidixic acid-resistant (NalR) O157:H7 mutant strains in a soil-biochar blend. The patient was hospitalized and treated with an intravenous combination of metronidazole and levofloxacin.

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is one of the two classic thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) diseases which could be induced by infections. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patient with acquired TTP induced by infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (hereafter, S. Typhimurium) isolate, S. Typhimurium_zhang, which was confirmed by serology and genetic taxonomy.

Oat contains a variety of phenolic compounds, including avenanthramides, which are found only in oats. This study was conducted to establish the quantitative analysis of seven phenolic compounds in oat powders and sprouted oat powders and validate an efficient high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. All calibration curves represented good linearity (R2 ≥ 0.9997) in the concentration range (0.5−50 mg/kg) with LOD and LOQ of 0.01−0.21 and 0.02−0.64 mg/kg, respectively.

Naegleria fowleri can cause acute primary amoebic encephalitis. It is known that contact-dependent pathogenicity in free-living amoeba may be mediated through a carbohydrate-dependent pathway. In this study, the effect of mannose on the interaction between N. fowleri and pathogenic Escherichia coli O157:H7 and non-pathogenic E. coli DH5α was analyzed. In particular, the changes in proteases expressed by N.

The prevalence of Shiga-toxigenic E. coli (STEC), harbouring multidrug-resistant genes in raw milk collected from household vendors and cooperative milk marketing societies in Ernakulam District, Kerala, India, has been investigated. A higher prevalence of STEC pathotypes, with 47.16% (20 out of 42 samples), was observed in raw milk. A total of 157 STEC isolates were identified, which included notorious pathoserotypes, E. coli O157 group (10.19%) and E.

Author(s): Longfeng Wang, Xiaoxue Kong, Yun Jiang. High pressure processing (HPP) has been demonstrated as an effective technique in reducing E. coli O157:H7 levels on beef. However, an “injure and recover” action of E. coli O157:H7 was found to raise their beef contamination after HPP disinfection. Furthermore, the recovered cell could be miscalculated owing to the complex bacterial community of meat.

Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli O157) is still one of the main pathogenic strains causing food poisoning. Here in, we established a strategy that can simultaneously remove free E. coli O157 and the biofilms it forms. Composite nanofiber (fP-NF) films were synthesized successfully by co-encapsulating E.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the presence, pathogenic potential and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of Escherichia coli isolated from raw milk cheese, traditionally produced by farmers and marketed directly to the consumer in Banat region, Romania. A total of 81.1% (43/53) of the processed samples expressed positive results for E. coli, with a distribution of 83.8% (31/37), and 75.0% (12/16) in the cow- and sheep-milk-origin assortments, respectively.

Apart from antibiotic resistance of pathogenic bacteria, the formation of biofilms is a feature that makes bacterial infections especially difficulty to treat. Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains are dangerous pathogens, causing severe infections in humans, and capable of biofilm production. We have reported previously the identification and characterization of the vB_Eco4-M7 bacteriophage, infecting various STEC strains.

Journal of Food Science, EarlyView. Propidium monoazide coupled to real time PCR (PMA-qPCR) is a novel methodology proposed for the quantification of viable bacteria in food after microbial inactivation treatments. The aim of this work was to assess the effectiveness of different pressure levels on the lethality of a pool of Escherichia coli O157 strains in beef burgers by plate count and PMA-qPCR using uidA as target gene.

Prior studies have demonstrated that parabens enhanced the thermal inactivation of foodborne pathogens including Cronobacter sakazakii , Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes in model systems. However, there have been few studies looking at this phenomenon in actual food systems. The current study evaluated the potential enhancement of thermal inactivation of C.

Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli is a foodborne pathogen commonly associated with human disease characterized by mild or bloody diarrhea hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome. This study investigated the occurrence of STEC in fecal samples of 289 goats in South Africa using microbiological culture and PCR. Furthermore, 628 goat STEC isolates were characterized by serotype (O:H) and major virulence factors by PCR. STEC was found in 80.2% (232/289) of goat fecal samples.