Category Archives: Food Microbiology Research

Research – Scotland – WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCE TYPING AND ANALYSIS OF NON-O157 STEC

Posted on March 26, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Click to access WGS_Typing_and_Analysis_of_Non-O157_STEC_-_Jan_2020_v3.pdf

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Posted in E.coli, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Microbiology, Uncategorized, WGS, Whole Genomic Sequencing

Research – Study shows how diligent we have to be to keep surfaces germ-free

Posted on March 26, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Science Daily

During the COVID-19 pandemic, every frequently touched surface outside our home seems as dangerous as a hot pot right out of the oven. We won’t get burned if we touch it, but we might get infected with a potentially dangerous virus.

A recent study suggests that even organized efforts to clean surfaces can fall short, a reminder for us all that keeping our surroundings clean may require some additional work.

For 5 ½ weeks, researchers tagged surfaces of a small-animal veterinary practice daily with a fluorescent dye visible only under black light. They checked tagged surfaces 24 hours later to see if the marks were showing. Surfaces were considered cleaned if the dye was completely removed.

Results showed that overall, only half of all surfaces were adequately cleaned during the study period. Human-touch surfaces — such as medical instruments, dog run handles, and computer mice and keyboards — were cleaned less frequently than areas touched primarily by animals. The results were similar to studies from other veterinary clinics.

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Posted in bacterial contamination, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Research, Uncategorized

UK – FSA publishes guidance for food businesses on coronavirus (COVID-19)

Posted on March 26, 2020 by | Leave a comment

FSA

The FSA has today published guidance to assist food businesses in responding to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The new guidance has been developed with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and covers a range of areas including good hygiene practice, management of employee sickness, and social distancing for specific food business settings.

It is very unlikely that people can catch COVID-19 from food. COVID-19 is a respiratory illness and not known to be transmitted by exposure to food or food packaging.

The FSA is working with the food industry to ensure that businesses know what their responsibilities are and what actions they need to take to maintain safety standards and protect staff during the outbreak.

The guidance can be found on GOV.UK

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Posted in Coronavirus, COVID-19, food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Safety, Food Standards Agency, Food Technology, Food Testing, Uncategorized

Research – Modeling the inactivation of Bacillus cereus by infrared radiation in paprika powder (Capsicum annuum)

Posted on March 26, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Wiley Online 

Infrared (IR) irradiation, a novel technology for modeling of decontamination of Bacillus cereus in paprika powder was evaluated and the effect on temperature profiles and total phenolic content was determined. The highest reduction in B. cereus count (2.3 log CFU/g) was achieved after a holding time of 1 min at 200 W IR power and 5 cm distance. The rapid rise in temperature was observed in surface paprika powder and the highest temperature at 200 W IR power and 5 cm distance reaching to 127.8°C. An increase in IR power and a decrease in sample distance of the IR lamp caused a significant decrease in the total phenolic content. The Double Weibull model closely predicted the inactivation of B. cereus in paprika powder by IR irradiation.

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Posted in Bacillus, Bacillus cereus, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Technology, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Research, Technology, Uncategorized

Research – Don’t freak out: These are the microbes living on your tongue

Posted on March 25, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Science Mag

STEVEN WILBERT AND GARY BORISY/FORSYTH INSTITUTE

Microbes are everywhere in our guts—and in our mouths. Now, a new study reveals our tongue-dwelling companions aren’t all mixed together randomly; instead, they seem to prefer living close to their own kind, separating out into distinct groups based on their species.

Researchers started by scraping the tongues of 21 healthy human volunteers. Then, they used fluorescent tags to identify specific groups of bacteria, some of which produce nutrients for us, so they could see exactly where each one lived on the tongue’s surface. Without exception, the bacteria formed tight-knit, well-defined clusters of the same species, the researchers report today in Cell Reports.

The clusters (above) resemble a microbial rainbow under the microscope. For instance, Actinomyces bacteria, in red, grow close to the epithelial tissue of the tongue, shown in gray, while Rothia bacteria, in cyan, form long patches between other communities. Streptococcus, in green, form a thin crust on the edge of the tongue and slender veins in the interior. By looking at the images, the researchers could guess at how these colonies establish themselves and grow over time.

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Posted in Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Microbiome, Research, Uncategorized

Research – Human foodborne listeriosis in England and Wales, 1981 to 2015

Posted on March 24, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Cambridge Press

Almost all cases of human listeriosis are foodborne, however the proportion where specific exposures are identified is small. Between 1981 and 2015, 5252 human listeriosis cases were reported in England and Wales. The purpose of this study was to summarise data where consumption of specific foods was identified with transmission and these comprised 11 sporadic cases and 17 outbreaks. There was a single outbreak in the community of 378 cases (7% of the total) which was associated with pâté consumption and 112 cases (2% of the total) attributed to specific foods in all the other incidents. The proportion of food-attributed cases increased during this study with improvements in typing methods for Listeria monocytogenes. Ten incidents (one sporadic case and nine outbreaks of 2–9 cases over 4 days to 32 months) occurred in hospitals: all were associated with the consumption of pre-prepared sandwiches. The 18 community incidents comprised eight outbreaks (seven of between 3 and 17 cases) and 10 sporadic cases: food of animal origin was implicated in 16 of the incidents (sliced or potted meats, pork pies, pâté, liver, chicken, crab-meat, butter and soft cheese) and food of non-animal origin in the remaining two (olives and vegetable rennet).

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Posted in food contamination, food death, food handler, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Safety, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Research, Uncategorized

USA – New Oyster Rules Aim to Reduce Vibrio Cases

Posted on March 24, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Coastal Review

Division of Marine Fisheries Director Steve Murphey implemented the new oyster harvest control measures through Proclamation SS-1-2020  and Proclamation SS-2-2020, both issued Monday.

The Division of Marine Fisheries announced that while the state’s public health record concerning shellfish-related illnesses is one of the best in the country, the number of Vibrio cases nationwide had increased in recent years. Vibrio are naturally occurring bacteria in coastal waters that can cause illness in humans if precautions are not taken during the warmer months of the year.

The new regulations also will bring the state into conformity with guidance from the National Shellfish Sanitation Program, which is the federal, state and industry cooperative program recognized by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration and the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference for the sanitary control of shellfish produced and sold for human consumption.

The changes include the following new requirements to:

  • Shade oysters harvested between May 1 and Oct. 14. This involves providing shade over harvested oysters or covering the oysters with a light-colored tarp or other nontoxic material while they are stored on the vessel, floating container when the oysters are not submerged, or a vehicle (this is already required for the harvest of clams in the summer).
  • Resubmerge oysters exposed to the air for greater than five hours between May 1 and Oct. 14 (this might occur during air-drying or de-fouling with gear such as OysterGro). The oysters must remain submerged for at least 14-days to abate Vibrio levels that may have been elevated.
  • Clarify that when working in intertidal waters the term “start of harvest” begins when the oyster is first exposed by the receding tide.
  • Clarify the tagging procedures when oysters leave the lease for tumbling or culling.
  • Resubmerge oysters moved from one growing area to another for at least 21 days prior to harvest (Certified shellfish dealers with a wet storage permit are exempt). This may prevent the closure of multiple growing areas in the event of an illness outbreak.

Previously implemented regulations pertaining to recording the start of harvest on the harvest tag and delivering the oysters to a licensed dealer within a specified time remain in effect.

For more information, contact Shannon Jenkins, chief of the division’s Shellfish Sanitatio

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Posted in Contaminated water, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Research, Uncategorized, Vibrio, Vibrio vulnificans, Vibrio vulnificus, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Research – Outbreak of Clostridium perfringens food poisoning linked to leeks in cheese sauce: an unusual source

Posted on March 24, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Cambridge Uni Press

Between 11–13 December 2018, local public health authorities in the West Midlands, England were alerted to 34 reports of diarrhoea with abdominal cramps. Symptom onset was ~10 h after diners ate Christmas meals at a restaurant between 7–9 December 2018. A retrospective case-control study, environmental and microbiological investigations were undertaken to determine the source and control the outbreak. An analytical study was undertaken with odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Forty persons were recruited to the analytical study (28/40 cases). Multivariable analysis found that leeks in cheese sauce was the only item associated with illness (aOR 51.1; 95% CI 4.13–2492.1). Environmental investigations identified significant lapses in food safety, including lapses in temperature control during cooking and hot holding, likely cross-contamination between raw and cooked foods and the reuse of leftover cheese sauce for the next day’s service. No food samples were taken during the exposure period. Two faecal samples were positive for Clostridium perfringens with one confirming the enterotoxigenic gene. Cheese sauce is an unusual vehicle for the organism and the first time this has been reported in England.

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Posted in Clostridium perfringens, food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Toxin, Research, Uncategorized

Research – Bacteria form biofilms like settlers form cities

Posted on March 23, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Science Daily biofilm

Biofilms are composed of bacteria living in a densely packed and organized community. Research paired high-level imaging tools with an algorithm to track a biofilm as it formed. Biofilm growth at multiple scales, they found, mimics aspects of how cities emerge from individual settlers.

The findings show that, as individual bacteria multiply and grow into a dense and sticky biofilm, such as the community that forms dental plaque, their growth patterns and dynamics mirror those seen in the growth of cities.

“We take this ‘satellite-level’ view, following hundreds of bacteria distributed on a surface from their initial colonization to biofilm formation,” says Hyun (Michel) Koo, a professor in Penn’s School of Dental Medicine and senior author on the work. “And what we see is that, remarkably, the spatial and structural features of their growth are analogous to what we see in urbanization.”

This new perspective on how biofilms grow could help inform efforts to either promote the growth of beneficial microbes or break up and kill undesirable biofilms with therapeutics.

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Posted in Biofilm, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Research, Uncategorized, water microbiology

Research – Coronavirus: no evidence that food is a source or transmission route

Posted on March 23, 2020 by | Leave a comment

EFSA

EFSA is closely monitoring the situation regarding the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that is affecting a large number of countries across the globe. There is currently no evidence that food is a likely source or route of transmission of the virus.

EFSA’s chief scientist, Marta Hugas, said: “Experiences from previous outbreaks of related coronaviruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), show that transmission through food consumption did not occur. At the moment, there is no evidence to suggest that coronavirus is any different in this respect.”

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has said that while animals in China were the likely source of the initial infection, the virus is spreading from person to person – mainly via respiratory droplets that people sneeze, cough, or exhale. More information on coronavirus and food can be found in this FAQ by the BfR, Germany’s risk assessment body.

Scientists and authorities across the world are monitoring the spread of the virus and there have not been any reports of transmission through food. For this reason, EFSA is not currently involved in the response to the COVID-19 outbreaks. However, we are monitoring the scientific literature for new and relevant information.

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Posted in Coronavirus, COVID-19, food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Safety, Food Testing, Research, Uncategorized