Category Archives: pathogenic

Research – Vibrio metschnikovii as an emergent pathogen: analyses of phylogeny and O-antigen and identification of possible virulence characteristics

Posted on January 20, 2024 by | Leave a comment

PubMed

Vibrio metschnikovii is an emergent pathogen that causes human infections which may be fatal. However, the phylogenetic characteristics and pathogenicity determinants of V. metschnikovii are poorly understood. Here, the whole-genome features of 103 V. metschnikovii strains isolated from different sources are described. On phylogenetic analysis V. metschnikovii populations could be divided into two major lineages, defined as lineage 1 (L1) and 2 (L2), of which L1 was more likely to be associated with human activity. Meanwhile, we defined 29 V. metschnikovii O-genotypes (VMOg, named VMOg1-VMOg29) by analysis of the O-antigen biosynthesis gene clusters (O-AGCs). Most VMOgs (VMOg1 to VMOg28) were assembled by the Wzx/Wzy pathway, while only VMOg29 used the ABC transporter pathway. Based on the sequence variation of the wzx and wzt genes, an in silico O-genotyping system for V. metschnikovii was developed. Furthermore, nineteen virulence-associated factors involving 161 genes were identified within the V. metschnikovii genomes, including genes encoding motility, adherence, toxins, and secretion systems. In particular, V. metschnikovii was found to promote a high level of cytotoxicity through the synergistic action of the lateral flagella and T6SS. The lateral flagellar-associated flhA gene played an important role in the adhesion and colonization of V. metschnikovii during the early stages of infection. Overall, this study provides an enhanced understanding of the genomic evolution, O-AGCs diversity, and potential pathogenic features of V. metschnikovii.

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Posted in Emerging Pathogen, Food Microbiology Research, Food Pathogen, pathogenic, Research, Vibrio, Vibrio metschnikovii

Research – Deep Impact: Shifts of Native Cultivable Microbial Communities on Fresh Lettuce after Treatment with Plasma-Treated Water

Posted on January 19, 2024 by | Leave a comment

MDPI

Abstract

Foods consumed raw, such as lettuce, can host food-borne human-pathogenic bacteria. In the worst-case, these diseases cause to death. To limit illness and industrial losses, one innovative sanitation method is non-thermal plasma, which offers an extremely efficient reduction of living microbial biomass. Unfortunately, the total viable count (TVC), one of the most common methods for quantifying antimicrobial effects, provides no detailed insights into the composition of the surviving microbial community after treatment. To address this information gap, different special agars were used to investigate the reduction efficiency of plasma-treated water (PTW) on different native cultivable microorganisms. All tested cultivable microbial groups were reduced using PTW. Gram-negative bacteria showed a reduction of 3.81 log10, and Gram-positive bacteria showed a reduction of 3.49 log10. Fungi were reduced by 3.89 log10. These results were further validated using a live/dead assay. MALDI-ToF (matrix-assisted laser-desorption-ionization time-of-flight)-based determination was used for a diversified overview. The results demonstrated that Gram-negative bacteria were strongly reduced. Interestingly, Gram-positive bacteria and fungi were reduced by nearly equal amounts, but could still recover from PTW treatment. MALDI-ToF mainly identified Pseudomonas spp. and groups of Bacillus on the tested lettuce. These results indicate that the PTW treatment could efficiently achieve a ubiquitous, spectrum-wide reduction of microbial life.

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Posted in Bacillus, Bacillus cereus, Food Microbiology Research, Food Pathogen, Gram Negative Bacteria, Malditof, Pathogen, pathogenic, Pseudomonas, Research

Hong Kong – CFS finds Salmonella in sample of salty chicken

Posted on January 16, 2024 by | Leave a comment

CFS

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (January 15) that a sample of salty chicken was found to contain a pathogen, Salmonella. The CFS is following up on the case.

“The CFS collected the above-mentioned sample from a booth at an exhibition in Wan Chai for testing under its routine Food Surveillance Programme, the booth number was Booth 3B15 of Friendship Rainbow Company Limited at the Hong Kong Food Festival. The test result showed the presence of Salmonella in 25 grams of the sample, exceeding the criterion of the Microbiological Guidelines for Food which states that Salmonella should not be detected in 25g of a ready-to-eat food sample,” a spokesman for the CFS said.

The CFS has informed the vendor concerned of the above irregularity and instructed it to recall the relevant food product. Members of the public may call its hotline at 5708 1363 during office hours for enquiries about the recall. The CFS is also tracing the source and distribution of the product concerned. Prosecution will be instituted should there be sufficient evidence.

For the sake of prudence, the CFS appealed to members of the public who had purchased salty chicken from the above-mentioned booth at the exhibition held from December 23 to 27, 2023 not to consume them. If symptoms develop after consuming the food, they should seek medical advice as soon as possible.

According to section 54 of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132), all food available for sale in Hong Kong, locally produced or imported, should be fit for human consumption. An offender is subject to a maximum fine of $50,000 and imprisonment for six months upon conviction.

“Salmonella infection may cause fever and gastrointestinal upset such as vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhoea. The effects on infants, young children, the elderly and people with a weak immune system could be more severe and may even lead to death,” the spokesman said.

The CFS will continue to follow up on the incident and take appropriate action to safeguard food safety and public health. Investigation is ongoing.

Ends/Monday, January 15, 2024

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Posted in CFS, food contamination, food handler, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Quality, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Safety Management, Food Safety Regulations, Food Temperature Abuse, Food Testing, Pathogen, pathogenic, Salmonella

FDA Advises Restaurants and Retailers Not to Serve or Sell and Consumers Not to Eat Certain Whole, Live Scallops Believed to Be Harvested from a Prohibited Area in Massachusetts and Distributed by Intershell International Corp (MA 7802 SP)

Posted on January 11, 2024 by | Leave a comment

FDA

Audience

  • Restaurants and food retailers in Illinois (IL), Massachusetts (MA), New Jersey (NJ), New York (NY), and Pennsylvania (PA) that have recently purchased certain Intershell International Corp (MA 7802 SP) whole, live scallops that were received from an unlicensed harvester, believed to be harvested from prohibited waters in MA and incorrectly labeled as harvest location FED 514, with harvest dates 12/26/23, 12/27/23 and 01/01/24.
  • Consumers in IL, MA, NJ, NY, and PA who have recently purchased or consumed certain Intershell International Corp (MA 7802 SP) whole, live scallops, that were received from an unlicensed harvester, believed to be harvested from prohibited waters in MA and incorrectly labeled as harvest location FED 514, with harvest dates 12/26/23, 12/27/23 and 01/01/24.

Product

Certain whole, live scallops that were received from an unlicensed harvester, believed to be harvested from prohibited waters in MA and incorrectly labeled as harvest location FED 514, with harvest dates 12/26/23, 12/27/23 and 01/01/24 that were distributed to IL, MA, NJ, NY, and PA. It is possible that these scallops may have been distributed to other states as well.

Purpose

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising consumers not to eat, and restaurants and food retailers not to sell, and to dispose of certain Intershell International Corp (MA 7802 SP) whole, live scallops that were received from an unlicensed harvester, believed to be harvested from prohibited waters in MA and incorrectly labeled as harvest location FED 514, with harvest dates 12/26/23, 12/27/23 and 01/01/24 because they may be contaminated. The scallops were directly distributed to distributors and retailers in IL, MA, NJ, NY, and PA and may have been distributed further from these states.

Scallops harvested from prohibited waters may be contaminated with human pathogens, toxic elements or poisonous or deleterious substances and can cause illness if consumed.

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Posted in FDA, Food Pathogen, food recall, Pathogen, pathogenic, product recall, Recall, Shellfish, shellfish toxin

Research – Novel Methods for the Mitigation of Human Pathogens and Mycotoxin Contamination of High Value California Specialty Crops

Posted on January 6, 2024 by | Leave a comment

ARS USDA

Successful execution of these Objectives will contribute to field by: improving our knowledge of how microbial populations can affect and impact food safety and public health and delineating how pathogens are transmitted and disseminated in and among plant crops allowing for future development of improved/alternate interventions and control strategies

(Objectives 1-4); developing novel intervention strategies using sustainable, natural fungicide alternatives that eliminate aflatoxigenic fungi; enhancing our knowledge regarding the prevalence of azole-resistant aspergilli with enhanced aflatoxin production

(Objective 5); and developing novel methods to control invasive insect pests and reducing the need for the use of radioisotopes for irradiation

(Objective 6). These Objectives, if successful, will allow growers to produce a safer food supply and reduce the use of toxic chemicals (pesticides) and enhance environmental quality.

Objective 1: Identify and characterize agricultural soils that suppress the persistence of the human pathogenic bacteria Salmonella enterica, Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7.

Objective 2: Examine the microbiomes, potential for human pathogen colonization, and effectiveness of biological control agents on lettuces grown in indoor vertical hydroponic systems.

Objective 3: Examine the effects of bacterial biocontrol candidate strains on population dynamics of black Aspergillus spp. on grapes and raisins.

Objective 4: Identification and utilization of antifungal metabolites from microbial sources as interventions. •

Sub-objective 4A: Identification of antifungal metabolites from candidate biocontrol bacteria collected from raisin grape vineyards. •

Sub-objective 4B: Isolation and characterization of bacteria with antifungal activities from pistachio orchards.

Objective 5: Development of resistance management augmenting fungal and mycotoxin elimination. •

Sub-objective 5A: Determine the prevalence of azole-resistant aspergilli (A. flavus, A. parasiticus) that produce increased levels of mycotoxins in California tree nut orchards. •

Sub-objective 5B: Develop new intervention strategies for the control of azole-resistant Aspergillus species utilizing natural products/derivatives as fungicide alternatives.

Objective 6: Investigate novel methods to address mycotoxin contamination of tree nuts through control of fungal and insect vectors. •

Sub-objective 6A: Evaluate X-ray based irradiation as an alternative to gamma irradiation for SIT. •

Sub-objective 6B: Investigate high pressure steam as a tool for orchard sanitation through destruction of overwintering NOW larvae in pistachio mummies.

Objective 7: The use of previously approved natural products as an accelerated chemical interventions strategy to inhibit food-associated mycotoxins, fungal pathogens, and their insect pest transmitters. •

Sub-objective 7A: Identify previously approved natural products that inhibit mycotoxins and fungal pathogens frequently found in food contaminations. •

Sub-objective 7B: Identify previously approved natural products that immunosuppress insect pests and increase their sensitivity to microbes.

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Posted in Aflatoxin, Aflatoxin B1, Alternaria Toxin, Animal Feed Aflatoxin, Animal Feed Mould Toxin, Aspergillus Toxin, Food Microbiology Research, Food Pathogen, Food Toxin, Fusarium Toxin, Mold Toxin, Mould Toxin, Mycotoxin, Ochratoxin, Ochratoxin A, Pathogen, pathogenic, Research, Toxin

Canada – Factor brand Parmesan Pesto Chicken with Steamed Spinach, Roasted Green Beans & Grape Tomatoes may be unsafe due to undercooking – Microbial Contamination

Posted on December 26, 2023 by | Leave a comment

CFIA

Product
Parmesan Pesto Chicken with Steamed Spinach, Roasted Green Beans & Grape Tomatoes
Issue
Food – Microbial Contamination – Other
What to do

Do not consume, use, sell, serve or distribute recalled products

Distribution
New Brunswick
Nova Scotia
Ontario
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
Factor - Parmesan Pesto Chicken - 235 g - Bottom
Factor - Parmesan Pesto Chicken - 235g - Best Before Date
Factor - Parmesan Pesto Chicken - 325g - Bottom2
Factor - Parmesan Pesto Chicken - 325g - Front

The affected product is being recalled from the marketplace due to undercooking.  Undercooked food may contain bacterial pathogens which can make you sick.

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Posted in Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, food recall, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, Pathogen, pathogenic, Pet Food Recall, product recall, Recall

Research – Scientists look into Listeria risk in Costa Rica and Ecuador

Posted on December 24, 2023 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

According to researchers, mandatory reporting of Listeria infections in Costa Rica would help improve knowledge of the pathogen in the country.

Listeriosis is not a notifiable disease in the country, so its prevalence is unknown, and the diversity of Listeria monocytogenes circulating is unclear.

Previous studies found Listeria monocytogenes in various foods in Costa Rica, with contamination levels between 5 and 20 percent in processed meat products and fresh cheeses.

Researchers used whole genome sequencing (WGS) to characterize 92 isolates recovered from 2009 to 2019 from 16 clinical, 67 food, and nine production environment samples.

Isolates were from urban areas, including the capital city, San José, and from rural zones where cheese production is prevalent, including Turrialba, which accounts for 70 percent of fresh cheese made in the country.

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Posted in Food Microbiology Research, Food Pathogen, Listeria, Listeria in Cheese, Listeria monocytogenes, Pathogen, pathogenic, Research, WGS

Research – Machine learning is set to speed up the detection of contamination in food factories

Posted on December 16, 2023 by | Leave a comment

Techcrunch

The factories that process our food and beverages (newsflash: no, it doesn’t come straight from a farm) have to be kept very clean, or we’d all get very ill, to be blunt. Ensuring that usually entails deploying petri-dish-based microbiological monitoring, hardware and waiting for tests to return from labs. A new startup has plans to use deep-learning algorithms to speed up this process.

Spore.Bio is a French startup that has developed a new pathogen-detection methodology. It works by shining an optical light on surfaces where clean food has been, and doing the same with unclean food. It then compares the two datasets to detect when a surface is not clean.

Off the back of this solution, it’s now raised €8 million in pre-seed funding led by London’s LocalGlobe VC. Also participating was EmergingTech Ventures, No Label Ventures, Famille C (Clarins Family Office), Better Angle, Plug & Play Ventures, Entrepreneur First, Kima Ventures, Raise Sherpas, Fair Equity, Sharpstone Capital and angels.

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Posted in Food Microbiology Research, Food Pathogen, Food Safety, Food Safety Management, food safety training, Food Technology, Pathogen, pathogenic, Research

USA – FDA Advises Restaurants and Retailers Not to Serve or Sell and Consumers Not to Eat Chopped Clams Illegally Harvested in Massachusetts and Distributed by Red’s Best

Posted on December 13, 2023 by | Leave a comment

FDA

Audience
Restaurants and food retailers in Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA), New York (NY), and Rhode Island (RI) that have recently purchased Red’s Best chopped clams, labeled as lot numbers # 331 and # 333, with shuck dates of 23/331 and 23/333. These clams were illegally harvested from prohibited waters in MA on 11/25/2023 and 11/26/2023.
Consumers in CT, MA, NY, and RI who have recently purchased or consumed Red’s Best chopped clams, labeled as lot numbers # 331 and # 333, with shuck dates of 23/331 and 23/333, that were illegally harvested from prohibited waters in MA on 11/25/2023 and 11/26/2023.
Product
Red’s Best chopped clams illegally harvested from prohibited waters in MA on 11/25/2023 and 11/26/2023 and distributed to CT, MA, NY, and RI. It is possible that chopped clams may have been distributed to other states as well. These chopped clams can be identified by lot numbers # 331 and # 333, with shuck dates of 23/331 and 23/333 and harvest area mhb4, packed by 13027 ma-sp. All chopped clams were packed in one-gallon (8 lbs) plastic containers with “Red’s Best” printed on the sidewall. Both the lot number and shuck date should be printed on a decal label adhered to either the lid or sidewall of each container.

Purpose
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising consumers not to eat, and restaurants and food retailers not to sell, and to dispose of Red’s Best chopped clams illegally harvested from prohibited waters in MA on 11/25/2023 and 11/26/2023 with lot numbers # 331 and # 333, and shuck dates of 23/331 and 23/333, because they may be contaminated. The chopped clams were directly distributed to distributors and retailers in CT, MA, NY, and RI and may have been distributed further from these states.

Clams harvested illegally may be contaminated with human pathogens, toxic elements or poisonous or deleterious substances and can cause illness if consumed. Clams are filter feeders that remove and bioaccumulate bacteria and other pathogens from the water. It is not uncommon for shellfish to be consumed raw and whole. Contaminated clams can cause illness if eaten raw, particularly in people with compromised immune systems. Clams contaminated with pathogens may look, smell, and taste normal.

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Posted in bacterial contamination, Contaminated water, cross contamination, Decontamination Microbial, food contamination, Food Pathogen, food recall, Pathogen, pathogenic, product recall, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Research – Lightning sparks scientists’ design of ultraviolet-C device for food sanitization

Posted on December 10, 2023 by | Leave a comment

News Illinois

Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a portable, self-powered ultraviolet-C device called the Tribo-sanitizer that can inactivate two of the bacteria responsible for many foodborne illnesses and deaths.

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Posted in Food Microbiology Research, Food Pathogen, Food Technology, Pathogen, pathogenic, Research, Technology, UV Microbiology, UV-C