Category Archives: Research

Research – The Use of Predictive Microbiology for the Prediction of the Shelf Life of Food Products

Posted on December 17, 2023 by | Leave a comment

MDPI

Abstract

Microbial shelf life refers to the duration of time during which a food product remains safe for consumption in terms of its microbiological quality. Predictive microbiology is a field of science that focuses on using mathematical models and computational techniques to predict the growth, survival, and behaviour of microorganisms in food and other environments. This approach allows researchers, food producers, and regulatory bodies to assess the potential risks associated with microbial contamination and spoilage, enabling informed decisions to be made regarding food safety, quality, and shelf life. Two-step and one-step modelling approaches are modelling techniques with primary and secondary models being used, while the machine learning approach does not require using primary and secondary models for describing the quantitative behaviour of microorganisms, leading to the spoilage of food products. This comprehensive review delves into the various modelling techniques that have found applications in predictive food microbiology for estimating the shelf life of food products. By examining the strengths, limitations, and implications of the different approaches, this review provides an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners seeking to enhance the accuracy and reliability of microbial shelf life predictions. Ultimately, a deeper understanding of these techniques promises to advance the domain of predictive food microbiology, fostering improved food safety practices, reduced waste, and heightened consumer confidence.

Leave a comment

Posted in Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbial growth, Microbial Spoilage, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Predictive Modelling, Research

Research – A Critical Review of Risk Assessment Models for Listeria monocytogenes in Dairy Products

Posted on December 17, 2023 by | Leave a comment

MDPI

Abstract

A review of the published quantitative risk assessment (QRA) models of L. monocytogenes in dairy products was undertaken in order to identify and appraise the relative effectiveness of control measures and intervention strategies implemented at primary production, processing, retail, and consumer practices. A systematic literature search retrieved 18 QRA models, most of them (9) investigated raw and pasteurized milk cheeses, with the majority covering long supply chains (4 farm-to-table and 3 processing-to-table scopes). On-farm contamination sources, either from shedding animals or from the broad environment, have been demonstrated by different QRA models to impact the risk of listeriosis, in particular for raw milk cheeses. Through scenarios and sensitivity analysis, QRA models demonstrated the importance of the modeled growth rate and lag phase duration and showed that the risk contribution of consumers’ practices is greater than in retail conditions. Storage temperature was proven to be more determinant of the final risk than storage time. Despite the pathogen’s known ability to reside in damp spots or niches, re-contamination and/or cross-contamination were modeled in only two QRA studies. Future QRA models in dairy products should entail the full farm-to-table scope, should represent cross-contamination and the use of novel technologies, and should estimate L. monocytogenes growth more accurately by means of better-informed kinetic parameters and realistic time–temperature trajectories.

Leave a comment

Posted in Food Microbiology Research, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology Risk, Research

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.

Leave a comment

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

UP researchers caution against parasites in raw vegetables, seafood – Toxoplasma

Posted on December 16, 2023 by | Leave a comment

UPD

Scientists from the University of the Philippines (UP) are gently reminding the public to thoroughly wash and cook their market-bought fresh produce and seafood as a precautionary measure against parasites.

The parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, called Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), is one of the most infectious parasites in the world: it affects almost a third of the world’s population, most especially vulnerable groups such as the pregnant and immunocompromised. While most people infected with the disease do not present any symptoms, some may suffer flu-like symptoms, such as fever, headache, and muscle aches. But in severe cases, toxoplasmosis can cause inflammation of the brain and blurry vision. Infected parents’ newborn infants may suffer from excessive fluid in the brain and developmental issues. Fortunately, treatments are available for toxoplasmosis, hence symptomatic individuals are advised to seek timely medical attention.

Cielo Emar M. Paraoan, Ren Mark D. Villanueva, and Marie Christine M. Obusan of the UP Diliman College of Science’s Institute of Biology (UPD-CS IB) found that T. gondii is fairly common in vegetables and oysters that they sampled from local markets in Central Luzon. Among the vegetables tested were lettuce, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, and mung bean sprouts.

Leave a comment

Posted in Decontamination Microbial, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbial growth, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, Research, Toxoplasma gondii, Toxoplasmosis

EFSA – Story map on Listeria monocytogenes

Posted on December 13, 2023 by | Leave a comment

EFSA

Listeria bacteria are widespread in the environment and they are worldwide commonly found in soil and water, as well as in animal digestive tracts. There are more than 15  species  of bacteria in this genus, but human cases of Listeria infection are almost always caused by Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) while Listeria ivanovii is pathogenic in animals but rarely in humans. The other species are not considered to be pathogenic in humans or animals.

L. monocytogenes are able to form communities of bacteria called biofilms and are therefore resistant to a wide range of stresses. This capacity varies among  genotypes . They can tolerate acidic, dry and salty conditions, in the presence or absence of oxygen. Moreover, unlike most pathogenic bacteria, they are able to survive and multiply in refrigerated foods, making ready-to-eat foods of particular concern.

Leave a comment

Posted in Food Microbiology Research, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Safety Management, Food Safety Regulations, food safety training, Listeria, Listeria innocua, Listeria invanovi, Listeria monocytogenes, listeriosis, Online Food Safety, Research

EFSA – Story map on Salmonella

Posted on December 13, 2023 by | Leave a comment

EFSA

Salmonella is a genus of highly diverse bacteria that live in the intestinal tract of humans and animals and are widespread in the environment thanks to their ability to survive and adapt even under extreme conditions.

The more than 2,600 Salmonella  serovars  are divided into typhoidal and non-typhoidal serovars and all of them are potentially harmful and can cause diseases in humans with different level of severity. Typhoidal serovars (S. Typhi and S. Paratyphi) are highly adapted to the human host, which constitutes their exclusive reservoir, so they are transmittable only through human-to-human contact, causing a potentially life-threatening syndrome known as typhoid or paratyphoid fever. Their prevalence is very low in high-income countries, and the few European cases that occur generally involve people returning from trips to low- or middle-income countries.

Non-typhoidal serovars are zoonotic agents. They are transmittable from animals and foods to humans, but also through human-to-human contact, and they can cause various syndromes, most of which are gastrointestinal. Due to its adaptability, Salmonella is widely prevalent in the environment and can infect animals and contaminate food.

Leave a comment

Posted in Food Microbiology Research, Food Safety, Food Safety Management, Food Safety Regulations, food safety training, Online Food Safety, Research, Salmonella

EFSA – Story map on Campylobacter

Posted on December 13, 2023 by | Leave a comment

EFSA

The most clinically relevant  species  are Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) and C. coli, which are responsible for almost 95% of Campylobacter-associated diarrheal diseases. Other emerging species have been recently identified as human or animal pathogens. The involvement of some of these species in human disease is still unclear.

Campylobacter are a group of small, curved, gram-negative, non-spore-forming, motile bacteria with a single polar flagellum or bipolar flagella.

Thermotolerant Campylobacter species (e.g. C. jejuni, C. coli) are able to grow at temperatures between 37° and 42˚C but not below 30˚C, while strains of non-thermotolerant Campylobacter species (e.g. C. fetus subsp. venerealis, C. fetus subsp. fetus) may not grow at 42˚C. Generally, they are highly sensitive to oxygen, desiccation, osmotic stress, and low  pH , and they cannot grow in foods during handling or storage at room temperature in moderate climates. Freezing reduces the number of viable Campylobacter, but it must nevertheless be stressed that the bacteria can survive extended periods of refrigeration and freezing.

Leave a comment

Posted in Campylobacter, campylobacter coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Food Microbiology Research, Food Safety, Food Safety Management, Food Safety Regulations, food safety training, Online Food Safety, Research, Retailer Campylobacter Survey

EFSA – Story map on Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli

Posted on December 13, 2023 by | Leave a comment

EFSA

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are strains of the bacterium Escherichia coli that produce  cytotoxins  known as Shiga toxins and that can be transmitted from animals to humans. Shiga toxins are proteins that have a cytotoxic effect, meaning they can harm cells. These toxins exist in two primary forms: Stx1 and Stx2. Each form can be neutralized by different antibodies. Further, these toxin types are subdivided into multiple subtypes based on small genetic variations. For example, Stx1 includes subtypes such as stx1a, stx1c, and stx1d. Similarly, Stx2 has several subtypes, more than ten described up to now, including stx2a, stx2b, and so on. ( Scheutz et al., 2012 ;  Bai et al., 2021 ).

Leave a comment

Posted in eae, Food Microbiology Research, Research, Shigatoxin, STEC, STEC E.coli, STX 1, STX 2

Research -High technology is the key to detecting foodborne outbreaks over space and time

Posted on December 12, 2023 by | Leave a comment

Lex Blog

Most people think of foodborne illness outbreaks as spanning a few days or weeks. But, with current technology, disease detectives can find patients of a single outbreak spread across several years and multiple states.

That is the case with an ongoing outbreak of Listeria illnesses linked to fresh peaches that began in 2018. So far, 11 patients have been identified, most recently found in August this year. One of the patients died. Recent recalls of peaches, nectarines, and plums have been initiated while public health officials continue investigating the outbreak.

The links between people sickened in the outbreak this year and the initial patient in 2018 were made possible using whole genome sequencing (WGS). Whole genome sequencing has been likened to fingerprinting used in criminal investigations, but WGS allows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to look at millions of pieces of data.

“WGS examines more than 4.5 million ‘letters’ of the genetic code in disease-causing bacteria such as Salmonella. Bacteria closely related by WGS are more likely to have originated from the same source than more distantly related bacteria,” said John Besser, who retired in 2019 as Deputy Chief of the Enteric Diseases Laboratory Branch at the CDC. He continues to work on CDC-related projects through the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

“Ill persons in a WGS cluster will likely have shared exposure, such as a contaminated food product. By focusing on WGS clusters, investigators can detect outbreaks when they are small, even if cases are dispersed over multiple states or widely separated in time.”

Leave a comment

Posted in CDC, food bourne outbreak, Food Illness, Food Microbiology Research, Food Technology, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Illness, outbreak, Research, Technology, WGS

Research – Study shows limits of ozonated water as sanitizer in raw veggie processing for pet food

Posted on December 10, 2023 by | Leave a comment

Phys Org

Ozone can be a powerful and safe sanitizer when infused in water for food processing. However, in a recent Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station study looking at its use in raw pet food processing, scientists found that ozonated water sanitation’s effectiveness is variable depending on how it is applied, and on what foods.

According to the study published in the Journal of Food Protection, it has been reported that 35% of sick pet visits to veterinary clinics are due to salmonellosis, a disease caused by the foodborne pathogen Salmonella, likely transmitted through contaminated raw pet food. The study also states that some human cases of salmonellosis have been linked to contaminated raw pet food.

Leave a comment

Posted in Food Microbiology Research, Pet Food, Pet Food Illness, Pet Food Salmonella, Research