Category Archives: Uncategorized

Information – FDA Approves PhageGuard-E as New Food Processing Aid Against E. Coli O157

Posted on October 2, 2018 by | Leave a comment

PR Newswire

WAGENINGEN, Netherlands, Sept. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — FDA & USDA announced they have approved Phageguard-E as a “GRAS” (Generally Recognized as Safe) food processing aid against E.coli O157. The new product consists of natural phages against E.coli and is produced by Micreos of The Netherlands. The company confirms that industrial scale projects with US meat processing companies are set to start shortly.

Micreos, a pioneer in targeted pathogen reduction technology continues to expand its product portfolio. Today it announced that PhageGuard-E, a new surface intervention to combat E. coli O157 on food products, will now be available for the US beef industry. The findings are of particular interest to beef processors looking for natural and effective post harvest interventions, reducing E. coli O157 on beef carcasses, primals, subs and trimmings. Recent research conducted at the University of Neveda demonstrated superior results of PhageGuard-E surface spray on E. coli O157 contaminated fresh cold beef over currently used chemicals.

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Posted in Bacteriophage, E.coli, E.coli O157, E.coli O157:H7, Uncategorized

Research -E. coli’s adaptation to extreme temperatures helps explain resistance to certain drugs

Posted on October 1, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Science Daily

Long before bacteria had to contend with antibiotic drugs, they had to survive extreme temperatures as Earth warmed and cooled over millennia. Could the adaptations they evolved to temperature — especially heat — help explain why certain strains are resistant to certain drugs? A new study by a research team at the University of California-Los Angeles that includes Santa Fe Institute External Professor Pamela Yeh suggests that defenses against extreme temperatures, do, indeed, give E. coli bacteria an advantage in fending off certain drugs.

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Posted in E.coli, Uncategorized

Research – How bacteria play pass the parcel — and help each other evade antibiotics

Posted on October 1, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Science Daily 

CDC Clost perf

Bacteria are very sneaky in their efforts to develop resistance to antibiotics. Some strains of bacteria package up the genetic instructions for how they defend themselves and cause disease, and pass this information on to neighboring, naïve, bacteria — essentially gifting their colleagues with the defenses they need to survive against our medical armory of antibiotics. Scientists have now answered a key question about how a dangerous bacterium, Clostridium perfringens, shares its genetic information.

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Posted in Antibiotic Resistance, Clostridium perfringens, Sulphite Reducing Clostridia, Uncategorized

Research – Prevalence and Molecular Characteristics of Clostridium difficile in Retail Meats, Food-Producing and Companion Animals, and Humans in Minnesota

Posted on October 1, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Journal of Food Protection

Community-associated Clostridium difficile infection (CA-CDI) now accounts for approximately 50% of CDI cases in central Minnesota; animals and meat products are potential sources. From November 2011 to July 2013, we cultured retail meat products and fecal samples from food-producing and companion animals in central Minnesota for C. difficile by using standard methods. The resulting 51 C. difficile isolates, plus 30 archived local veterinary C. difficile isolates and 208 human CA-CDI case isolates from central Minnesota (from 2012) from the Minnesota Department of Health, were characterized molecularly, and source groups were compared using discriminant analysis. C. difficile was recovered from 0 (0%) of 342 retail meat samples and 51 (9%) of 559 animal fecal samples. Overall, the 81 animal source isolates and 208 human source isolates were highly diverse genetically. Molecular traits segregated extensively in relation to animal versus human origin. Discriminant analysis classified 95% of isolates correctly by source group; only five (2.5%) human source isolates were classified as animal source. These data do not support meat products or food-producing and companion animals as important sources of CA-CDI in the central Minnesota study region.

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Posted in Clostridium difficile, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Safety, Food Testing, Sulphite Reducing Clostridia, Uncategorized

Research – Rates of increase of antibiotic resistance and ambient temperature in Europe: a cross-national analysis of 28 countries between 2000-2016

Posted on September 30, 2018 by | Leave a comment

BIORXIV

Abstract

Background. Widely recognized as a major public health threat globally, the rapid increase of antibiotic resistance in bacteria could soon render our most effective method to combat infections obsolete. Factors influencing the burden of resistance in human populations remain poorly described, though temperature is known to play an important role in mechanisms at the bacterial level. Methods. We performed an ecologic analysis of country level antibiotic resistance prevalence in 3 common bacterial pathogens across 28 countries in Europe, and used multivariable models to evaluate associations with minimum temperature and other predictors over a 17-year period (2000-2016). We quantified the effects of minimum temperature, population density, and antibiotic consumption on the rate of change of antibiotic resistance across geographies. Findings. For three common bacterial pathogens and four classes of antibiotics, we found evidence of a long-term effect of ambient minimum temperature on rates of increase of antibiotic resistance across 28 countries in Europe between 2000-2016. Specifically, we show that across all antibiotic classes for the pathogens E. coli and K. pneumoniae, European countries with 10°C warmer ambient temperatures have experienced more rapid increases in antibiotic resistance over the 17-year period, ranging between 0.33%/year (95% CI 0.2, 0.5) and 1.2%/year (0.4, 1.9), even after accounting for recognized drivers of resistance including antibiotic consumption and population density. We found a decreasing relationship for S. aureus and methicillin of -0.4%/year (95% CI -0.7, 0.0), reflecting widespread declines in MRSA across Europe over the study period. Interpretation. Ambient temperature may be an important modulator of the rate of change of antibiotic resistance. Our findings suggest that rising temperatures globally may hasten the spread of resistance and complicate efforts to mitigate it.

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Posted in Antibiotic Resistance, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Safety, Food Testing, Uncategorized

Research – Aflatoxins in cereals: State of the art

Posted on September 29, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Wiley Online

Abstract

Recently, the contamination of food products, particularity cereals with aflatoxins (AF) as secondary metabolites generated by some of fungal genera species raised serious concerns. AF as the highly toxic compounds could pass through metabolic processes in unaltered forms and consequently accumulate in the tissues of humans and animals. The consumption of AF contaminated cereal, cereal‐based products as both food and feed is considered as a serious issue, which should be controlled through conducting prevention strategies and legislation. However, in some cases, the detoxification or elimination process also can be approached. The current article took an overview regarding physicochemical properties of AF, as well as their absorption, digestion, metabolism, and excretion in cereals. Also, the chronic and acute aflatoxicosis along prevention strategies and control mechanisms were discussed.

Practical applications

Cereal and cereal‐based products can be considered as one of the most important sources of food as well as energy in many countries. Despite this, cereals and cereal‐based foods may present contamination by several mycotoxins, as one of the challenging issues in cereal‐based products. The adverse effects of contamination by mycotoxins on food safety and food quality are reserved huge concerns. The knowledge regarding the physicochemical properties of aflatoxins as well as their control can aid the food industry to keep the quality of food products in an acceptable level.

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Posted in Aflatoxin, Biotoxin, food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Toxin, Toxin, Uncategorized

Research – Mycotoxins – Mycotoxins Will Pose Greater Threat to Feed Safety, Hindering Industry Productivity and Sustainability

Posted on September 28, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Biomin

Mycotoxins that contaminate crops and animal feed have been recognized as a risk to farm animals, and account for considerable economic costs to the feed and food industries. Their widespread occurrence and related threat has been documented consistently in the BIOMIN Mycotoxin Survey.

Dangers to feed safety, sustainability

“Mycotoxins are among the most important safety risks for the future livestock feed industry and security of the feed supply chain,” stated Dr Gunther Antonissen of Ghent University in Belgium.

Fungi-produced mycotoxins endanger more than feed safety and security. They also hamper productivity, adding additional cost to the feed and food industry while also affecting the environment.

“Due to their negative effects on farm animal productivity and health, mycotoxins prevent the animal protein industry from achieving an efficient and sustainable use of natural resources,” observed Dr. Wulf-Dieter Moll of the BIOMIN Research Center.

Harmful mycotoxins do not have to contaminate feed in high concentrations to make their negative effects felt in farm animals. “At present, clinical mycotoxicosis caused by high doses is rare,” explained Dr Antonissen.

“However, also the ingestion of low to moderate levels of these toxins cause an array of metabolic, physiologic and immunologic disturbances, with the gastrointestinal tract as one of the major target organs,” he added.

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Posted in Aflatoxin, Biotoxin, Food Toxin, Fusarium Toxin, Mycotoxin, Ochratoxin, Saitoxin, Tetrodotoxin, Toxin, Uncategorized

Research – Multispecies biofilms between Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria innocua with resident microbiota isolated from apple juice processing equipment

Posted on September 27, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Wiley Online

Abstract

When testing conditions that prevail in fruit juice industry it was found that Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7644 and a wild strain of Listeria innocua were highly hydrophobic, expressed swimming and twitching, co‐aggregated with yeast cells and produced exopolysaccharide, all characteristics that would favor the adhesive process. In mono‐species biofilms, L. innocua adhered on stainless steel at significantly higher counts than L. monocytogenes achieving values of 6.64 ± 0.01 and 5.80 ± 0.21 log CFU/cm2. In dual species biofilms with resident yeasts, L. innocua cells counts increase significantly in the presence of Candida tropicalis and Candida krusei and decrease significantly in the presence of Rhodotorula mucilaginosa and Candida kefyr. When cocultured with Candida tropicalis, the cell numbers of L. monocytogenes had a significant increase. These results revealed synergic and antagonistic interactions among species.

Practical applications

The study supports the plausibility that interactions between L. monocytogenes and members of resident microbiota, such as C. tropicalis, C. krusei, C. kefyr, and R. mucilaginosa, might play an important role for the survival and dissemination of L. monocytogenes. Apple juice processing conditions was used as simulation of the real condition in fruit juice processing environment and these results will alert to fruit juice industry to adopt the best cleaning and disinfecting practices against Listeria.

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Posted in Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, Food Safety, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Listeria welshimeri, Uncategorized

Research – Extended antibiotic treatment in salmon farms select multiresistant gut bacteria with a high prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes

Posted on September 26, 2018 by | Leave a comment

PLOS One

The high use of antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial diseases is one of the main problems in the mass production of animal protein. Salmon farming in Chile is a clear example of the above statement, where more than 5,500 tonnes of antibiotics have been used over the last 10 years. This has caused a great impact both at the production level and on the environment; however, there are still few works in relation to it. In order to demonstrate the impact of the high use of antibiotics on fish gut microbiota, we have selected four salmon farms presenting a similar amount of fish of the Atlantic salmon species (Salmo salar), ranging from 4,500 to 6,000 tonnes. All of these farms used treatments with high doses of antibiotics. Thus, 15 healthy fish were selected and euthanised in order to isolate the bacteria resistant to the antibiotics oxytetracycline and florfenicol from the gut microbiota. In total, 47 bacterial isolates resistant to florfenicol and 44 resistant to oxytetracycline were isolated, among which isolates with Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) exceeding 2048 μg/mL for florfenicol and 1024 μg/mL for oxytetracycline were found. In addition, another six different antibiotics were tested in order to demonstrate the multiresistance phenomenon. In this regard, six isolates of 91 showed elevated resistance values for the eight tested antibiotics, including florfenicol and oxytetracycline, were found. These bacteria were called “super-resistant” bacteria. This phenotypic resistance was verified at a genotypic level since most isolates showed antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) to florfenicol and oxytetracycline. Specifically, 77% of antibiotic resistant bacteria showed at least one gene resistant to florfenicol and 89% showed at least one gene resistant to oxytetracycline. In the present study, it was demonstrated that the high use of the antibiotics florfenicol and oxytetracycline has, as a consequence, the selection of multiresistant bacteria in the gut microbiota of farmed fish of the Salmo salar species at the seawater stage. Also, the phenotypic resistance of these bacteria can be correlated with the presence of antibiotic resistance genes.

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Posted in Antibiotic Resistance, Antimicrobials, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Testing, Uncategorized

Research – Routine antibiotic therapy in dogs increases the detection of antimicrobial-resistant faecal Escherichia coli

Posted on September 25, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Academic Oup

Abstract

Background

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a critical health problem, with systemic antimicrobial therapy driving development of AMR across the host spectrum.

Objectives

This study compares longitudinal carriage, at multiple timepoints, of AMR faecal Escherichia coli in dogs undergoing routine antimicrobial treatment.

Methods

Faecal samples (n = 457) from dogs (n = 127) were examined pretreatment, immediately after treatment and 1 month and 3 months post-treatment with one of five antimicrobials. Isolates were tested for susceptibility to a range of antimicrobials using disc diffusion for each treatment group at different timepoints; the presence/absence of corresponding resistance genes was investigated using PCR assays. The impact of treatment group/timepoint and other risk factors on the presence of resistance [MDR, fluoroquinolone resistance, third-generation cephalosporin resistance (3GCR) and ESBL and AmpC production] was investigated using multilevel modelling. Samples with at least one AMR E. coli from selective/non-selective agar were classed as positive. Resistance was also assessed at the isolate level, determining the abundance of AMR from non-selective culture.

Results

Treatment with β-lactams or fluoroquinolones was significantly associated with the detection of 3GCR, AmpC-producing, MDR and/or fluoroquinolone-resistant E. coli, but not ESBL-producing E. coli, immediately after treatment. However, 1 month post-treatment, only amoxicillin/clavulanate was significantly associated with the detection of 3GCR; there was no significant difference at 3 months post-treatment for any antimicrobial compared with pretreatment samples.

Conclusions

Our findings demonstrated that β-lactam and fluoroquinolone antibiotic usage is associated with increased detection of important phenotypic and genotypic AMR faecal E. coli following routine therapy in vet-visiting dogs. This has important implications for veterinary and public health in terms of antimicrobial prescribing and biosecurity protocols, and dog waste disposal.

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Posted in Antibiotic Resistance, Antimicrobials, drug resistant, ESBL, Uncategorized