Yishan Yang

Overview of Recent Events in the Microbiological Safety of Sprouts and New Intervention Technologies

There has been an increasing trend in consumption of sprouts worldwide due to their widespread availability and high nutrient content. However, microbial contamination of sprouts readily occurs due to the presence of pathogenic bacteria in seeds; and the germination and sprouting process provide optimal conditions for bacterial growth. In recent years, there has been a rise in the number of outbreaks associated with sprouts. These outbreaks occurred mainly in the US, Canada, UK, as well as Europe. More recently in 2011, there were 4 sprout-related outbreaks, with the Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreak in Germany causing around 50 deaths and 4000 illnesses reported. On top of pathogenic E. coli, Salmonella spp. are often associated with sprout-related foodborne disease outbreaks. The contamination of sprouts has become a worldwide food safety concern. Hence, this review paper covers the outbreaks associated with sprouts, prevalence and characteristics of pathogens contaminating sprouts, their survival and growth, and the source of these pathogens. Physical, biological, and chemical interventions utilized to minimize microbial risks in sprouts are also discussed.

Growth temperature alters Salmonella Enteritidis heat/acid resistance, membrane lipid composition and stress/virulence related gene expression

The influence of growth temperature (10, 25, 37, and 42 °C) on the survival of Salmonella Enteritidis in simulated gastric fluid (SGF; pH=2.0) and during heat treatment (54, 56, 58, and 60 °C), on the membrane fatty acid composition, as well as on stress-/virulence-related gene expression was studied. Cells incubated at temperatures lower or higher than 37 °C did not increase their acid resistance, with the maximum D-value of 3.07 min in cells grown at 37 °C; while those incubated at higher temperature increased their heat resistance, with the maximum D60 °C-values of 1.4 min in cells grown at 42 °C. A decrease in the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids was observed as the growth temperature increased. Compared to the control cells grown at 37 °C, the expression of rpoS was 16.5- and 14.4-fold higher in cells cultivated at 10 and 25 °C, respectively; while the expression of rpoH was 2.9-fold higher in those cultivated at 42 °C. The increased expression of stress response gene rpoH and the decreased ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids correlated with the greater heat resistance of bacteria grown at 42 °C; while the decreased expression of stress response gene rpoS at 42 °C might contribute to the decrease in acid resistance. Virulence related genes-spvR, hilA, avrA-were induced in cells cultivated at 42 °C, except sefA which was induced in the control cells. This study indicates that environmental temperature may affect the virulence potential of S. Enteritidis, thus temperature should be well controlled during food storage.

Real-time PCR method combined with immunomagnetic separation for detecting healthy and heat-injured Salmonella Typhimurium on raw duck wings

Conventional culture detection methods are time consuming and labor-intensive. For this reason, an alternative rapid method combining real-time PCR and immunomagnetic separation (IMS) was investigated in this study to detect both healthy and heat-injured Salmonella Typhimurium on raw duck wings. Firstly, the IMS method was optimized by determining the capture efficiency of Dynabeads(®) on Salmonella cells on raw duck wings with different bead incubation (10, 30 and 60 min) and magnetic separation (3, 10 and 30 min) times. Secondly, three Taqman primer sets, Sal, invA and ttr, were evaluated to optimize the real-time PCR protocol by comparing five parameters: inclusivity, exclusivity, PCR efficiency, detection probability and limit of detection (LOD). Thirdly, the optimized real-time PCR, in combination with IMS (PCR-IMS) assay, was compared with a standard ISO and a real-time PCR (PCR) method by analyzing artificially inoculated raw duck wings with healthy and heat-injured Salmonella cells at 10(1) and 10(0) CFU/25 g. Finally, the optimized PCR-IMS assay was validated for Salmonella detection in naturally contaminated raw duck wing samples. Under optimal IMS conditions (30 min bead incubation and 3 min magnetic separation times), approximately 85 and 64% of S. Typhimurium cells were captured by Dynabeads® from pure culture and inoculated raw duck wings, respectively. Although Sal and ttr primers exhibited 100% inclusivity and exclusivity for 16 Salmonella spp. and 36 non-Salmonella strains, the Sal primer showed lower LOD (10(3) CFU/ml) and higher PCR efficiency (94.1%) than the invA and ttr primers. Moreover, for Sal and invA primers, 100% detection probability on raw duck wings suspension was observed at 10(3) and 10(4) CFU/ml with and without IMS, respectively. Thus, the Sal primer was chosen for further experiments. The optimized PCR-IMS method was significantly (P=0.0011) better at detecting healthy Salmonella cells after 7-h enrichment than traditional PCR method. However there was no significant difference between the two methods with longer enrichment time (14 h). The diagnostic accuracy of PCR-IMS was shown to be 98.3% through the validation study. These results indicate that the optimized PCR-IMS method in this study could provide a sensitive, specific and rapid detection method for Salmonella on raw duck wings, enabling 10-h detection. However, a longer enrichment time could be needed for resuscitation and reliable detection of heat-injured cells.

Membrane lipid composition and stress/virulence related gene expression of Salmonella Enteritidis cells adapted to lactic acid and trisodium phosphate and their resistance to lethal heat and acid stress

This study evaluated the acid and heat resistance of Salmonella Enteritidis in simulated gastric fluid (pH 2.0) and during thermal treatment (54-60 °C), respectively, after adaptation to lactic acid (LA) or trisodium phosphate (TSP) at various pHs (pH 5.3-9.0). The changes in membrane lipid composition and expression levels of RpoS and RpoH were examined to elucidate their roles in bacterial stress resistance. Transcriptional profile of several virulence-related genes was also analyzed. Results showed that LA-adapted cells at pH 5.3 and 6.3 had higher acid and heat resistance than control cells and cells adapted to TSP at pH 8.3 and 9.0. LA-adapted cells had the lowest ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids, indicating that they might possess a less fluid membrane. It was observed that the expression levels of RpoH and RpoS were upregulated in TSP-adapted cells but not in LA-adapted cells. Thus, these results indicate that the increased acid and heat resistance of LA-adapted S. Enteritidis was possibly due to the decreased membrane fluidity instead of the upregulation of RpoS and RpoH. About 6.0, 2.1, and 2.46-fold upregulation of spvR, avrA, and hilA were observed in cells adapted to TSP at pH 9.0, except sefA that had its highest expression level in the control cells, indicating that the expression of these virulence genes highly depends on environmental conditions. This is the first study to show that the alteration in the cytoplasmic membrane rather than RpoS and RpoH plays a more crucial role in conferring greater acid and heat resistance on LA-adapted S. Enteritidis, thus providing a better understanding on the bacterial stress response to acidic conditions.

Comparison of enrichment broths for the recovery of healthy and heat-injured Salmonella typhimurium on raw duck wings.

This study was performed to optimiz eSalmonella Typhimurium recovery from raw duck wings with five nonselective broths (buffered peptone water, tryptic soy broth, lactose broth, universal preenrichment broth, nutrient broth) and four selective broths (selenite broth, BAX System MP media [MP], Salmonella AD media [AD], ONE broth-Salmonella [OB]). Healthy or heat-injured (50 and 85% injury) cells were inoculated at a level of 10(2), 10(1), or 10(0) CFU/25 g on raw duck wings. Growth was modeled using DMfit with four growth parameters: lag-phase duration, maximum growth rate, doubling time, and maximum population density. Most enrichments were able to recover Salmonella Typhimurium to greater than 6 log CFU/ml. AD, MP, and OB had significantly (P < 0.05) higher maximum growth rate (0.9 to 1.0/h) and lower doubling time (0.7 to 0.8 h). Buffered peptone water, AD, MP, and OB recovered healthy and 50%-injured cells at low inoculum levels to more than 6.0 log CFU/ml; OB achieved the greatest recovery (7.6 and 7.9 log CFU/ml), following 24 h of incubation. The 85%-injured cells at 10(0) and 10(1) CFU/25 g, however, were only recovered in OB, reaching 7.3 and 7.5 log CFU/ml, respectively. These results suggest that OB may be an appropriate enrichment broth for the recovery of Salmonella Typhimurium from raw duck wings in standard diagnostic tests or other rapid detection methods, to avoid false-negative results.

Preacclimation alters Salmonella Enteritidis surface properties and its initial attachment to food contact surfaces.

Exposure of Salmonella to environmental stress, prior to its adherence to a food contact surface, may change the cell surface properties and consequently affect its initial attachment and biofilm formation. This study investigated the influence of temperature and pH preacclimation on the initial attachment of Salmonella Enteritidis to acrylic and stainless steel. Besides, changes in physicochemical properties of cells were examined; and their surface attachment was modeled by xDLVO theory. Results showed that control cells pre-grown at 37°C had significantly (P<0.05) higher initial attachment, followed by those pre-grown at 25, 42, and 10°C. The initial attachment of cells pre-grown at pH 5.3 or 6.3 was not significantly (P>0.05) different from control cells pre-grown at pH 7.3, but they were significantly higher compared to cells pre-grown at pH 8.3 and 9.0. No significant difference was observed between cell attachment to acrylic and stainless steel, although they had different physicochemical properties. The xDLVO theory successfully explained higher attachment for cells pre-grown at optimal condition on both contact surfaces. However, the xDLVO theory could not explain the similar attachment of cells to acrylic and stainless steel. This study elucidates that commonly used intervention technologies including cold storage, thermal treatment, and alkaline antimicrobial agents might alter the physicochemical properties of S. Enteritidis cells and result in varied initial attachment levels.

Evaluation of real-time PCR coupled with immunomagnetic separation or centrifugation for the detection of healthy and sanitizer-injured Salmonella spp. on mung bean sprouts

Fresh mung bean sprouts have been identified as a source of many Salmonella outbreaks worldwide. The aim of this study was to develop a rapid and accurate detection methodology for low levels of healthy and sanitizer-injured Salmonella on mung bean sprouts using real-time PCR coupled with either immunomagnetic separation (PCR-IMS) or centrifugation (PCR-cen). Initially, three parameters of IMS; specificity/sensitivity, bacterial concentration and bead incubation time were optimized. Secondly, limit of detection (LOD) was determined for the optimized PCR-IMS and PCR-cen. These two methods were compared against PCR alone (PCR) and the standard culture method (ISO) for their ability to detect Salmonella using inoculated and uninoculated sprouts. Under optimum IMS conditions (10(5)CFU/ml for 30 min), capture efficiency of Salmonella in sprout suspensions was lower than 40%, most probably due to the non-specific binding of the background microbiota. PCR-IMS and PCR-cen had a similar LOD at 10(3)CFU/ml, which was one log unit lower than PCR. Enrichment of 10h was sufficient to detect 100% of the inoculated sprouts with both PCR-IMS and PCR-cen, which was significantly faster compared to PCR and the ISO method. Moreover, the validation study using uninoculated sprouts revealed that PCR-IMS and PCR-cen were equally effective on Salmonella detection, showing 98.3% accuracy. These results suggest that PCR-cen would be the effective and less costly method for the detection of both healthy and sanitizer-injured Salmonella on mung bean sprouts.

ENSURING FOOD SECURITY THROUGH ENHANCING MICROBIOLOGICAL FOOD SAFETY

Food safety and food security are interrelated concepts with a profound impact on the quality of human life. Food security describes the overall availability of food at different levels from global to individual household. While, food safety focuses on handling, preparation and storage of foods in order to prevent foodborne illnesses. This review focuses on innovative thermal and non-thermal technologies in the area of food processing as the means to ensure food security through improving food safety with emphasis on the reduction and control of microbiological risks. The antimicrobial efficiency and mechanism of new technologies to extend the shelf life of food product were also discussed.