Abstract A total of 1280 banknotes were obtained from food outlets in 10 different countries (Australia, Burkina Faso, China, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States), and their bacterial content was enumerated. The presence of bacteria on banknotes was found to be influenced ...

The enumeration and evaluation of the activity of marine bacteria are important in the food industry. However, detection of marine bacteria in seawater or seafood has not been easy. The Petrifilm aerobic count plate (ACP) is a ready-to-use alternative to the traditional enumeration media used for bacteria associated with food. ...

Shigella outbreaks are widely reported throughout the world. However, it remains a challenge to isolate Shigella spp. from foods by using conventional microbiological media. The main objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a novel chromogenic medium, Rainbow agar Shigella/Aeromonas (Rainbow agar), for the isolation and detection ...

This study compares the feature of different media with the combination of selective with non-selective media in a TAL method for recovery of Listeria innocua cells exposed to thermal treatments. Experiments were conducted in broth at constant temperature (52.5 and 65.0 °C) and pH (4.5 and 7.5) conditions, using NaCl or ...

Carvacrol and cymene, phenolic compounds naturally present in the essential oil of oregano and thyme, were examined for their antimicrobial activity against Vibrio cholerae (ATCC 14033, VC1, and VC7) inoculated in carrot juice. Carvacrol exhibited a dose dependent inhibitory effect on the bacteria. Although cymene did not have antimicrobial activity ...

The magnitude of food-borne illnesses in India is unknown because of lack of surveillance networks. Monitoring the prevalence of food-borne pathogens and indicators of contamination in primary production at abattoirs is imperative for creating a data bank and for effective control of such pathogens before they enter the food chain. ...

Illness associated with Bacillus cereus may be underreported as very few of those affected seek medical attention owing to the mild nature and short duration of symptoms. For this reason there is little information on the prevalence and concentration of this pathogen in retail food products. A total of 1263 ...

Over the last few years, ready-to-eat (RTE) foods have become popular in grocery stores all over the world. This study was conducted to evaluate the microbiological safety and shelf life of some RTE salads sold in supermarkets in Sharjah Emirate, United Arab Emirates. Samples of four RTE salads, tabbouleh, hummus, ...

A novel gene amplification method, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), has been recently developed as a rapid, specific diagnostic method for various infectious diseases. We have investigated whether LAMP can be used to detect small numbers of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) cells contaminated in food samples. Primers for LAMP reaction were ...

Density gradient centrifugation (DGC) is useful for the separation of living microbial cells from food samples that are not filterable. After DGC, however, careful operation is necessary to collect each density layer. For a simple and reproducible collection after DGC, we have developed a seamless operation system composed of a ...

Foodstuffs have traditionally been challenging matrices for conducting immunoassays. Proteins, carbohydrates, and other macromolecules present in food matrices may interfere with both immunoassays and PCR-based tests, and removal of particulate matter may also prove challenging prior to analyses. This has been found true when testing for bacterial contamination of foods ...

Sodium benzoate is a widely used food antimicrobial in drinks and fruit juices. A microarray study was conducted to determine the transcriptional response of Escherichia coli O157:H7 to 0.5% (wt/vol) sodium benzoate. E. coli O157:H7 grown in 150 ml of Luria-Bertani broth was exposed to 0% (control) and 0.5% sodium ...

The type of food source has previously been shown to be as important as the level of food intake in influencing lifespan. Here we report that different Escherichia coli food sources alter Caenorhabditis elegans lifespan. These effects are modulated by different subsets of sensory neurons, which act with nmur-1, a ...

In recent years, there has been an increasing number of foodborne outbreaks linked to the consumption of culturally diverse foods. This appears to be because of the increasing quantity of culturally diverse foods available and a preference to store these foods, some of which are considered potentially hazardous, at ambient ...

Rapid identification of viable bacterial contaminants in food products is important because of their potential to cause disease. This study examined a method for microbial detection by using a combined ATP bioluminescence immunoassay. Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium were selected as target organisms because of their implication ...

INTRODUCTION: The objectives of this project were two-fold, to: (1) implement rapid, simple, and inexpensive test methods enabling the detection of the foodborne pathogens Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella in foods and related samples, for the purpose of establishing basic on-site food microbiology testing capability at the Nunavik Research Centre ...

Tissue browning and microbial growth are the main concerns associated with fresh-cut apples. In this study, effects of sodium chlorite (SC) and calcium propionate (CP), individually and combined, on quality and microbial population of apple slices were investigated. "Granny Smith" apple slices, dipped for 5 min in CP solutions at ...

Human noroviruses pose an emerging public health threat, and despite stringent control strategies, variant strains continue to spread and cause disease outbreaks. Routinely used chemical sanitizers, such as sodium hypochlorite though effective on food contact surfaces, require high concentrations to cause reduction in enteric viral titers. The aim of this ...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether combined treatments would produce synergistic disinfection effects on food products during food processing compared with single treatments. We investigated the bactericidal effects of a commercial chemical disinfectant (ethanol) and of UV radiation on Bacillus cereus F4810/72, Cronobacter sakazakii KCTC 2949, Staphylococcus ...

The automated method for enumeration of Escherichia coli, TEMPO EC, in foods uses a dehydrated culture medium and enumeration card containing 48 wells across three different dilutions for the automatic determination of the most probable number (MPN). The alternative method was compared in a multilaboratory collaborative study to AOAC Official ...

Two samples of market oysters, primarily from retail establishments, were collected twice each month in each of nine states during 2007. Samples were shipped refrigerated overnight to five U.S. Food and Drug Administration laboratories on a rotating basis and analyzed by most probable number (MPN) for total and pathogenic Vibrio ...

The aim of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the survival and growth of four food-borne pathogens (Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella Typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus) in sweet and fermenting brewery wort. The Gram-negative pathogens (E. coli and Salm. Typhimurium) were capable of growth during the initial ...

The objective of this study was to assess whether it is possible to minimise the variance in colony counts on replicate target samples of foods by aseptic compositing of the samples or by increasing the quantity of sample examined. The results show that compositing reduces the overall variance, and hence ...

This study aims to examine the pathogenic bacterial contaminations in foods sold in hospital cafeteria. A study was conducted between April and September of 2008 using cafeteria located in Mahasarakham provincial hospital, Thailand, as a study area. The cafeteria foods were evaluated for contaminations with Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella ...

The prevalence of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli in childhood diarrhea and the role of contaminated food products in disease transmission in Colombia are largely unknown. The aim of this study is to identify E. coli pathotypes, including E. coli O157:H7, from 108 stool samples from children with acute diarrhea, 38 meat ...

Closely related strains of Escherichia coli have been shown to cause extraintestinal infections in unrelated persons. This study tests whether a food reservoir may exist for these E. coli. Isolates from 3 sources over the same time period (2005-2007) and geographic area were compared. The sources comprised prospectively collected E. ...

AIMS: To model the effect of water activity (a(w)) and concentration of undissociated lactic acid (HLac) on the time to growth (TTG) and the growth/no growth boundary of acid-adapted generic Escherichia coli, used as model organisms for Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). METHODS AND RESULTS: For each of two E. ...

A stochastic simulation model was used to assess the effects of measures implemented in the agri-food-chain to reduce the contamination of ground beef with verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC). A published risk assessment model developed in Argentina was used as baseline scenario. Control measures assessed were based on either a reduction ...

One hundred ninety-three frozen food samples collected in Korea various public bazaars from October 2006 to September 2007. Staphylococci were detected in 21.8% of frozen food samples. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from 17 (8.8%) samples. Other staphylococci isolates were identified as S. warneri (7.8%), S. epidermidis (2.1%), S. xylosus (1.6%), ...

This study was undertaken to assess the cleanliness of food preparation areas, cleaning methods used, and the microbiological quality of water used by 1258 mobile food vendors in the UK. Samples collected included potable water (1102), cleaning cloths (801) and environmental swabs from food preparation surfaces (2704). Cleaning cloths were ...

We investigated the possibility of using hollow-fiber ultrafiltration (HUF) for the simultaneous recovery of multiple microorganisms in food samples. MS2 bacteriophage, E. coli, Bacillus subtilis spores, and murine norovirus (MNV) were each inoculated into 5 liters of either distilled water (DW) or glycine elution buffer and then concentrated using hollow-fiber ...

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is an important food-borne bacterium that is closely related to food poisoning from consumption of raw or lightly-cooked oysters. Therefore, intensive efforts must be taken to depurate the contaminated oysters. Chlorine dioxide (ClO2) is considered to be a safe and effective disinfectant and is routinely applied for treatment ...

Knowledge of the behavior of Yersinia pestis in food may be useful in the event Y. pestis is used in a bioterrorism attack on the food supply. However, there are no reports on the growth of plasmid-bearing (pYV) virulent Y. pestis in food. The growth of a conditionally virulent pYV-bearing ...

Monolaurin is a nontraditional antimicrobial agent that possesses better antimicrobial activities but causes no health problems to consumers, but the use of monolaurin in the food industry as a preservative is still limited. Using a microtiter plate assay, the minimum inhibitory concentrations for monolaurin were 25 microg/mL against Escherichia coli, ...

The inhibitory effect of enterocin AS-48 against Staphylococcus aureus was investigated in various types of bakery ingredients. Antibacterial activity greatly depended on the food substrate, ranging from complete inactivation of S. aureus in liquid caramel (in which the bacterium survived poorly) to no significant inhibition (as in vanilla or chocolate ...

The Visual Immunoprecipitate (VIP) for the Detection of Escherichia coli 0157:H7 in Foods, AOAC Official Method 996.09, has been modified to change the color of the test and control lines of the device. A methods comparison study was conducted to demonstrate the equivalence of this modification to the reference culture ...

A comparative study of lag phases and growth rates of healthy, stressed, and sublethally injured Escherichia coli O157 cells in 10 enrichment broths was performed. The evaluation of enrichment protocols was validated by different end point detection methods (two PCR and two combined capture-plate methods). Tryptic soy broth b [TSB ...

This study determined the sources of contamination by Escherichia coli and enterococci in frozen ready-to-eat chicken products. The efficiency of the heat treatment process was sufficient to eliminate E. coli or enterococci. However, the prevalence of E. coli and enterococci in cooked chicken after chilling was 2.7%, and after slicing ...

Securing the physical quality and microbial safety of fresh foods has been a major focus in the food industry. To improve quality and increase the shelf life of fresh produce, disinfection methods have been developed. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalytic reactions under UV radiation produce hydroxyl radicals that can be used ...

We developed and evaluated the specificity and sensitivity of a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method for rapid detection of the food-borne Escherichia coli O157 strains. Six primers, including outer primers, inner primers and loop primers, were specially designed for recognizing eight distinct sequences on three targets, which were rfbE, stx1 ...

Rapid enumeration of Escherichia coli strains by quantitative real-time PCR targeting the uidA gene was developed and confirmed for minced beef, tuna and raw oyster. Higher sensitivity (1 CFU/g of E. coli in all three food samples) was obtained by incubating for 7 h in TSB. Colony-directed E. coli specific ...

Sinopulmonary and rhinocerebral zygomycosis has been increasingly found in patients with hematological malignancies and bone marrow transplantation, but intestinal zygomycosis remains very rare in the literature. We investigated an outbreak of intestinal infection due to Rhizopus microsporus in 12 patients on treatment for hematological malignancies over a period of 6 ...

Microcin J25 (MccJ25) is a 21-residue ribosomally synthesized lariat peptide antibiotic. MccJ25 is active against such food-borne disease-causing pathogens as Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., and Escherichia coli, including E. coli O157:H7 and non-O157 strains. MccJ25 is highly resistant to digestion by proteolytic enzymes present in the stomach and intestinal contents. ...

The presence of E. coli in foodstuffs and drinking water is a chronic worldwide problem. The worldwide food production industry is worth about U.S. $578 billion, and the demand for biosensors to detect pathogens and pollutants in foodstuffs is growing day by day. Driven by the need, we report for ...

iQ-Check E. coli O157:H7 (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA) is a real-time PCR kit for detection of E. coli O157:H7 from selected foods. Specific fluorescent oligonucleotide probes are used to detect target DNA during the amplification, by hybridizing to the amplicons. These fluorescent probes are linked to a fluorophore which fluoresces ...

BBL CHROMagar O157 media (CO) was evaluated for detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in raw ground beef and unpasteurized apple cider. The recovery of E. coli O157:H7 on CO was compared to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety ...

Foodborne illness outbreaks and ground beef recalls associated with Escherichia coli O157:H7 have generated substantial consumer risk awareness. Although this risk has been assessed and managed according to federal regulation, communication strategies may hamper stakeholder perception of regulatory efforts in the face of continued E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks associated with ...

OBJECTIVES: To determine the aetiology, epidemiology and sanitary factors of carriage of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) in food-handlers working in tourist hotels in three popular tourist destinations in Kenya. DESIGN: Cross sectional laboratory based study. SETTING: Three tourist destinations of Nairobi, Malindi and Diani ...

Concerns about animal enteropathogen contamination of fresh horticultural products have,increased worldwide and are mainly due to the ability of bacteria to survive under stress conditions in the agricultural environment and during raw-vegetable processing. This review challenges the idea that the viable but nonculturable phenomenon that has been proven to occur ...

High osmotic environments produced by NaCl or sucrose have been used as reliable and traditional methods of food preservation. We tested, Escherichia coli as an indicator of food-contaminating bacterium, to determine if it can form biofilm in a hyperosmotic environment. E. coli K-12 IAM1264 did not form biofilm in LB ...