Sanitation at the Slaughterhouse and the Hygiene of Food of Animal Origin

Nowdays, one of the most important issues is the issue of food safety. There are many problems with the control of food safety and creation of appropriate legislation that protects food of animal origin. Hygiene and sanitation should be effectively applied and should be controlled at each step during production in food processing plants. The aim of study was to evaluate the surface microorganisms in the monitored parts of the slaughterhouse before slaughter and during slaughter but also after disinfection by disinfectant Virkon S. Disinfectant was used in a 1 % concentration and applied by spraying. Virkon S was effective on all monitored surfaces except the table for organs, where were detected 2x102 colony forming units per 10 cm2 of total count of bacteria, 2x102 colony forming units per 10cm2 of coliform bacteria and 1x102 colony forming unit per 10cm2 of moulds after disinfection. The sanitation program should be thoroughly planned, actively enforced, and effectively supervised. Disinfection has its meaning since, everything that comes into contact with the raw material can contribute to outbreaks of food borne illness.

Prospect of microbial food borne diseases in Pakistan: a review

Nowadays food borne illness is most common in people due to their epidemic nature. These diseases affect the human digestive system through bacteria, viruses and parasites. The agents of illness are transmitted in our body through various types of food items, water and uncooked. Pathogens show drastic changes in immunosuppressant people. This review gives general insights to harmful microbial life. Pakistan is a developed country and because of its improper food management, a lot of gastrointestinal problems are noted in many patients. Bacteria are most common agents to spread diarrhoea, villi infection, constipation and dysenteric disease in human and induce the rejection of organ transplant. Enhancement of their lifestyle, properly cooked food should be used and to overcome the outbreak of the diseases.

Proteome-Wide Mapping and Reverse Vaccinology Approaches to Design a Multi-Epitope Vaccine against Clostridium perfringens

C. perfringens is a highly versatile bacteria of livestock and humans, causing enteritis (a common food-borne illness in humans), enterotoxaemia (in which toxins are formed in the intestine which damage and destroy organs, i.e., the brain), and gangrene (wound infection). There is no particular cure for the toxins of C. perfringens. Supportive care (medical control of pain, intravenous fluids) is the standard treatment. Therefore, a multiple-epitope vaccine (MEV) should be designed to battle against C. perfringens infection. Furthermore, the main objective of this in silico investigation is to design an MEV that targets C. perfringens. For this purpose, we selected the top three proteins that were highly antigenic using immuno-informatics approaches, including molecular docking. B-cells, IFN-gamma, and T cells for target proteins were predicted and the most conserved epitopes were selected for further investigation. For the development of the final MEV, epitopes of LBL5, CTL17, and HTL13 were linked to GPGPG, AAY, and KK linkers. The vaccine N-end was joined to an adjuvant through an EAAK linker to improve immunogenicity. After the attachment of linkers and adjuvants, the final construct was 415 amino acids. B-cell and IFN-gamma epitopes demonstrate that the model structure is enhanced for humoral and cellular immune responses. To validate the immunogenicity and safety of the final construct, various physicochemical properties, and other properties such as antigenicity and non-allergens, were evaluated. Furthermore, molecular docking was carried out for verification of vaccine compatibility with the receptor, evaluated in silico. Also, in silico cloning was employed for the verification of the proper expression and credibility of the construct.

Salmonella – still a threat? Epidemiological analysis of infecion

Salmonella infection causes morbidity and mortality throughout the world with the host immune response varying depending on whether the infection is acute and limited, or systemic and chronic. Global Salmonella infection, especially in developing countries, is a health and economic burden. These pathogen are responsible for millions of cases of food-borne illness each year, with substantial costs measured in hospitalizations and lost productivity. The growing number of bacteria resistant to the antibiotics commonly used to treat infections with this bacterium increases the use of alternative treatments. The species Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium are the most commonly used probiotics to treat infectious diseases, including antibiotic diarrhea and traveler's diarrhea.It is a Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped and facultative anaerobic bacterium. However, they have the ability to survive inside infected cells. These bacteria cause various clinical forms of disease. The most dangerous sticks of typhoid fever (Salmonella typhi) and paradurium (Salmonella paratyphi) multiply only in the human body and cause a very serious infectious disease - typhoid fever. In turn, non-malignant salmonella, Salmonella bongori and countless serological varieties of Salmonella enterica colonize the digestive tract of many animal species and are pathogenic to humans, causing gastroenteritis, i.e. acute salmonellosis, sometimes classified as food poisoning. All Salmonella infections begin with ingestion with contaminated food or water.

​Incidence and Pathology of Paratyphoid Infection in Poultry

Background: Paratyphoid infection of poultry is caused by non-host adapted motile salmonellae and are responsible for numerous cases of food borne illness worldwide. The present study was carried out from July 2019 to February 2020 in Jabalpur to know the occurrence and pathology of paratyphoid bacteria in poultry. Methods: Whole blood agglutination test was performed to know the prevalence of salmonellosis in and areas surrounding Jabalpur region and pooled fecal samples were collected from poultry farms to perform microbe culture and biochemical characterization. Serotyping of Salmonella isolates was done using polyvalent antisera. Necropsy examination was conducted to observe gross and histopathological lesions. Conclusion: Rapid whole blood agglutination test determined the percent prevalence of Salmonella as 28.0% from 25 private poultry outlets. The percent prevalence of salmonellosis by collecting pooled fecal samples from 15 broiler and 11 layer farms was recorded as 20.0% and 45.4% respectively. Salmonellosis was recorded in 1.58% of total necropsy cases of birds examined for gross and histopathological studies. Polyvalent antisera diagnosed 27.27% motile paratyphoid salmonellae, out of which 18.18% tested positive for Salmonella Enteritidis while 9.09% tested positive for Salmonella Typhimurium. Birds with paratyphoid infection showed hepatomegaly, discoloration, hemorrhagic and necrotic foci in liver and various grades of hemorrhagic to catarrhal enteritis were recorded.

Advancements in methods to detect and culture medically important anaerobic bacteria

Anaerobic bacteria are one of the most important bacteria, involved in a number of diseases and infections. These are also involved in food borne illness. Due to their fastidious nature, culturing anaerobic bacteria is a bit difficult task. Moreover, anaerobic bacteria can take several days and weeks to grow in laboratories. Apart from this, most bacteria just cannot be cultured in laboratories using standard (anaerobic) cultivation techniques known so far. Difficulties in microbiological detection result in delayed diagnosis of the diseases. Many patients suffer due to these facts, as rapid identification is not only difficult, but in many cases, is almost impossible. Thus, there is a need to develop novel techniques for the cultivation and identification of clinically important anaerobes. Rapid detection of foodborne pathogens is necessary for the prevention of foodborne disease and for the safe supply of food. Present article reviews and discusses advance techniques, both culture-dependent and culture-independent, that allow rapid detection of such important anaerobic bacteria. Advancements in culturing techniques has reduced the time to grow the anaerobic bacteria in laboratories. Whereas advancements in molecular techniques have enabled the rapid detection of medically important anaerobes including Clostridium, Bacteroides, and many others.

Comparison of peracetic acid and chlorine effectiveness during fresh-cut vegetables processing at industrial scale

This study was conducted to compare the efficacy of two sanitizing agents (chlorine and PAA) in reducing (both spoilage and pathogenic) microorganisms and in reducing disinfection by-products ( DBPs) in the washing stage of three types of minimally processed vegetables: Iceberg lettuce, carrots and baby leaves. These fresh-cut products are consumed uncooked and, hence, a proper sanitation is essential in preventing food-borne illness outbreaks. The comparison was done at industrial scale, using equipment already present in the fresh-cut industry and washers designed and manufatured for this purpose. Results showed that, regarding washing water hygiene and final product microbial quality, the use of PAA had a similar efficacy than chlorine. Different scenarios (SCN) combining PAA, chlorine and water have been tested simulating the current industrial processes for each one of the tested vegetables. Overall, results confirmed that the use of a sanitizer, PAA or chlorine, in the washing water of the three tested vegetables is effective for the prevention of cross-contamination during the washing process and hence, to guarantee produce food safety. Regarding final product microbiological quality and shelf life, the use of chlorine or PAA showed no significant differences in lettuces neither in baby leaves. Regarging the potential formation of chlorinated DBPs in processing water, they were found not in significant amounts when washing water was treated with PAA in all scenarios and vegetables tested. Washing with 80 mg/L chlorine generated important amounts of THMs, chlorates and chlorites. While chlorates and chlorites were always below the recommended levels or legal limits established for drinking water, THMs exceeded these legal limits . With respect to perchlorates, values were below the quantification limit in all SCNs. Results obtained in the present study show that PAA is a reliable alternative to chlorine disinfection strategies in the fresh-cut industry.

Production of Membrane Vesicles in Listeria monocytogenes Cultured with or without Sub-Inhibitory Concentrations of Antibiotics and Their Innate Immune Responses In Vitro

Listeriosis is a food-borne illness caused by Listeria monocytogenes. Ampicillin (AMP) alone or in combination with gentamicin (GEN) is the first-line treatment option. Membrane vesicle (MV) production in L. monocytogenes under antibiotic stress conditions and pathologic roles of these MVs in hosts have not been reported yet. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the production of MVs in L. monocytogenes cultured with sub-minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of AMP, GEN, or trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (SXT) and determine pathologic effects of these MVs in colon epithelial Caco-2 cells. L. monocytogenes cultured in tryptic soy broth with 1/2 MIC of AMP, GEN, or SXT produced 6.0, 2.9, or 1.5 times more MV particles, respectively, than bacteria cultured without antibiotics. MVs from L. monocytogenes cultured with AMP (MVAMP), GEN (MVGEN), or SXT (MVSXT) were more cytotoxic to Caco-2 cell than MVs obtained from cultivation without antibiotics (MVTSB). MVAMP induced more expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α gene than MVTSB, MVGEN and MVSXT, whereas MVTSB induced more expression of interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-8 genes than other MVs. Expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine genes by L. monocytogenes MVs was significantly inhibited by proteinase K treatment of MVs. In conclusion, antibiotic stress can trigger the biogenesis of MVs in L. monocytogenes and MVs produced by L. monocytogenes exposed to sub-MIC of AMP can induce strong pro-inflammatory responses by expressing TNF-α gene in host cells, which may contribute to the pathology of listeriosis.

Gene flux and acid-imposed selection are the main drivers of antimicrobial resistance in broiler chicks infected with Salmonella enterica serovar Heidelberg

Salmonella enterica serovar Heidelberg (SH) is one of the prolific serovars causing poultry-associated food-borne illness in the world. Their ability to cause invasive infections and their promiscuity to plasmids that confer multidrug resistance to antibiotics of human health importance makes them a public health threat. Although, horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is recognized as the major mechanism used by Salmonella for acquiring antimicrobial resistance (AR) and virulence genes, the biology behind acquisition of new genes in SH is still unknown. In this study, we show that one day old broiler chicks challenged orally or via the cloaca with an antibiotic susceptible SH strain and raised without antibiotics carried susceptible and multidrug resistance SH strains 14 days after challenge. SH infection perturbed the bacterial community of broiler chicks and orally challenged chicks acquired AR at a higher rate than chicks challenged through the cloaca. Furthermore, SH strains lost and gained new genes, while some inverted their chromosome after colonizing the gut of broiler chicks. The acquisition of IncI1 plasmid multilocus sequence type 26 (pST26) from commensal Escherichia coli population present in the gut of broiler chicks conferred multidrug resistance phenotype to SH recipients and carriage of pST26 increased the fitness of SH under acidic selection pressure. Our results suggest that HGT shapes the evolution of AR in SH and that antibiotic use reduction alone is insufficient to limit AR plasmid transfer from commensal bacteria to Salmonella.

Antimicrobial Susceptibility and Public Health Importance of Salmonella Isolated from Raw Chicken Egg in MizanTeferi Town, South West Ethiopia

Background: Salmonella is a leading cause of food-borne illness in many countries with eggs and poultry being important vehicles of transmission and display high natural susceptibility levels to the most commonly used antibacterial agents. The study was carried out to estimate the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of Salmonella spp. isolated from fresh raw chicken eggs collected from MizanTeferi town, South Eastern, Ethiopia. Results: From the total of 366 eggs examined for Salmonella spp, 27(7.4%) were positive, of which 23 (6.3%) and 4 (1.1%) were isolated from egg shell and egg content, respectively. The prevalence of Salmonella spp. in egg and egg content from open market (7.6%), (1.6%) was significantly higher than the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in poultry farm (7.1%), (0.5%) (P<0.05) respectively. Ciprofloxacin (85.2%) showed maximum susceptibility, followed by tetracycline (77.7%) and gentamycin (66.6%). Clindamycin was the most resisted (51.8%), followed by ampicillin (44.4%), amoxicillin (40.7%) and erythromycin (33.3%). Most of the isolates are resistant to multiple antimicrobial agents tested. Questionnaire survey was also carried out on 200 consumers and egg sellers (100 from each group). Their preferred form of egg consumption revealed that 67.5% egg consumers preferred only cooked eggs while 32.5% egg consumers showed preference for raw eggs. Twenty nine (44.6%) respondents who practiced eating raw eggs faced problems like nausea and vomiting, abdominal discomfort and diarrhea, while thirty six (55.4%) faced no problems following raw eggs consumption. Conclusion: To minimize the potential contamination of the egg by the pathogen, they should be properly handled, transported, cooked and kept appropriately. In general, public health measures such as improved food hygiene and health education are of paramount importance.