scholarly journals Validation of a Restructured Beef Jerky Product and Process to Reduce Pathogen Loads and Improve Shelf Stability in Ethiopia

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. N. Langford ◽  
J. Brown ◽  
C. Carr ◽  
A. Havelaar ◽  
S. Williams ◽  
...  

ObjectivesAnimal-sourced foods (ASFs), such as meat, provide nutrients that are beneficial for physical and cognitive development, especially in developing countries. Despite Ethiopia containing Africa’s largest inventory of livestock, market structure and inefficiencies in livestock and meat industries contribute to low-per capita consumption of meat. The combination of extensive periods of fasting from ASFs, knowledge gaps in hygienic handling and sanitation, lack of infrastructure and preservation, and weakly enforced food safety regulations contribute food safety risks in an already protein-deficient population. The objective of this study is to develop a dried beef jerky procedure that will reduce pathogen loads in meat, improve shelf stability, and increase access to ASFs in Ethiopia.Materials and MethodsChallenge studies were performed to validate a restructured jerky production process for control of five serotypes of Salmonella enterica (Saint Paul, Anatum, Typhimurium, Newport, Dublin) and three strains of E. coli O157:H7, within the constraints of equipment and ingredients available in Ethiopia. A traditional Ethiopian spice mixture was added to lean ground beef (94% lean, 6% fat), and in separate trials apple cider vinegar and pureed raisins were incorporated at varying percentages of the overall weight. The ground meat mixture was formed into strips and dehydrated to achieve aw of less than 0.70 for shelf stability and samples were plated for enumeration before and after drying. A consumer taste panel was conducted with treatments (0% and 15% raisin inclusion) to determine the acceptability of Ethiopian consumers. Sixteen Ethiopian consumers (10 men and 6 women) were asked to answer study-related questions and evaluate jerky products on visual appeal, texture, off-flavor, and overall liking on a 10-point hedonic scale.ResultsVinegar inclusion negatively impacted log CFU reductions of S. enterica as the control demonstrated significantly higher (P = 0.04) reductions than treatments including vinegar at 0.5, 1, and 2%. Including 15% raisins (w/w) in the meat and spice mixture resulted in an increased (P < 0.0001) log CFU reduction of S. enterica (5.41 CFU/g) versus the control (4.44 CFU/g) and all treatments achieved greater than 6-log CFU/g reduction of E. coli O157:H7.ConclusionIncluding raisins reduces S. enterica loads versus the control and all formulations exceeded a 6.0 log CFU/g reduction of E. coli O157:H7, in a restructured beef jerky product. A restructured jerky product could provide butchers with an additional marketing avenue and opportunity to reduce waste and pathogen loads in beef. Ethiopian consumers would also have an option for a commercially available, shelf-stable product which could provide additional protein to their diet that is easy to store and transport.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-141
Author(s):  
T. N. Langford ◽  
J. Brown ◽  
C. Carr ◽  
A. Havelaar ◽  
S. Williams ◽  
...  

1998 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATHLEEN T. RAJKOWSKI ◽  
SHAWN EBLEN ◽  
CHERYL LAUBAUCH

Healthy pigs can carry Salmonella in their intestine and may shed this pathogen because of stresses incurred during transportation, contaminating trailer floors and bedding material. If not cleaned and sanitized between trips, trailers and bedding have the potential to infect other farms, the abattoir environment, or other animals with Salmonella. Floors and bedding material from pig trailers were sampled to determine the efficacy of the abattoir-developed washing and sanitizing regime on the level of Salmonella before and after a single haul. Escherichia coli levels were an indicator of high contamination. The study also determined the effect of ambient temperature (during four seasons) and of the distance the pigs traveled in the haulers (&gt;500 miles or &lt;500 miles) on bacterial levels. Salmonella was isolated from 80% of the bedding material tested. Of the 188 floor samples taken, 41.5% were positive for Salmonella before washing, and 2.7% were positive after washing and sanitizing. E. coli was isolated from all bedding material and floor samples before washing, but washing and sanitizing significantly decreased levels (P &lt; 0.05) by 2 logs. There was no significant difference (P &gt; 0.05) in the number of Salmonella- or E. coli-positive trailers attributable to distance traveled or season of the year. These results demonstrate that washing and sanitizing the trailers after each load significantly reduced levels of Salmonella and its possible spread by the contaminated trailer and bedding, which ultimately could promote improvement in food safety.


2007 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 1286-1294 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDRIJANA RAJIĆ ◽  
LISA A. WADDELL ◽  
JAN M. SARGEANT ◽  
SUSAN READ ◽  
JEFF FARBER ◽  
...  

Canada's vision for the agri-food industry in the 21st century is the establishment of a national food safety system employing hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) principles and microbiological verification tools, with traceability throughout the gate-to-plate continuum. Voluntary on-farm food safety (OFFS) programs, based in part on HACCP principles, provide producers with guidelines for good production practices focused on general hygiene and biosecurity. OFFS programs in beef cattle, swine, and poultry are currently being evaluated through a national recognition program of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Mandatory HACCP programs in federal meat facilities include microbial testing for generic Escherichia coli to verify effectiveness of the processor's dressing procedure, specific testing of ground meat for E. coli O157:H7, with zero tolerance for this organism in the tested lot, and Salmonella testing of raw products. Health Canada's policy on Listeria monocytogenes divides ready-to-eat products into three risk categories, with products previously implicated as the source of an outbreak receiving the highest priority for inspection and compliance. A national mandatory identification program to track livestock from the herd of origin to carcass inspection has been established. Can-Trace, a data standard for all food commodities, has been designed to facilitate tracking foods from the point of origin to the consumer. Although much work has already been done, a coherent national food safety strategy and concerted efforts by all stakeholders are needed to realize this vision. Cooperation of many government agencies with shared responsibility for food safety and public health will be essential.


Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 850
Author(s):  
Shobha Giri ◽  
Vaishnavi Kudva ◽  
Kalidas Shetty ◽  
Veena Shetty

As the global urban populations increase with rapid migration from rural areas, ready-to-eat (RTE) street foods are posing food safety challenges where street foods are prepared with less structured food safety guidelines in small and roadside outlets. The increased presence of extended-spectrum-β-lactamase (ESBL) producing bacteria in street foods is a significant risk for human health because of its epidemiological significance. Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae have become important and dangerous foodborne pathogens globally for their relevance to antibiotic resistance. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the potential burden of antibiotic-resistant E. coli and K. pneumoniae contaminating RTE street foods and to assess the microbiological quality of foods in a typical emerging and growing urban suburb of India where RTE street foods are rapidly establishing with public health implications. A total of 100 RTE food samples were collected of which, 22.88% were E. coli and 27.12% K. pneumoniae. The prevalence of ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae was 25.42%, isolated mostly from chutneys, salads, paani puri, and chicken. Antimicrobial resistance was observed towards cefepime (72.9%), imipenem (55.9%), cefotaxime (52.5%), and meropenem (16.9%) with 86.44% of the isolates with MAR index above 0.22. Among β-lactamase encoding genes, blaTEM (40.68%) was the most prevalent followed by blaCTX (32.20%) and blaSHV (10.17%). blaNDM gene was detected in 20.34% of the isolates. This study indicated that contaminated RTE street foods present health risks to consumers and there is a high potential of transferring multi-drug-resistant bacteria from foods to humans and from person to person as pathogens or as commensal residents of the human gut leading to challenges for subsequent therapeutic treatments.


2003 ◽  
Vol 66 (12) ◽  
pp. 2296-2301 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHIA-MIN LIN ◽  
FONE-MAO WU ◽  
HOI-KYUNG KIM ◽  
MICHAEL P. DOYLE ◽  
BARRY S. MICHAELS ◽  
...  

Compared with other parts of the hand, the area beneath fingernails harbors the most microorganisms and is most difficult to clean. Artificial fingernails, which are usually long and polished, reportedly harbor higher microbial populations than natural nails. Hence, the efficacy of different hand washing methods for removing microbes from natural and artificial fingernails was evaluated. Strains of nonpathogenic Escherichia coli JM109 and feline calicivirus (FCV) strain F9 were used as bacterial and viral indicators, respectively. Volunteers with artificial or natural nails were artificially contaminated with ground beef containing E. coli JM109 or artificial feces containing FCV. Volunteers washed their hands with tap water, regular liquid soap, antibacterial liquid soap, alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel, regular liquid soap followed by alcohol gel, or regular liquid soap plus a nailbrush. The greatest reduction of inoculated microbial populations was obtained by washing with liquid soap plus a nailbrush, and the least reduction was obtained by rubbing hands with alcohol gel. Lower but not significantly different (P &gt; 0.05) reductions of E. coli and FCV counts were obtained from beneath artificial than from natural fingernails. However, significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher E. coli and FCV counts were recovered from hands with artificial nails than from natural nails before and after hand washing. In addition, microbial cell numbers were correlated with fingernail length, with greater numbers beneath fingernails with longer nails. These results indicate that best practices for fingernail sanitation of food handlers are to maintain short fingernails and scrub fingernails with soap and a nailbrush when washing hands.


2003 ◽  
Vol 228 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hussein S. Hussein ◽  
Stanley T. Omaye

Verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) have emerged in the past two decades as food-borne pathogens that can cause major outbreaks of human illnesses worldwide. The number of outbreaks has increased in recent years due to changes in food production and processing systems, eating habits, microbial adaptation, and methods of VTEC transmission. The human illnesses range from mild diarrhea to hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) that can lead to death. The VTEC outbreaks have been attributed to O157:H7 and non-O157:H7 serotypes of E. coli. These E. coli serotypes include motile (e.g., O26:H11 and O104:H21) and nonmotile (e.g., O111:H–,0145:H–, and O157:H–) strains. In the United States, E. coli O157:H7 has been the major cause of VTEC outbreaks. Worldwide, however, non-O157:H7 VTEC (e.g., members of the 026, O103, O111, O118, O145, and O166 serogroups) have caused approximately 30% of the HUS cases in the past decade. Because large numbers of the VTEC outbreaks have been attributed to consumption of ruminant products (e.g., ground beef), cattle and sheep are considered reservoirs of these food-borne pathogens. Because of the food safety concern of VTEC, a global perspective on this problem is addressed (Exp Biol Med Vol. 228, No. 4). The first objective was to evaluate the known non-O157:H7 VTEC strains and the limitations associated with their detection and characterization. The second objective was to identify the VTEC serotypes associated with outbreaks of human illnesses and to provide critical evaluation of their virulence. The third objective was to determine the rumen effect on survival of E. coli O157:H7 as a VTEC model. The fourth objective was to explore the role of intimins in promoting attaching and effacing lesions in humans. Finally, the ability of VTEC to cause persistent infections in cattle was evaluated.


2011 ◽  
Vol 77 (23) ◽  
pp. 8295-8302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura-Dorina Dinu ◽  
Susan Bach

ABSTRACTEscherichia coliO157:H7 continues to be an important human pathogen and has been increasingly linked to food-borne illness associated with fresh produce, particularly leafy greens. The aim of this work was to investigate the fate ofE. coliO157:H7 on the phyllosphere of lettuce under low temperature and to evaluate the potential hazard of viable but nonculturable (VBNC) cells induced under such stressful conditions. First, we studied the survival of six bacterial strains following prolonged storage in water at low temperature (4°C) and selected two strains with different nonculturable responses for the construction ofE. coliO157:H7 Tn7gfptransformants in order to quantitatively assess the occurrence of human pathogens on the plant surface. Under a suboptimal growth temperature (16°C), bothE. coliO157:H7 strains maintained culturability on lettuce leaves, but under more stressful conditions (8°C), the bacterial populations evolved toward the VBNC state. The strain-dependent nonculturable response was more evident in the experiments with different inoculum doses (109and 106E. coliO157:H7 bacteria per g of leaf) when strain BRMSID 188 lost culturability after 15 days and strain ATCC 43895 lost culturability within 7 days, regardless of the inoculum dose. However, the number of cells entering the VBNC state in high-cell-density inoculum (approximately 55%) was lower than in low-cell-density inoculum (approximately 70%). We recorded the presence of verotoxin for 3 days in samples that contained a VBNC population of 4 to 5 log10cells but did not detect culturable cells. These findings indicate thatE. coliO157:H7 VBNC cells are induced on lettuce plants, and this may have implications regarding food safety.


2016 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. B. SHRIDHAR ◽  
L. W. NOLL ◽  
X. SHI ◽  
B. AN ◽  
N. CERNICCHIARO ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) serogroups O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145, called non-O157 STEC, are important foodborne pathogens. Cattle, a major reservoir, harbor the organisms in the hindgut and shed them in the feces. Although limited data exist on fecal shedding, concentrations of non-O157 STEC in feces have not been reported. The objectives of our study were (i) to develop and validate two multiplex quantitative PCR (mqPCR) assays, targeting O-antigen genes of O26, O103, and O111 (mqPCR-1) and O45, O121, and O145 (mqPCR-2); (ii) to utilize the two assays, together with a previously developed four-plex qPCR assay (mqPCR-3) targeting the O157 antigen and three virulence genes (stx1, stx2, and eae), to quantify seven serogroups and three virulence genes in cattle feces; and (iii) to compare the three mqPCR assays to a 10-plex conventional PCR (cPCR) targeting seven serogroups and three virulence genes and culture methods to detect seven E. coli serogroups in cattle feces. The two mqPCR assays (1 and 2) were shown to be specific to the target genes, and the detection limits were 4 and 2 log CFU/g of pure culture–spiked fecal samples, before and after enrichment, respectively. A total of 576 fecal samples collected from a feedlot were enriched in E. coli broth and were subjected to quantification (before enrichment) and detection (after enrichment). Of the 576 fecal samples subjected, before enrichment, to three mqPCR assays for quantification, 175 (30.4%) were quantifiable (≥4 log CFU/g) for at least one of the seven serogroups, with O157 being the most common serogroup. The three mqPCR assays detected higher proportions of postenriched fecal samples (P &lt; 0.01) as positive for one or more serogroups compared with cPCR and culture methods. This is the first study to assess the applicability of qPCR assays to detect and quantify six non-O157 serogroups in cattle feces and to generate data on fecal concentration of the six serogroups.


2007 ◽  
Vol 70 (12) ◽  
pp. 2864-2867 ◽  
Author(s):  
LINDSAY ARTHUR ◽  
SANDRA JONES ◽  
MARTHA FABRI ◽  
JOSEPH ODUMERU

Recent produce-related outbreaks have been receiving heightened media coverage, which has increased public concern toward the safety of fresh fruits and vegetables. In response, the microbial contamination of Ontario-grown fresh fruits and vegetables was evaluated by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs during the summer of 2004. Prior to this survey, information specific to the microbial contamination of Ontario-produced fruits and vegetables was limited. This nonregulatory survey had two objectives: (i) to obtain a general microbiological profile of selected fruits and vegetables produced in Ontario and (ii) to use the information and knowledge gained from this survey to direct and support future on-farm food safety research and food safety programs to manage potential risks. In all, 1,183 samples, including muskmelon (151), scallions and green onions (173), leaf lettuce (263), organic leaf lettuce (112), head lettuce (155), parsley (127), cilantro (61), and fresh market tomatoes (141), were collected and analyzed. Samples were analyzed for Salmonella, Shigella, and generic E. coli. Enrichment cultures positive for E. coli were further assessed for verotoxigenicity. One sample each of Roma tomato and organic leaf lettuce were positive for Salmonella, with no samples yielding Shigella or verotoxigenic E. coli. The E. coli prevalence was highest in parsley (13.4%), followed by organic leaf lettuce (11.6%), leaf lettuce (6.5%), scallions (6.4%), cilantro (4.9%), muskmelon (1.3%), head lettuce (0%), and fresh market tomatoes (0%). These findings, in combination with foodborne illness data, will help target those commodities that require more focused risk mitigation efforts.


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