Development of Salmonellosis as Affected by Bioactive Food Compounds

Practical Preventive Considerations for Reducing the Public Health Burden of Poultry-Related Salmonellosis

With poultry products as one of the leading reservoirs for the pathogen, in a typical year in the United States, it is estimated that over one million individuals contract non-typhoidal Salmonella infections. Foodborne outbreaks associated with Salmonella infections in poultry, thus, continue to remain a significant risk to public health. Moreover, the further emergence of antimicrobial resistance among various serovars of Salmonella is an additional public health concern. Feeding-based strategies (such as use of prebiotics, probiotics, and/or phytobiotics as well as essential oils), non-feeding-based strategies (such as use of bacteriophages, vaccinations, and in ovo strategies), omics tools and surveillance for identifying antibiotic-resistance genes, post-harvest application of antimicrobials, and biosecurity measures at poultry facilities are practical interventions that could reduce the public health burden of salmonellosis and antibiotic resistance associated with poultry products. With the escalating consumption of poultry products around the globe, the fate, prevalence, and transmission of Salmonella in agricultural settings and various poultry-processing facilities are major public health challenges demanding integrated control measures throughout the food chain. Implementation of practical preventive measures discussed in the current study could appreciably reduce the public health burden of foodborne salmonellosis associated with poultry products.

A dynamic and integrated in vitro/ex vivo gastrointestinal model for the evaluation of the probability and severity of infection in humans by Salmonella spp. vehiculated in different matrices

The lack of proper gastrointestinal models assessing the inter-strain virulence variability of foodborne pathogens and the effect of the vehicle (food matrix) affects the risk estimation. This research aimed to propose a dynamic and integrated in vitro/ex vivo gastrointestinal model to evaluate the probability and severity of infection of foodborne pathogens at different matrices. An everted gut sac was used to determine the adhesion and invasion of Salmonella enterica and tissue damage. S. Typhimurium ATCC 14028 was used as a representative bacterium, and two matrices (water and cheese) were used as vehicles. No differences (p > 0.05) in the probability of infection (P_inf) were found for intra-experimental repeatability. However, the P_inf of cheese-vehiculated S. Typhimurium was different compared to water- vehiculated S. Typhimurium, 7.2-fold higher. The histological analysis revealed Salmonella-induced tissue damage, compared with the control (p < 0.05). In silico proposed interactions between two major Salmonella outer membrane proteins (OmpA and Rck) and digested peptides from cheese casein showed high binding affinity and stability, suggesting a potential protective function from the food matrix. The results showed that the everted gut sac model is suitable to evaluate the inter-strain virulence variability, considering both physiological conditions and the effect of the food matrix.