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Mokhtari A, Pang H, Santillana Farakos S, McKenna C, Crowley C, Cranford V, Bowen A, Phillips S, Madad A, Obenhuber D, Van Doren JM. Leveraging risk assessment for foodborne outbreak investigations: The Quantitative Risk Assessment-Epidemic Curve Prediction Model. RISK ANALYSIS : AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE SOCIETY FOR RISK ANALYSIS 2023; 43:324-338. [PMID: 35171502 DOI: 10.1111/risa.13896] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Root cause analysis can be used in foodborne illness outbreak investigations to determine the underlying causes of an outbreak and to help identify actions that could be taken to prevent future outbreaks. We developed a new tool, the Quantitative Risk Assessment-Epidemic Curve Prediction Model (QRA-EC), to assist with these goals and applied it to a case study to investigate and illustrate the utility of leveraging quantitative risk assessment to provide unique insights for foodborne illness outbreak root cause analysis. We used a 2019 Salmonella outbreak linked to melons as a case study to demonstrate the utility of this model (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2019). The model was used to evaluate the impact of various root cause hypotheses (representing different contamination sources and food safety system failures in the melon supply chain) on the predicted number and timeline of illnesses. The predicted number of illnesses varied by contamination source and was strongly impacted by the prevalence and level of Salmonella contamination on the surface/inside of whole melons and inside contamination niches on equipment surfaces. The timeline of illnesses was most strongly impacted by equipment sanitation efficacy for contamination niches. Evaluations of a wide range of scenarios representing various potential root causes enabled us to identify which hypotheses, were likely to result in an outbreak of similar size and illness timeline to the 2019 Salmonella melon outbreak. The QRA-EC framework can be adapted to accommodate any food-pathogen pairs to provide insights for foodborne outbreak investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amir Mokhtari
- Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5001 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20740, USA
| | - Hao Pang
- Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5001 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20740, USA
| | - Sofia Santillana Farakos
- Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5001 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20740, USA
| | - Crystal McKenna
- Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5001 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20740, USA
| | - Cecilia Crowley
- Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5001 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20740, USA
| | - Vanessa Cranford
- Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5001 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20740, USA
| | - April Bowen
- Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5001 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20740, USA
| | - Sheena Phillips
- Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5001 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20740, USA
| | - Asma Madad
- Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5001 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20740, USA
| | - Donald Obenhuber
- Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5001 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20740, USA
| | - Jane M Van Doren
- Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5001 Campus Drive, College Park, Maryland, 20740, USA
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Horne SM, Prüß BM. A Wash of Ethyl Acetoacetate Reduces Externally added Salmonella enterica on Tomatoes. Antibiotics (Basel) 2022; 11:antibiotics11081134. [PMID: 36010003 PMCID: PMC9405465 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics11081134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2022] [Revised: 08/13/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
The continuously high numbers of food-borne disease outbreaks document that current intervention techniques are not yet satisfactory. This study describes a novel wash for tomatoes that can be used as part of the food processing chain and is designed to prevent contamination with serovars of Salmonella enterica. The wash contains ethyl acetoacetate (EAA) at a concentration of 8% in H2O. This wash reduced live bacterial counts (on Salmonella Shigella agar) of externally added S. Newport MDD14 by 2.3 log, counts of S. Typhimurium ATCC19585 by 1.5 log, and counts of S. Typhimurium FSL R6-0020 by 3.4 log. The naturally occurring background flora of the tomatoes was determined on plate count agar. The log reduction by EAA was 2.1. To mimic organic matter in the wash, we added 1% tomato homogenate to the 8% EAA solution. Prior to using the wash, the tomato homogenate was incubated with the EAA for 2 h. In the presence of the tomato homogenate, the log reductions were 2.4 log for S. Newport MDD14 and 3 log for S. Typhimurium FSL R6-0020. It seems like tomato homogenate did not reduce the efficacy of the EAA wash in the two S. enterica serovars tested. We propose the use of EAA as a wash for tomatoes to reduce bacterial counts of S. enterica well as naturally occurring background flora.
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Pathogenic potential of the surviving Salmonella Enteritidis on strawberries after disinfection treatments based on ultraviolet-C light and peracetic acid. Int J Food Microbiol 2022; 364:109536. [PMID: 35038638 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2022.109536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2021] [Revised: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Fresh fruits, especially strawberries, are usually consumed raw without any step to ensure their food safety. Salmonella enterica is one of the most important etiologic agents for foodborne diseases throughout the world and its ability to respond to some stress responses makes it even more dangerous. In the present investigation, we study the survival of S. Enteritidis (CECT-4300) on strawberries after 2-min of various disinfection steps (NaClO (200 ppm), peracetic acid (PAA; 40 ppm), water-assisted UV-C (WUV-C), and the combination WUV-C and 40 ppm of PAA (WUV-C + PAA)) and after 5 days of cold storage (4 °C). Moreover, the pathogenic potential of the surviving bacteria, such as the ability to survive throughout the gastrointestinal tract (GI) and subsequently the capability to adhere to and invade Caco-2 cells, was tested at each sampling point. After 2-min of washing procedures, reductions of S. Enteritidis on strawberries were ≥1.2 log, with no significant differences among treatments. However, the use of WUV-C + PAA treatment achieved the highest reductions in washing water, in which S. Enteritidis was not detected (<DL). At the end of 5-day storage period, reductions of the WUV-C + PAA treated-samples were lower in comparison with PAA-treated samples (P < 0.05). The effect of the treatments used did not interfere with the survival of S. Enteritidis along the GI tract. After disinfection and subsequent GI simulation, all remaining populations demonstrated an elevated ability to adhere in Caco-2 cells (67.5-81.1%) compared with those obtained on untreated strawberries (61.4%). Concerning the ability of invasion, no significant differences could be observed. Remarkably, after 5 days at 4 °C, the adherence of S. Entertidis significantly decreased in the samples with the combined treatment meanwhile the invasion ability was not detected for any treatment. The results of the present study are essential for the quantitative microbial risk estimations.
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Giannakourou MC, Tsironi TN. Application of Processing and Packaging Hurdles for Fresh-Cut Fruits and Vegetables Preservation. Foods 2021; 10:830. [PMID: 33920447 PMCID: PMC8068883 DOI: 10.3390/foods10040830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2021] [Revised: 04/07/2021] [Accepted: 04/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Recently, consumers' demand for fresh, nutritious, and convenient food has shown a significant rise. This trend has forced increased sales of minimally processed and/or pre-packed fruit- and vegetable-based products. New product development and the diversification of plant-based foods have supported this growth. The food production sector should balance this requirement with the necessity to provide safe food with extended shelf life while meeting consumer demands for novel, nutritious, and affordable food products. The use of alternative "soft hurdles" may result in a decrease in the rate of food deterioration and spoilage attributed to microbial activity or other physiological/chemical degradation reactions. The objective of the article is to provide a systematic review of the preservative effect of the available hurdles implemented during processing and packaging of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, focusing on recent applications aiming at improving product quality and prolonging their limited shelf life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria C. Giannakourou
- Laboratory of Chemistry, Analysis & Design of Food Processes, Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Sciences, University of West Attica, Agiou Spyridonos, 12243 Athens, Greece;
| | - Theofania N. Tsironi
- Laboratory of Food Process Engineering, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 11855 Athens, Greece
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