International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

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Dear Colleagues,

Food safety represents a major human health issue in both developed and developing countries. The leading food safety issue worldwide is foodborne diseases caused by microbial pathogens (e.g., Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and pathogenic Escherichia coli). Many pathogens are able to survive food processing and preservation operations, thus posing a threat to food safety. Therefore, studies on the prevalence, survival, and mitigation of microbial pathogens along the farm-to-fork continuum, as well as their interactions with food systems and gut microbiota are fundamental to ensuring food safety and human health. This Special Issue plans to give an overview of these hot topics in microbial food safety in order to direct the formulation of intervention strategies for foodborne diseases in the population. Potential topics include, but are not limited to foodborne pathogens, epidemiology, stress responses, antimicrobial resistance, rapid detection, biofilms, sublethal injuries, risk assessment, food control measures, and gut microbiota.

Dr. Shoukui He
Guest Editor

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Keywords

foodborne pathogen
epidemiology
stress response
antimicrobial resistance
rapid detection
biofilm
sublethal injury
risk assessment
food control measure
gut microbiota

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Research

12 pages, 633 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Molecular Analysis of Pathogenicity, Adhesive Matrix Molecules (MSCRAMMs) and Biofilm Genes of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci Isolated from Ready-to-Eat Food

by Wioleta Chajęcka-Wierzchowska, Joanna Gajewska, Arkadiusz Józef Zakrzewski, Cinzia Caggia and Anna Zadernowska

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(2), 1375; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20021375 - 12 Jan 2023

Viewed by 1643

Abstract

This paper provides a snapshot on the pathogenic traits within CoNS isolated from ready-to-eat (RTE) food. Eighty-five strains were subjected to biofilm and slime production, as well as biofilm-associated genes (icaA, icaD, icaB, icaC, eno, bap, bhp, aap, fbe, embP and atlE), the insertion sequence elements IS256 and IS257 and hemolytic genes. The results showed that the most prevalent determinants responsible for the primary adherence were eno (57.6%) and aap (56.5%) genes. The icaADBC operon was detected in 45.9% of the tested strains and was correlated to slime production. Moreover, most strains carrying the icaADBC operon simultaneously carried the IS257 insertion sequence element. Among the genes encoding for surface proteins involved in the adhesion to abiotic surfaces process, atlE was the most commonly (31.8%) followed by bap (4.7%) and bhp (1.2%). The MSCRAMMs, including fbe and embp were detected in the 11.8% and 28.2% of strains, respectively. A high occurrence of genes involved in the hemolytic toxin production were detected, such as hla_yiD (50.6%), hlb (48.2%), hld (41.2%) and hla_haem (34.1%). The results of the present study revealed an unexpected occurrence of the genes involved in biofilm production and the high hemolytic activity among the CoNS strains, isolated from RTE food, highlighting that this group seems to be acquiring pathogenic traits similar to those of S. aureus, suggesting the need to be included in the routine microbiological analyses of food. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Safety and Human Health)

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17 pages, 3011 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Antibacterial Effect and Possible Mechanism of Salicylic Acid Microcapsules against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus

by Xiaoqiu Song, Rui Li, Qian Zhang, Shoukui He and Yifei Wang

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12761; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912761 - 6 Oct 2022

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4007

Abstract

Microcapsules serve as a feasible formulation to load phenolic substances such as salicylic acid, a natural and safe antimicrobial agent. However, the antibacterial efficacy of salicylic acid microcapsules (SAMs) remains to be elucidated. Here, salicylic acid/β-cyclodextrin inclusion microcapsules were subjected to systematic antibacterial assays and preliminary antibacterial mechanism tests using Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus as target organisms. It was found that the core-shell rhomboid-shaped SAMs had a smooth surface. SAMs exhibited a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and a minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of 4 mg/mL against both bacteria. In the growth inhibition assay, 1/4 × MIC, 1/2 × MIC, and 1 × MIC of SAMs effectively retarded bacterial growth, and this effect was more prominent with the rise in the level of SAMs. Practically, SAMs possessed a rapid bactericidal effect at the 1 × MIC level with a reduction of more than 99.9% bacterial population within 10 min. A pronounced sterilization activity against E. coli and S. aureus was also observed when SAMs were embedded into hand sanitizers as antimicrobial agents. Moreover, exposure of both bacteria to SAMs resulted in the leakage of intracellular alkaline phosphatases and macromolecular substances (nucleic acids and proteins), which indicated the disruption of bacterial cell walls and cell membranes. In conclusion, SAMs were able to inactivate E. coli and S. aureus both in vitro and in situ, highlighting the promising utilization of this formulation for antimicrobial purposes in the area of food safety and public health. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Safety and Human Health)

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