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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Food and Feed Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #326649
Title: Prebiotic and probiotic approaches to improving food safety on the farm and their implications on human health

Author
item SMITH, W. - Texas A&M University
item Callaway, Todd
item TEDESCHI, LUIS - Texas A&M University
item ROUQUETTE, FRANCIS - Texas A&M University
item SHERIDAN, T - Emory University
item ADAMSKI, J - Emory University

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/25/2016
Publication Date: 7/13/2016
Citation: Smith, W.B., Callaway, T.R., Tedeschi, L.O., Rouquette, F.M., Sheridan, T., Adamski, J. 2016. Prebiotic and probiotic approaches to improving food safety on the farm and their implications on human health. Rijeka, Croatia: InTech. p. 1-18.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Human health is a broad category that encompasses the entirety of the food production system. Livestock production practices have important impacts on human health because livestock are not only a primary food source, but also can be the source of pathogenic bacteria that may enter the food chain indirectly. As government regulation and public scrutiny restrict the prophylactic use of antibiotic and antimicrobial interventions, other techniques must be used to reduce the burden of animal-borne pathogenic bacteria entering the food system. Prebiotics (isolated compounds that enhance natural microflora and thereby decrease pathogens) and probiotics (live microbes that are administered to livestock to enhance microbial diversity and crowd out pathogens) represent two unique opportunities for alternative measures in pathogen reduction. This review addresses the link between animal production and human health, the agricultural sources of pathogenic organisms, and the probiotic and prebiotic approaches that have been evaluated in an effort to reduce carriage of foodborne pathogenic bacteria by livestock.