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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Food Safety and Intervention Technologies Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #338406
Research Project: The Role of Genotype in the Development and Validation of Growth Models and Intervention Technologies for Pathogenic Non-Shiga Toxigenic Escherichia coli Found in Foods

Location: Food Safety and Intervention Technologies Research

Title: Control of extraintestinal foodborne pathogens using intervention technologies

Author
item Sommers, Christopher
item Sheen, Shiowshuh - Allen
item Niemira, Brendan

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/20/2017
Publication Date: 2/24/2017
Citation: Sommers, C.H., Sheen, S., Niemira, B.A. 2017. Control of extraintestinal foodborne pathogens using intervention technologies. Meeting Abstract. Volume 1, Page 1. ARS/FSIS Food Safety Workshop. Shepherdstown, WV., February 21-24, 2017.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: In recent years it has become apparent that emerging foodborne pathogens including Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC), Staphylococcus saprophyticus, and Klebsiella pneumoniae are associated with human health conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and urinary tract infections (UTI). IBD and UC affect more than 3.5 million people in the United States and European Union annually, and represent a major global health problem. UTI affect more than 150 million people worldwide and are responsible for ca. 10 million physician’s office visits in the US. ExPEC is responsible for ca. 75% of UTI while and S. saprophyticus is responsible for an additional 6%. The economic cost of these diseases (IBD, UC, UTI are ca. $7 billion annually in the US alone. While the fraction of these infections directly linked to food contamination is not certain, the public health threat is certainly greater than that from more typically recognized foodborne pathogens. In our research we present the inactivation kinetics for ExPEC, S. saprophyticus, and K. pneumonaie in meat and poultry purge, iceberg lettuce, and spinach using a variety of food safety intervention technologies including thermal inactivation, high pressure processing, ionizing radiation, and light-based technologies.