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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Microbial and Chemical Food Safety » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #395213
Research Project: Development and Validation of Predictive Models and Pathogen Modeling Programs; and Data Acquisition for International Microbial Databases

Location: Microbial and Chemical Food Safety

Title: Characteristics of Foodborne Hazard and Diseases: Sublethally Injured and Viable but Nonculturable Cells

Author
item TANEJA, NEETU - National Institute Of Food Technology Entrepreneurship And Management(NIFTEM)
item KAUSHIK, ABHISHEK - National Institute Of Food Technology Entrepreneurship And Management(NIFTEM)
item Juneja, Vijay

Submitted to: The Encyclopedia of Food
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/16/2022
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The physiological state of microorganisms varies depending upon environmental conditions and stresses, whereby they exist in different growth phases of active replication or a non-replicative yet live state. The latter state referred to as sublethally injured and ‘viable but nonculturable (VBNC)’ cells are of grave concern to food safety and public health, because they may be difficult to detect in food and water samples yet under some circumstances may be capable of causing disease. This chapter discusses the properties of sublethally injured and VBNC cells together with resuscitation methods that allow cells to recover to their normal growth properties and reliable methods for detection of the injured and inactivated bacteria. One class of VBNC cells at least has growth characteristics typically associated with sublethally injured cells and it is suggested that the condition arises from debilitation rather than being a survival mechanism. A general model for the two conditions is proposed.