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Food Safety, Waterborne Diseases, and Public Health Microbiology Innovations

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (21 March 2022) | Viewed by 9784

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Aliyar Fouladkhah

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Guest Editor

Faculty Director, Public Health Microbiology Laboratory, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN 37209, USA
Interests: antibiotic resistance and antimicrobial interventions against foodborne bacterial pathogens; ecology of planktonic cells and biofilms of foodborne, enteric, waterborne, and environmental bacteria in the landscape of climate change; foodborne disease epidemiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Bledar Bisha

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Guest Editor

Interim Head and Associate Professor of Food Microbiology, Department of Animal Science, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
Interests: food microbiology and microbial safety of foods; ecology of foodborne pathogens; rapid diagnostics; sample preparation; study of microorganisms at the single cell level; antimicrobial resistance; microbial source tracking
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

At least 31 global hazards are associated with foodborne and waterborne diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 600 million individuals experience foodborne illnesses every year. Additionally, WHO estimates that every year, 420,000 individuals lose their lives due to food-safety-related infection, intoxication, and toxicoinfection episodes, with children under the age of five accounting for around 1/3 of the mortality. An additional 2 million global deaths are associated with waterborne diseases annually. These challenges are expected to be augmented in the landscape of climate change, as elevated temperatures play a substantial role in the fate and proliferation of enteric and environmental pathogens of public health concern.

This Special Issue will publish recent original laboratory studies with sessile and planktonic microorganisms, results of risk assessment analyses, epidemiological and observational research, and critical and systematic reviews of literature. Special emphasis shall be placed on emerging, efficacious, and economically feasible technologies for prevention and elimination of nontyphoidal Salmonella enterica serovars, various serogroups of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, public health significant serotypes of Listeria monocytogenes, pathogenic species of Vibrio, drug-resistant S. aureus, various species of Campylobacter, pathogenic Cronobacter spp., and Norovirus. Additional topics of interest are control measures for the management of mycotoxin mitigation in processing and production, preventive measures for spread of antibiotic-resistant enteric and environmental pathogens, and effects of climate change on food safety and waterborne diseases.

Dr. Aliyar Fouladkhah
Prof. Dr. Bledar Bisha
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Microbial food safety
Food microbiology
Water microbiology
Public health microbiology
Climate-change-induced infectious diseases
Foodborne diseases epidemiology
Nontyphoidal Salmonella enterica serovars
Listeria monocytogenes
Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli
Pathogenic Cronobacter spp.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 2813 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Rapid Detection of Clostridium botulinum in Food Using Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP)

by Yufei Chen, Hao Li, Liu Yang, Lei Wang, Ruyi Sun, Julia E. S. Shearer and Fengjie Sun

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(9), 4401; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094401 - 21 Apr 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4332

Abstract

Botulinum neurotoxins are considered as one of the most potent toxins and are produced by Clostridium botulinum. It is crucial to have a rapid and sensitive method to detect the bacterium Clostridium botulinum in food. In this study, a rapid detection assay of C. botulinum in food using loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) technology was developed. The optimal primers were identified among three sets of primers designed specifically based on the partial ntnh gene encoding nontoxic-nonhaemagglutinin (NTNH) for rapid detection of the target DNA in plasmids. The optimal temperature and reaction time of the LAMP assay were determined to be 64 °C and 60 min, respectively. The chemical kit could be assembled based on these optimized reaction conditions for quick, initial high-throughput screening of C. botulinum in food samples. The established LAMP assay showed high specificity and sensitivity in detecting the target DNA with a limit of 0.0001 pg/ul (i.e., ten times more sensitive than that of the PCR method) and an accuracy rate of 100%. This study demonstrated a potentially rapid, cost-effective, and easy-operating method to detect C. botulinum in food and clinical samples based on LAMP technology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Safety, Waterborne Diseases, and Public Health Microbiology Innovations)

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14 pages, 2779 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sensitivity of Planktonic Cells of Staphylococcus aureus to Elevated Hydrostatic Pressure as Affected by Mild Heat, Carvacrol, Nisin, and Caprylic Acid

by Jyothi George, Sadiye Aras, Md Niamul Kabir, Sabrina Wadood, Shahid Chowdhury and Aliyar Cyrus Fouladkhah

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(19), 7033; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17197033 - 25 Sep 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1975

Abstract

Current study investigated effects of elevated hydrostatic pressure exposure in the presence of mild heat and natural antimicrobials against Staphylococcus aureus. Hydrostatic pressure of 350 to 550 MPa with nisin (5000 IU/mL), carvacrol, or caprylic acid (0.5% v/v) were applied for the reduction in four-strain mixture of S. aureus in HEPES buffer at 4 and 40 °C for up to 7 min. Results were statistically analyzed by ANOVA and D-values were additionally calculated using best-fitted linear model. Prior to exposure to treatments at 4 °C, counts of the pathogen were 7.95 ± 0.4 log CFU/mL and were reduced (p < 0.05) to 6.44 ± 0.3 log CFU/mL after 7 min of treatment at 450 MPa. D-value associated with this treatment was 5.34 min (R² = 0.72). At 40 °C, counts were 8.21 ± 0.7 and 5.77 ± 0.3 log CFU/mL before and after the 7-min treatments, respectively. D-value associated with 40 °C treatment was 3.30 min (R² = 0.62). Application of the antimicrobials provided additional pathogen reduction augmentation for treatments < 5 min. The results of the current study could be incorporated for meeting regulatory requirements such as Food Code, HACCP, and Preventive Control for Human Food of Food Safety Modernization Act for assuring microbiological safety of products against this prevalent pathogen of public health concern. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Safety, Waterborne Diseases, and Public Health Microbiology Innovations)

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Review

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17 pages, 819 KiB

Open AccessReview

Opportunistic Pathogens of Recreational Waters with Emphasis on Antimicrobial Resistance—A Possible Subject of Human Health Concern

by Joanna Stec, Urszula Kosikowska, Mariola Mendrycka, Dagmara Stępień-Pyśniak, Paulina Niedźwiedzka-Rystwej, Dominika Bębnowska, Rafał Hrynkiewicz, Joanna Ziętara-Wysocka and Ewelina Grywalska

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(12), 7308; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127308 - 14 Jun 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2647

Abstract

Infections caused by exposure to opportunistic pathogens can cause serious health problems during recreational water use. The problem of diseases caused by microbes transmitted by water is a major public health challenge, especially in developing countries with economic problems and poor hygiene conditions. Moreover, the quality of water in natural reservoirs is often at a very low level in terms of microbiological water purity, which means that their use for recreational purposes, but also as a source of drinking water, may have serious health consequences. Recreational waters pose a threat to human health. Therefore, the quality of recreational waters is closely monitored in many jurisdictions. In this review, we summarize key information on the most common pathogens that can be water-based or waterborne. The issue of antimicrobial resistance among opportunistic pathogens remains equally important. It is important not only to fight pathogens, but also to take action to reduce chemical stressors (especially antibiotics) in the aquatic environment, and to understand the various mechanisms of the spread of antibiotic-resistant genes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Safety, Waterborne Diseases, and Public Health Microbiology Innovations)

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