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Life
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2nd Edition—Food Microbiological Contamination
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2nd Edition—Food Microbiological Contamination

A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 16 March 2026 | Viewed by 650

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Sara Primavilla

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Guest Editor
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Umbria e delle Marche “T. Rosati”, Perugia, Italy
Interests: food safety; food quality; food spoilage bacteria; foodborne pathogens; natural antimicrobial; food microbiology; foodborne disease
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Rossana Roila

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Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Via San Costanzo 4, 06126 Perugia, Italy
Interests: food safety; food quality; food contaminats; food spoilage bacteria; foodborne pathogens; exposure assessment; dietary exposure; dairy products; meat products; seafood products
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Food microbiological contamination represents a very current global issue, since it poses a threat to consumer health and has relevant negative economic implications. Despite improved hygiene management systems and increased regulation, pathogenic bacteria continue to contaminate food, causing sporadic foodborne outbreaks around the world. Microbial contamination can occur at any step of the food chain and the implementation of effective food safety strategies is needed to control and eliminate potential microbial hazards. This Special Issue will collect original research papers on different aspects of food microbiology and safety, including innovative natural food preservation strategies in order to reduce the microbiological risk.

Dr. Sara Primavilla
Dr. Rossana Roila
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Life 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 2600 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

  • food safety
  • food microbiology
  • foodborne pathogens
  • food spoilage
  • food quality
  • food contamination
  • microbiological hazards
  • natural antimicrobials

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 3295 KB  
Article
Chitosan Coating Enhances the Antimicrobial Activity of Punica granatum L. Phenolic Compounds
by Kazim Sahin, Sena Sahin Aktura, Ilkay Bahceci, Zihni Acar Yazici, Burak Oskay, Nebahat Ejder, Emine Yurteri and Derya Bal Altuntas
Life 2025, 15(12), 1878; https://doi.org/10.3390/life15121878 - 8 Dec 2025
Abstract
The development of antibiotic resistance has become a global health challenge, resulting in approximately 800,000 deaths per year. The rapid rise in multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens has prompted an urgent need for antimicrobial alternatives. Punica granatum L. peel has long been valued for its [...] Read more.
The development of antibiotic resistance has become a global health challenge, resulting in approximately 800,000 deaths per year. The rapid rise in multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens has prompted an urgent need for antimicrobial alternatives. Punica granatum L. peel has long been valued for its rich bioactive polyphenols with potent antimicrobial properties. In this study, P. granatum L. peel extract (PGPE) was integrated with chitosan nanoparticles (CH-PGPE) to enhance antimicrobial efficacy while minimizing potential cytotoxicity. The antimicrobial potential of PGPE and CH-PGPE was evaluated with agar well diffusion, disk diffusion, and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) analyses against standard ATCC and clinical MDR strains of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus. MTT assay evaluated the biocompatibility and anti-proliferative potential of PGPE on ARPE-19 (normal retinal pigment epithelial), HeLa (human cervical cancer), and A549 (human lung carcinoma) cell lines. PGPE exhibited antibacterial activity, and CH-PGPE reduced MIC values by approximately two-fold. Both PGPE and CH-PGPE demonstrated comparable or superior inhibition compared to several conventional antibiotics, particularly against MDR strains. The MTT assay revealed that PGPE was non-cytotoxic to normal ARPE-19 cells, while exhibiting the highest antiproliferative potency against A549 cells and a moderate inhibitory response in HeLa cells. The nanoparticle-supported formulation enhanced the antimicrobial efficacy of PGPE and also exhibited selective anti-proliferative activity against cancer cells without affecting normal cells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 2nd Edition—Food Microbiological Contamination)
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15 pages, 3116 KB  
Article
Genetic Profiling of MRSA and MSSA from Food Contact Surfaces: Antibiotic, Heavy Metal and Benzalkonium Chloride Resistance
by María Guadalupe Avila-Novoa, Oscar Alberto Solis-Velazquez, Jean Pierre González-Gómez, Pedro Javier Guerrero-Medina and Melesio Gutiérrez-Lomelí
Life 2025, 15(12), 1811; https://doi.org/10.3390/life15121811 - 26 Nov 2025
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Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus is a foodborne pathogen that affects animals and humans. The persistence of this pathogen in the environment is associated with its ability to form biofilms and/or develop resistance mechanisms to antibiotics and sanitizers. A total of 67 S. aureus strains collected [...] Read more.
Staphylococcus aureus is a foodborne pathogen that affects animals and humans. The persistence of this pathogen in the environment is associated with its ability to form biofilms and/or develop resistance mechanisms to antibiotics and sanitizers. A total of 67 S. aureus strains collected from food contact surfaces (FCSs) made of stainless steel and FCS-polypropylene used in dairy industries in Jalisco, México, were selected for this study. The genetic diversity and genes indicating antibiotic resistance were determined using PCR; antimicrobial susceptibility, resistance to cadmium chloride (CdCl2), and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of benzalkonium chloride (BC) were determined using the agar diffusion method and broth microdilution. Additionally, the effects of BC treatment on biofilm removal were evaluated. A total of 41.7% of the strains were MRSA [SCCmec Types II (20.8%), V (13.4%), and IV (7.4%)], and 58.2% were MSSA. Genes encoding antibiotic resistance—ermC (2.9%), ermA (2.9%), ermB (10.4%), aacA-aphD (10.4%), tetM (17.9%), and blaZ (88%)—were detected. A phenotypic test showed that 62.6% of the strains were cadmium-resistant S. aureus (>400 µg/mL CdCl2), and the MICs of 97% of isolates lay between 1.56 and 25 µg/mL BC. Treatment with BC + MR (100 µg/mL + 1% milk residues) led to a smaller reduction in biofilm (2.11–2.25 log10 cfu/cm2; p < 0.05) compared to BC (3.75–4.03 log10 cfu/cm2; at 5–10 min). MSSA and MSRA can develop biofilms that harbor mechanism resistance-associated genes, which are a public health hazard and a food safety concern. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 2nd Edition—Food Microbiological Contamination)
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