Identification of Food Pathogens and Determination of Their Distribution Level in Ukrainian Food Products of Animal and Plant Origin by PCR Method

Abstract

The foodborne pathogens cause serious public health problems in each country. In this regard, microbiological investigation is included in food safety management of the food chain. Molecular methods and mostly polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are considered highly sensitive, specific and rapid methods for pathogens detection from raw material and food. This study describes the using of specially designed and highly specific primers for PCR to identify 5 common and especially dangerous causeve agents of food poisoning and disease and to determine their level of distribution in food of animal and plant origin. The studies included the identification of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Cronobacter spp. (E. sakazakii) from raw milk, Shiga toxin-producing strains of Escherichia coli (STEC) from beef and swine carcasses, Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens from various types of plant and animal raw materials and products of its processing - fruits, vegetables, berries, dried and preserved products, food concentrates, half-canned food. A total of 397 food samples were investigated to detect these pathogens using classical bacteriological methods and PCR. It was found that the distribution of foodborne pathogens in the studied products of animal and plant origin was as follows: Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Cronobacterspp. (E. sakazakii) in raw cow milk in 6.5% and 19.4% of cases, respectively; shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) from beef and pork carcasses in 8.1% and 5.7%; Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens from different types of plant and animal raw materials and their processing products averages 27.5 % and 7.7 %, respectively. The advantages of molecular biological methods to which the PCR method relates, include their speed, as well as the specificity of identification of microorganisms by the features of genetic regions of genes that carry information about their pathogenicity factors. It has been found that the rate of detection of these pathogens when using the PCR method in comparison with classical methods increases at least 5-9 times. This data will be useful for assessing microbiological risk and will help authorities develop strategies to reduce consumer health risks.

New high-fat dairy products with colour attractants

“…where, [Іn Н] = the concentration of the inhibitor obtained experimentally, and t = the duration of the induction period, s. Microbiological parameters were determined by classical as well as accelerated PCR methods using microbiological media Compact Dry (Nissui Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Japan) (Kapreliants et al, 2016;Pylypenko et al, 2017;Berhilevych et al, 2019;Danylova et al, 2019).…”

Intensive animal farming operations and outbreaks of zoonotic bacterial diseases in Ukraine

“…Between 2012 and 2015, 97 E. coli isolates (42.2%) were isolated from 230 bacterial samples collected from flushes from beef (130) and swine (100) carcasses obtained from five slaughterhouses in Ukraine, among which seven (7.2%) STEC strains (five beef and two swine carcass swabs) were identified by PCR (Berhilevych et al, 2018). In another study, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) was detected in 8.1% and 5.7% of samples collected from beef and swine carcasses, respectively (Berhilevych et al, 2019). It indicates the extreme relevance of STEC monitoring at all stages of livestock production.…”

“…Currently, some difficulties in identifying STEC serotypes by bacteriological and immunological methods (Baluta et al, 2009;Sukharev, 2011) can be successfully solved using molecular genetic methods (Berhilevych et al, 2014(Berhilevych et al, , 2016(Berhilevych et al, , 2019Kasianchuk et al, 2015). Molecular genetic studies have shown that STEC serovariates of E. coli can be collected from the carcasses of cattle and pigs.…”