Impact of seafood regulations forVibrio parahaemolyticusinfection and verification by analyses of seafood contamination and infection

Abstract

Consumption of seafood contaminated with Vibrio parahaemolyticus causes foodborne infections, which are on the rise owing to increased consumption of raw seafood in Asia, Europe, North America, and other regions. V. parahaemolyticus infections have been common in Japan since the 1960s. Following an epidemic in 1997, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare instituted regulations for seafood in 1999, which appear to be reducing V. parahaemolyticus infections. In this review, we describe the scientific findings for these regulations. Analyses of the V. parahaemolyticus serotypes and isolate characteristics in samples from infected patients and contaminated seafood are discussed. In addition, based on the results of a survey, we show that new food safety regulations have led to improvements in food hygiene at many seafood retail shops, food service facilities, and restaurants. This example from Japan could be of immense help to control foodborne infections in other countries.

Risk Factors for Vibrio parahaemolyticus Infection in a Southern Coastal Region of China

“…Another national analysis has indicated that meat and meat products are the most common vehicle of VP infection (responsible for 18% of outbreaks) in 322 reported VP outbreaks in China during 2003–2008, followed by aquatic products (responsible for 16% of outbreaks) (Wu et al ., 2014). This is in contrast with data from other developed countries, where seafood products, mostly shellfish, are considered the food most associated with VP infection (McLaughlin et al , 2005; Su and Liu, 2007; Hara-Kudo and Kumagai, 2014). …”

“…Previous studies have recognized eating raw or undercooked seafood (particularly shellfish) is a risk factor of VP infection in developed countries (Daniels et al ., 2000; Vuddhakul et al ., 2000; McLaughlin et al ., 2005; Su et al ., 2007; Hara-Kudo and Kumagai, 2014). In China, surveillance has indicated that seafood products had high concentrations of VP contamination (Yang et al ., 2008; Chen et al ., 2012; Zhang et al ., 2013).…”

“…It is recognized as the leading cause of human gastroenteritis associated with seafood consumption in the United States and many Asian countries, including Thailand, Japan, and China. As reported in these countries, raw or improperly prepared oysters are a common vehicle; other implicated sources include clams, crayfish, crabs, lobster, mussels, and shrimp (Daniels et al ., 2000; Vuddhakul et al ., 2000; Hara-Kudo and Kumagai, 2014; Wu et al ., 2014). During the last two decades in China, VP has become the most common cause of bacterial foodborne infection, especially in coastal regions (Wang et al ., 2007; Ma et al ., 2013; Yan et al ., 2015).…”

Managing the risk of Vibrio parahaemolyticus infections associated with oyster consumption: A review

“…Finally, this review highlighted the need for developing relevant policies, legal requirements, and/or guidelines regarding the safety of oysters, particularly in developing countries, by considering contributing factors affecting the risk involved in consuming oysters and potential effects of climate change and ensuring their implementation through inspection and monitoring. The implementation of the shellfish harvesting policy adopted in the United States and guidelines governing the safety of seafood products in Japan are examples of efforts to reduce the risk of vibriosis (Alvarez, Solís, & Hwang, 2019; Hara‐Kudo & Kumagai, 2014). Additional efforts are required to encourage the harmonization of standards governing the safety of oysters between exporting and importing countries because oysters are traded in international markets.…”

Christmas-tree Derived Amplification Immuno-Strategy for Sensitive Visual Detection of Vibrio parahaemolyticus Based on Gold Label Silver Stain Technology

“…3,4 Current epidemiological data show that VP has become a focus of food safety in Asia, South America and United States, while VP was first recognized as a cause of food-borne diseases in Osaka, Japan in 1951. [5][6][7] Although conventional culturing ensures the accuracy of determinations, and are optimum methods for VP identification, there still exist some shortcomings, such as long-time consumption and cumbersome practical application. Various approaches have been developed to obtain better performances of VP analysis, including enzyme-linked immunesorbent assay (ELISA), [8][9][10] DNA probe, 11 most probable number (MPN), 12,13 polymerase chain reaction (PCR), [14][15][16][17][18] loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), [19][20][21][22][23] and electrochemistry (EC).…”