דו״ח מאומת

Foodborne illness is a major public health concern. The largest number of foodborne illness cases attributed to poultry and poultry products are caused by paratyphoid serotypes of Salmonella and by Campylobacter jejuni. The effective prevention of foodborne disease requires an understanding that contamination can be introduced into foods at numerous points along the food chain. Since multiple entry points exist for foodborne pathogens, multifaceted intervention approaches are required to successfully control contamination of poultry during the various phases of the growth period and processing procedure of broiler chickens. Strategies during the grow-out period (the period during which day-old chicks are raised to six- to seven-week-old broiler chickens) include sanitation, biosecurity, vaccine and drug therapy, and biological control procedures, such as those aimed at preventing colonisation. There are also many critical control points identified in the processing plant which reduce contamination. These include temperature controls (washer and product), chemical interventions, water replacements and counter-flow technology in the scalder and chiller, and equipment maintenance. Transportation and food handling at retail outlets and by the consumer (i.e., storage at the proper temperature and adequate cooking) are the final critical control points in the farm-to-table continuum. It is important to apply risk reduction strategies throughout the food chain. These include: easing the development and implementation of voluntary animal production 'best management practices', implementing in-plant hazard analysis and critical control point systems, developing effective transportation and refrigeration standards, working to facilitate adoption of the model Food Code in all States and providing educational materials and support for public health activities nationwide.…

PMID: 9501366

Raw chicken livers are often contaminated with Campylobacter and Salmonella. Cooking is considered the last defense of pathogen control for meals containing chicken livers. However, consumers' preference for pink color and a creamy texture as desired attributes in preparing liver pâté may lead to inadequate cooking, thereby increasing the risk of foodborne illness. This study aimed to investigate the effects of different cooking conditions (60-90°C, 0-65 min) on quality changes in frozen and fresh chicken livers and develop cooking recommendations to produce safe liver products with desired qualities. Frozen storage reduced the water holding capacity of raw chicken livers and led to more cooking loss (reduction in the weight of liver pieces during cooking) and area shrinkage after heating. The cooking loss and area shrinkage increased with increasing heating time and temperature, following the first-order fractional model. Compared with fresh livers, the shear resistance for cutting through the cooked livers increased after heating at 73.9°C to 90°C and decreased at 60°C, whereas the livers heated at 70°C had shear resistance (~4.5 N/g) similar to the fresh liver, regardless of the heating times used in this study. Heating resulted in color changes in livers, shifting from red hue (0°) toward yellow hue (90°), as characterized by the increased hue angles after heating. Cooking livers to an internal temperature of 70°C to 73.9°C and hold for 101 to 26 s is recommended for food processing plants or restaurants to prepare ready-to-eat meals containing chicken livers to achieve microbial safety with respect to Salmonella and provide cooked livers with desired texture and pink color.…

PMID: 34329987

Microbial foodborne outbreaks are a severe public health challenge in Africa, which bears the highest global burden due to systemic vulnerabilities. Common microbial pathogens contaminate various foods, particularly raw and processed meats, leading to significant morbidity, mortality and economic losses. In this review, data from 31 studies encompassing 42 microbial foodborne outbreaks in Africa were synthesized, analyzed and visualized. Overall, 877 067 of infections and intoxications occurred, with 2064 hospitalizations and 2061 deaths. Salmonella enterica accounted for the most of infections and intoxication (53.6%), while Staphylococcus aureus caused the highest rate of outbreaks (21.4%). Clostridium botulinum was associated with the highest fatality (46.154%), followed by Listeria monocytogenes (20.323%). The implicated food vehicles in the outbreaks included processed meats (38.1%), cereals, legumes and tuber (21.43%), vegetables (9.52%) and seafood (7.14%). The key contributing factors were poor hygiene, inadequate food storage and limited compliance with food safety practices. Addressing critical deficiencies in food safety infrastructure, public awareness and hygiene practices requires enhanced surveillance systems, stricter regulatory frameworks, investment in infrastructure and public education campaigns. Efforts should prioritize the control of prevalent pathogens to mitigate the health and socioeconomic impacts of foodborne illnesses across the continent.…

PMID: 40581764

Freezing broiler carcasses, industrially or at home, not only delays spoilage, but also is expected to increase food safety by hampering growth of food pathogens. However, detailed knowledge on microbial changes after a short or longer freezing period of fresh broiler meat in home freezing setting is lacking and no comparison between different freezing periods has been published yet. The present study combined classical isolation techniques and identification by MALDI-TOF MS with 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to assess bacterial contamination on broiler carcasses that were either bought fresh and then frozen for short periods (total n = 20) in home freezing, or industrial frozen one (total n = 4) at retail. Changes in total aerobic bacteria (TAB) were also studied on 78 freshly bought broiler carcasses that were then stored frozen for up to 6 months in domestic freezers. Salmonella and Campylobacter were examined to assess the effect of freezing on controlling common foodborne pathogens. The contamination level of mesophilic and psychrotrophic TAB was numerically equal on carcasses at retail, either fresh or frozen at different time points. After short and long freezing period, a decrease in counts of mesophilic TAB was observed, while changes in counts of psychrotrophic TAB were rarely observed. No correlation between home freezing period and TAB load, either mesophilic (R = -0.006, p = 0.949) or psychrotrophic (R = 0.080, p = 0.389), was observed. No Salmonella and Campylobacter was detected on industrial frozen carcasses but on fresh carcasses at retail, either pre-freezing or after freezing. The bacterial communities were influenced by freezing, in which some genera showed significantly changes in relative abundance after freezing. In conclusion, from a food safety point of view, freezing of meat products does not serve as safety hurdle, and freezing should only be considered as a method for extending shelf life compared with fresh chicken meat. Applying hygienic slaughter procedures to keep the initial contamination as low as possible, and the maintenance of the cold chain during further processing are the key factors in food safety.…

PMID: 33485099

The potential of food-borne pathogens to survive and grow during refrigerated and frozen storage has raised serious concerns over the safety of stored poultry products. In this study, the effect of refrigeration and freezing temperatures (-20, -12, 0, 4, and 8°C) on growth and survival of Listeria innocua and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium in raw chicken breasts for storage times of 3, 7, 10, 14, and 21 d were investigated. A modified Weibull model was also developed to analyze the microbial behavior of both microorganisms in raw chicken breasts under different refrigerated storage conditions over time. The results showed that the bacterial loads of L. innocua at 4 and 8°C and Salmonella Typhimurium at 8°C were significantly different (P < 0.05) from those at other refrigerated and frozen storage temperatures over storage times. The loads of both bacteria at frozen storage temperatures did not change significantly over time. At a storage time of 7 d, the increase in bacterial loads of L. innocua at 4 and 8°C was 2.1 log cfu/g and 3.7 log cfu/g, respectively, and that of Salmonella Typhimurium at 8°C was 1.2 log cfu/g. The root mean square errors, median relative error, mean absolute relative error, and the plot of predicted versus observed bacterial loads showed a good performance of the model. The results from this study provided useful information regarding the behavior of Listeria and Salmonella in raw chicken breast meat during refrigerated and frozen storage, which would be helpful in giving insight over the safety of poultry products storage.…

PMID: 22582310