High‑pressure processing and bacteriophages for reducing Listeria in meat products
Food‑borne infections caused by Listeria monocytogenes are rare, but even low‑level contamination of meat or sausage products can lead to severe disease. This is because the bacterium continues to grow at cool storage temperatures and can survive milder heating steps. In addition to the established hygiene measures applied during meat‑product manufacturing, new technologies offer further opportunities to lower the occurrence of Listeria in the final products. These include non‑thermal high‑pressure treatment, which, however, may entail sensory losses, and bioconservation with bacteriophages. ...
Application of bacteriophages against biofilms on surfaces in milk‑producing plants
Pseudomonads are among the most widespread psychrophilic spoilage organisms. They are especially prevalent in aerobically stored, water‑rich, pH‑neutral foods such as raw milk. Pasteurisation or ultra‑high‑temperature treatment effectively inactivates these bacteria, but the heat‑stable enzymes they produce cause loss of flavour, colour and shelf‑life after only a short storage period. If surfaces in milk‑producing plants are not sufficiently covered by automatic cleaning – for example in the milking system – microbial biofilms can develop. Such biofilms facilitate the entry of Pseudomonads into the milk. ...
Pseudomonas spp. in raw milk
Towards finding new solutions for improving milk quality
The export of German milk products has continuously increased in the last few years. This has resulted in a need for a considerable increase in the shelf life of the exported products to compensate for long transport periods and to satisfy consumer demands for high quality products.
Bacteriophages as promising biocontrol tools targeting antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Bacteriophages are increasingly being investigated as promising biocontrol tools for enhanced food safety, in particular with respect to minimizing antibiotic-resistant bacteria, as well as human pathogenic bacteria in the food supply. Therefore, various bacteriophages were isolated from environmental samples within the framework of a current research project on antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Human pathogens in fresh produce
Status quo, routes of entry and influence of storage conditions.
Adulteration of foods with human pathogenic bacteria is a persistent food safety risk. Most of the pathogenic bacteria that cause foodborne disease are associated with foods of animal origin. In contrast to this, there is only limited information available on the presence of human pathogenic bacteria in fresh produce. As these products are often consumed in unprocessed and raw form, without appropriate inactivation of the microorganisms by a heat processing step, a high hygienic standard during processing is essential.