Journal of food protection最新文献

{"title":"A Systematic Literature Review of Produce Safety Training Research: Do We Know What Works?","authors":"Karen McGilvery ,&nbsp;Emily Johnson ,&nbsp;Amy Pezoldt ,&nbsp;Angela Fraser ,&nbsp;Amarat Simonne ,&nbsp;Kimberly Wiley","doi":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100491","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100491","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nearly half (46%) of all foodborne disease outbreaks are attributed to eating contaminated produce. Produce safety training is one approach used to decrease the risk of produce-related foodborne disease. However, it is not conclusively known if such training works. Our two study objectives were to determine: (1) how produce safety training is evaluated and (2) which training approaches improved practices. This systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Using three categories of key terms (intervention, facility, and qualifier words), five databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles. Results were screened according to a priori criteria. A total of 21 articles were included: only nine evaluated training implemented by the authors. Over half (<em>n</em> = 15) measured knowledge, attitudes, and skills change. Only one was designed to demonstrate true cause and effect between training and produce safety practices. Few published studies evaluate the effect of produce safety training on produce growers, indicating that there are challenges in conducting such evaluations. Proper evaluation is imperative for demonstrating the importance of produce safety training at reducing the risk of foodborne disease.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15903,"journal":{"name":"Journal of food protection","volume":"88 5","pages":"Article 100491"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143674009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Combination of Blue Light and Chemical Sanitizers for Inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes Dried Cells on Inert Surfaces","authors":"Amaryllis Rivera-Santiago,&nbsp;Francisco Diez-Gonzalez","doi":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100490","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100490","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Environmental contamination of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods with <em>Listeria monocytogenes</em> is a major food safety concern. Treatment of surfaces with antimicrobial blue light (aBL) has recently emerged as a technology that can supplement current sanitation practices. Chemical sanitizers are used extensively by the food industry, but their combination with aBL at 405 nm has not been evaluated. This project was undertaken to determine the combined effect of sanitizers with aBL to inactivate <em>L. monocytogenes</em> dried cells on inert surfaces. Peracetic acid (PAA), benzalkonium chloride (BAC), and sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) at time/concentrations that delivered less than 2 Log CFU viability reductions were combined with limited aBL treatments applied simultaneously or sequential on cells dried on stainless steel (SS) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coupons. When five-strain mixtures were dried on SS and treated with aBL alone (575 J/cm²), average viability reductions of less than 2 Log CFU/coupon were observed. Single treatments with NaClO (20 ppm, 60 min) and PAA (30 ppm, 30 min) caused less than 1.5 Log CFU/coupon inactivation on SS. During independent experiments that combined the same concentration/time of NaClO and PAA applied simultaneously with the above aBL dose, viability reductions of 5.4 and 4.7 Log CFU/coupon, respectively, were measured. The results of sequential treatments of dried cells with sanitizers and aBL were variable depending on the sanitizer, concentration, surface, and the sequence order. Measured reductions of sequential treatments varied from 1.5 Log CFU/coupon with BAC (40 ppm/30 min) to 5.5 Log CFU/coupon with NaClO (75 ppm/60 min) applied before aBL on PTFE. The comparison between the results obtained at low sanitizer concentrations simultaneously used with aBL to the sum of the single results (3.5 vs. 5.4 Log CFU/coupon or 3.5 vs. 4.7 Log CFU/coupon) resulted in statistically significant differences (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05). These findings suggested that there was a synergistic effect between sanitizers and aBL.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15903,"journal":{"name":"Journal of food protection","volume":"88 5","pages":"Article 100490"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143674014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Describing the Die-Off of Generic Escherichia coli on Field-Grown Tomatoes in Virginia Using Nonlinear Inactivation Models","authors":"Claire M. Murphy ,&nbsp;Claudia Ganser ,&nbsp;Michelle D. Danyluk ,&nbsp;Arie H. Havelaar ,&nbsp;Laura K Strawn","doi":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100489","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100489","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Agricultural water has been identified as a source of microbial contamination of fresh produce. When surface water is deemed unsafe or not of adequate sanitary quality under current U.S. regulations, growers can implement mitigation measures such as a time-to-harvest interval. Scientifically relevant data on die-off (i.e., inactivation rates) of generic <em>Escherichia coli</em> under field conditions are highly variable by growing region and season. This study used artificially contaminated water to evaluate generic <em>E. coli</em> die-off on tomatoes under field conditions. Field trials were conducted at two locations in Virginia during the summer and fall of 2015 and 2016. Contaminated water (4 log CFU/ml) was used to spray mature tomatoes, resulting in 2 log CFU/tomato of generic <em>E. coli.</em> Tomatoes were enumerated for 7d postcontamination. The relationship between <em>E. coli</em>, time, location, and season were modeled using Weibull and Biphasic models. Akaike’s Information Criterion with small sample size bias adjustment was used to determine model fit. A combined site-season Biphasic model, with two distinct inactivation rates, was the most parsimonious model, with growing season contributing more significantly to model fit than site-specific differences. The Biphasic model estimated the mean daily die-off of <em>E. coli</em> populations before the breakpoint (0.87–1.16 d), at 1.47–2.24 log CFU/d with a mean decrease of 1.54–2.40 log CFU/d. After the breakpoint, <em>E. coli</em> populations decreased marginally, not at all, with mean daily die-off ranging from −0.05 to 0.07 log CFU/d. Findings indicate that generic <em>E. coli</em> die-off on tomatoes under field conditions undergoes an initial rapid decline within the first 20–28 h, followed by a slower, prolonged decrease. Environmental factors relating to seasonal differences were more effective at predicting die-off than site-specific differences. <em>E. coli</em> surviving beyond the breakpoint may drive the risk of foodborne illness.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15903,"journal":{"name":"Journal of food protection","volume":"88 5","pages":"Article 100489"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143674031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"NutriClayZn Binds Aflatoxin B1 and Suppresses Enterotoxigenic Salmonella and Escherichia coli","authors":"Steven J.T. Jackson ,&nbsp;Kathleen Andrews ,&nbsp;Robert E. Droleskey ,&nbsp;William J. Banz ,&nbsp;Gary A. Apgar ,&nbsp;Kelly J. Rivenbark ,&nbsp;Meichen Wang ,&nbsp;Robin C. Anderson ,&nbsp;Roger B. Harvey ,&nbsp;Timothy D. Phillips","doi":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100486","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100486","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><em>Salmonella</em> Typhimurium and <em>Escherichia coli</em> represent foodborne pathogens that can trigger diarrhea and diminish weight gains in livestock, as well as cause gastroenteritis in humans. Although prophylactic antibiotics have been used historically on the farm to limit bacterial pathogens and promote animal growth, this practice may also foster antimicrobial resistant (AMR) strains of bacteria and deplete our arsenal of effective antibiotic therapies. Incorporation of free chemical zinc oxide (ZnO) into animal feed, at doses far above nutritional requirements, has largely replaced prophylactic antibiotics; however, environmental concerns are mounting around unabsorbed zinc (excreted in feces) impacting soil microbes and thereby contributing to the AMR threat. Here, NutriClay^Zn is introduced as an analog of montmorillonite (MMT) clay with potent efficacy against foodborne bacterial pathogens and slow release of low concentrations of zinc. Bacterial propagation was assessed in culture experiments using NutriClay^Zn dosages aligned with current dietary MMT clay practices for the control of aflatoxin in production animals. Zinc release was quantified by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Significant (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05) growth reduction of <em>Salmonella</em> Typhimurium was observed following NutriClay^Zn exposures releasing less zinc than that contained within free chemical ZnO positive controls. Moreover, NutriClay^Zn displayed dose-dependent efficacy against an AMR strain of <em>Escherichia coli</em> O157:H7, while also binding aflatoxin B1 with kinetics similar to its parent MMT clay. These findings suggest that NutriClay^Zn could serve as a dual-purpose dietary substance, binding aflatoxin B1 and suppressing enterotoxigenic bacteria that can compromise the food supply.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15903,"journal":{"name":"Journal of food protection","volume":"88 5","pages":"Article 100486"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143669877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Active Learning Models to Screen Articles as Part of a Systematic Review of Literature on Digital Tools in Food Safety","authors":"Tyler Wu,&nbsp;Sophia Ruser,&nbsp;Linda Kalunga,&nbsp;Renata Ivanek","doi":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100488","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100488","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Systematic reviews in food safety research are vital but hindered by the amount of required human labor. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of semi-automated active learning models, as an alternative to manual screening, in screening articles by title and abstract for subsequent full-text review and inclusion in a systematic review of food safety literature. We used a dataset of 3,738 articles, which were previously manually screened in a systematic scoping review for studies about digital food safety tools, of which 214 articles were selected (labeled) via title-abstract screening for further full-text review. On this dataset, we compared three models: (i) Naive Bayes/Term Frequency–Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF), (ii) Logistic Regression/Doc2Vec, and (iii) Regression/TF-IDF under two scenarios: (1) screening an unlabeled dataset and (2) screening a labeled benchmark dataset. We show that screening with active learning models offers a significant improvement over manual (random) screening across all models. In the first scenario, given a stopping criterion of 5% of total records consecutively without having labeled an article relevant, the three models respectively achieve recalls of (mean ± standard deviation) 99.2 ± 0.8%, 97.9 ± 2.7%, and 98.8 ± 0.4% while having viewed only 62.6 ± 3.2%, 58.9 ± 2.9%, and 57.6 ± 3.2% of total records. In general, there was a tradeoff between recall and the number of articles that needed to be screened. In the second scenario, we observe that all models perform similarly overall, including similar Work Saved Over Sampling values at the 90% and 95% recall criteria, but models using the TF-IDF feature extractor typically outperform the model using Doc2Vec at finding relevant articles early in screening. In particular, all models outperformed random screening at any recall level. This study demonstrates the promise of incorporating active learning models to facilitate literature synthesis in digital food safety.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15903,"journal":{"name":"Journal of food protection","volume":"88 5","pages":"Article 100488"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143669868","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Microbial Food Safety Aspects Along the Supply Chain of African Indigenous Vegetables. A Case Study of Leaf Amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) in Kenya","authors":"Samuel Elolu ,&nbsp;Benard Odhiambo Oloo ,&nbsp;Arnold Mathew Opiyo ,&nbsp;Susanne Huyskens-Keil","doi":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100485","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100485","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Microbial food safety aspects along the supply chain of fresh leaf amaranth (<em>Amaranthus</em> spp.) were evaluated from farms to urban supermarkets in Kenya. A total of 150 leaf samples were collected from amaranth farms, transport, wholesale, peri-urban retail markets, and supermarkets. Microbiological indicators of sanitary conditions were analyzed in terms of the prevalence and load of aerobic mesophilic bacteria, <em>Enterobacteriaceae</em>, total coliforms, yeasts &amp; molds, <em>Escherichia coli</em>, <em>Salmonella</em>, and <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em>. Foodborne pathogens, <em>E. coli</em>, <em>Salmonella</em>, and <em>S. aureus</em>, were characterized through molecular screening for selected virulence genes. The prevalence of microbial contamination was highest in peri-urban retail markets, followed by wholesale markets, supermarkets, and transportation, and least on farms. Throughout the supply chain, coliforms were the most prevalent, detected in 98.7% of the samples, followed by <em>Enterobacteriaceae</em> (97.3%), aerobic mesophiles (96.7%), and yeasts and molds (92%). However, <em>S. aureus</em> was the most prevalent pathogen (87.3%), followed by <em>Salmonella</em> (79.3%) and <em>E. coli</em> the least (67.3%). Microbial load increased from the farm to peri-urban retail markets and was significantly higher in the peri-urban retail markets, i.e., 5.08–6.22 Log CFU/g (aerobic mesophiles), 5.28–6.32 Log CFU/g (<em>Enterobacteriaceae</em>), 5.56–6.47 Log CFU/g (coliforms), 2.02–3.59 Log CFU/g (<em>E. coli</em>), 3.87–4.64 Log CFU/g (<em>S. aureus</em>), and 3.36–4.23 Log CFU/g (<em>Salmonella</em>), respectively. Shiga toxin-producing <em>E. coli</em> virulence genes (<em>stx1</em> and <em>stx2</em>), enterotoxin (<em>stn</em>), and plasmid (<em>pCT</em>) <em>Salmonella</em> virulence genes, and <em>S. aureus</em> virulence genes (<em>sea</em>) were detected in isolates from vegetables at different nodes of the supply chain. Microbial contamination levels were above the international and national thresholds, and foodborne microorganisms had pathogenic attributes. Initiatives to improve sanitation measures at each stage of the supply chain are recommended to guarantee food safety.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15903,"journal":{"name":"Journal of food protection","volume":"88 5","pages":"Article 100485"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143663631","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of a Novel Direct-fed Microbial on Occurrences of Antimicrobial Resistance in Salmonella enterica, Escherichia coli, and Enterococcus spp. Measured Longitudinally From Feedlot Arrival to Harvest in Finishing Beef Steers","authors":"A. Hoffman ,&nbsp;C.W. Dornbach ,&nbsp;S.C. Fernando ,&nbsp;P.R. Broadway ,&nbsp;N.C. Burdick Sanchez ,&nbsp;N.S. Long ,&nbsp;Z.S. McDaniel ,&nbsp;T.M. Smock ,&nbsp;J.E. Wells ,&nbsp;R.G. Amachawadi ,&nbsp;K.E. Hales","doi":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100484","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100484","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Before implementation of the Veterinary Feed Directive in 2017, medically important antimicrobials, like tylosin, were approved for both therapeutic and subtherapeutic use. Nevertheless, subtherapeutic practices are now considered injudicious because their use increases antimicrobial resistance risk. Therefore, heightened consumer concerns have increased the interest in antimicrobial alternatives like direct-fed microbials. Two-hundred forty Angus beef steers (mean initial BW = 263 kg ± 18.0 kg) were assigned randomly to one of three dietary treatments; negative control, dietary supplement contained no tylosin (NCON); positive control, dietary supplement contained tylosin (PCON); or novel direct-fed microbial fed at 1 g mixture/steer with 1 × 10¹¹ CFU/g (DFM). Fecal samples were collected on days 0, 59, 128, and at study end. Pen and hide swabs were collected two days before harvest, and subiliac lymph nodes were collected on the day of harvest. All targeted bacterial populations differed across time (<em>p</em> ≤ 0.05), except 128ERY^R <em>Escherichia coli.</em> Fecal <em>Salmonella</em> concentration and prevalence differed among dietary treatments (<em>p</em> = 0.02) with NCON having greater fecal <em>Salmonella</em> concentrations than PCON and DFM. No differences in <em>Salmonella</em> prevalence among pen swabs, hide swabs, or subiliac lymph nodes were detected (<em>p</em> ≥ 0.40). <em>Salmonella</em> resistant to tetracycline or cefotaxime were not detected in feces. The effect of treatment differed by day for total and 128ERY^R <em>Enterococcus</em> spp. concentrations. Total <em>Enterococcus</em> spp. concentrations were greatest for the DFM treatment on day 128 and at study end (<em>p</em> ≤ 0.01). At study end, 128ERY^R <em>Enterococcus</em> spp. concentrations were greatest for PCON (<em>p</em> ≤ 0.01). Total, TET^R, COT^R, and CTX^R <em>E. coli</em> concentrations increased from d 0 to study end among treatments (<em>p</em> ≤ 0.01). These data suggest that the in-feed inclusion of a novel direct-fed microbial is not directly implicated in the antimicrobial resistance of feedlot beef cattle.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15903,"journal":{"name":"Journal of food protection","volume":"88 5","pages":"Article 100484"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143634098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reconsidering Stochasticity in Modeling of Bacterial Population Growth and Inactivation With Technical and Biological Variability","authors":"Kento Koyama ,&nbsp;Zafiro Aspridou ,&nbsp;Hiroki Abe ,&nbsp;Konstantinos Koutsoumanis ,&nbsp;Shige Koseki","doi":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100482","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100482","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Considering variability in microbial behavior has been recognized as a crucial element for predictive microbiology and quantitative microbial risk assessment. Although some sources of variability have been listed so far, a mathematical description of the variability in bacterial population behavior has not yet been realized. The present paper illustrates stochastic bacterial population growth and/or inactivation behavior from a mathematical point of view. Among various stochastic factors, sampling for the quantification of bacterial numbers and single-cell division/inactivation responses to food environments are highlighted as sources of technical and biological variability. Furthermore, the variability in sampling and single-cell division/inactivation responses emerges as variability in both number and time from the viewpoint of population dynamics. The aforementioned mathematical description of variability enables combining Poisson, binomial, and negative binomial distributions into traditional kinetic equations as its residual distribution. The primary focus is on the stochastic nature of variability, while it also includes discussions on incorporating parameter uncertainty into mathematical models. The traditional kinetic equation integrated with technical and biological variability and uncertainty enables a precise estimate of variation in population behavior, which would facilitate exposure assessment in quantitative microbial risk assessment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15903,"journal":{"name":"Journal of food protection","volume":"88 5","pages":"Article 100482"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143630606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Predictive Models of Consumer Flour-Handling Behaviors and Recall Awareness","authors":"Zachary Berglund ,&nbsp;Han Chen ,&nbsp;Samuel Biano Jacundino ,&nbsp;Robert Scharff ,&nbsp;Yaohua Feng","doi":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100480","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100480","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In recent years, many recalls have been linked to flour and flour-based products. However, many consumers remain unaware of these recalls and continue to perform risky flour-handling behaviors. Food recalls are an essential tool for manufacturers, distributors, and government agencies to inform consumers about foods that may cause health issues, which has the potential to change consumers’ food safety behaviors. In this study, researchers constructed model-ensembles to predict and identify the top predicting factors for consumers’ flour recall awareness and their safe flour-handling behaviors. Researchers also tested the impact of the volume of flour recalls within a consumer’s state of residence on their recall awareness and flour-handling behaviors. Findings indicate that consumers who perceive a higher likelihood of flour recall, aged between 18 and 24, and who pay attention to the lot number, are more likely to be aware of flour recalls. Consumers who perceive the risks of eating raw dough or batter, believe raw chicken poses a microbial risk, and are younger, are more likely to have an increased flour-handling behavior score. However, the volume of recalls in a consumer’s state of residence was found to have a low predictive ability for consumers’ flour recall awareness and safe flour-handling behaviors. This is the first study utilizing predictive modeling to investigate the critical factors affecting consumers’ flour recall awareness and handling behaviors. The findings emphasize the importance of risk perceptions in shaping consumers’ behaviors and provide implications for policymakers, food safety experts, and educators in tailoring communication strategies to enhance consumers’ risk perceptions and thereby reduce their likelihood of contracting foodborne illnesses due to improper flour-handling behaviors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15903,"journal":{"name":"Journal of food protection","volume":"88 5","pages":"Article 100480"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143624928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prevalence of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and Risk Characterization Based on Virulence Genes in Retail Raw Ground Meat of Beef, Veal, and Lamb in Canada","authors":"Helen Zhang ,&nbsp;Etsuko Yamamoto ,&nbsp;Austin Markell ,&nbsp;Catherine Carrillo ,&nbsp;Annie Locas","doi":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100483","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100483","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Shiga toxin-producing <em>Escherichia coli</em> (STEC) are potentially pathogenic <em>E. coli</em> that may cause mild to severe gastrointestinal illnesses. STEC-contaminated foods of animal origin have been the most frequently implicated sources of foodborne outbreaks. A multiyear (2016 to 2021) targeted survey was conducted to investigate the prevalence of STEC in retail ground meats (beef, veal, and lamb). Samples were screened for the presence of Shiga toxin genes (<em>stx</em>) to identify presumptive samples, followed by culture and molecular confirmation of isolates to confirm the presence of <em>stx</em> genes and subsequent characterization by whole-genome-sequencing (WGS) for O serogroup and virulence genes (e.g., <em>stx</em>, <em>eae, aggR</em>). A total of 175 STEC strains were isolated from a total of 148 samples where the presence of viable STEC was confirmed out of 2,398 ground meat samples. This represented 1.2% (7/589 positive, 8 unique strains) of the beef samples, 4.7% (58/1,241 positive, 67 unique strains) of the veal samples, and 14.6% (83/568 positive, 100 unique strains) of the lamb samples. The intimin virulence gene, <em>eae,</em> was identified in the STEC strains of veal origin (9/67, 13.4%) only and were classified as belonging to risk level 1 (1/67), level 3 (2/67), and level 4 (6/67) according to the FAO/WHO risk categories. Risk level 2 STEC strains were of beef (2/8, 25.0%), veal (8/67, 11.9%), and lamb (1/100, 1.0%) origin. The majority of the STEC strains, 75.0% (6/8) of the beef, 67.2% (45/67) of the veal, and 94.0% (94/100) of the lamb STEC strains were classified as risk level 5 (lowest level) of the FAO/WHO risk categories. This study’s findings indicate that the current food safety control measures implemented for ground meats in Canada are effective at maintaining an acceptable level of possible contamination with STEC strains associated with severe clinical outcomes. Continued application of effective control measures and safe food handling practices by consumers will minimize the potential risk of foodborne infections from raw ground meats.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15903,"journal":{"name":"Journal of food protection","volume":"88 5","pages":"Article 100483"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143624931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}