produce
Food MicrobiologyBoth Handwashing and an Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizer Intervention Reduce Soil and Microbial Contamination on Farmworker Hands during Harvest, but Produce Type MattersThis study demonstrated that the type of produce commodity handled influences the ability of handwashing with soap and water or a two-step alcohol-based hand sanitizer (ABHS) intervention to reduce soil and bacterial hand contamination. Handwashing with soap and water, as recommended by the FDA’s Produce Safety Rule, when tested in three agricultural environments, does not always reduce bacterial loads. Consistent with past results, we...
Public and Environmental Health MicrobiologyCarriage and Subtypes of Foodborne Pathogens Identified in Wild Birds Residing near Agricultural Lands in California: a Repeated Cross-Sectional StudyThe shedding dynamics of foodborne pathogens by wild birds on farmland are not well characterized. This yearlong study sampled wild birds for foodborne pathogens within agricultural lands in northern California. There was a low prevalence of Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli O157:H7, and non-O157 Shiga-toxin producing...
Food Microbiology | SpotlightFormation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Persister Cells in the Lettuce Phyllosphere and Application of Differential Equation Models To Predict Their Prevalence on Lettuce Plants in the FieldDespite causing outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to lettuce consumption, E. coli O157:H7 (EcO157) declines rapidly when applied onto plants in the field, and few cells survive over prolonged periods of time. We hypothesized that these cells are persisters, which are in a dormant state and which arise naturally in bacterial populations. When lettuce plants were...
- Public and Environmental Health MicrobiologyConditional Function of Autoaggregative Protein Cah and Common cah Mutations in Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli