1	Possible Future Microbial Threats to the Meat and Poultry Industries American Meat Industry Foundation Technical Meeting October 16, 2001 Chicago, Illinois
2	Microbiological Risks Food safety Food spoilage Out of specification results
3	Microbiological Risks - Food Safety Illness / death Recalls-public exposure & lost market share Lawsuits -stricken individuals / class action Lawsuits-shorted customers
4	Microbiological Risks - Food Safety (continued)
5	Current Microbiological FSIS Concerns with Meats and Poultry Escherichia coli O157:H7 Listeria monocytogenes Salmonella Staphylococcal Enterotoxin Concern: Moderate to severe illness or death, especially among high-risk individuals
6	Post Processing (RTE) VS Pre-Processing Issues Post processing (e.g. environmental) Listeria, salmonella, production of SET from growth of staphylococci Pre-processing: E. Coli O157:H7
7	Potential Pre-Processing Microbial Concerns STEC strains other than O157:H7 Salmonella typhimurium DT104 Mycobacterium paratuberculosis
8	STECs-Other Shiga Toxin Producing Strains of E. coli EHEC a subset of STEC
9	Enterohemorrhagic E. coli: Origin of the Name Originally strains that: Cause hemorrhagic colitis Express Shiga Toxins (Vero toxins) Cause A/E lesions on epithelial cells Possess a 60 mDa plasmid
10	STECs vs. EHECs All EHECs are STECs All EHECs are human pathogens Not all STECs are human pathogens E. coli O157:H7 not the only EHEC Currently O157:H7 only EHEC of regulatory concern (this could change)
11	Incidence of STEC in Ground Beef by Country
12	Other Non-O157:H7 EHEC OBs by Strain and Location
13	EHEC (Non-O157:H7) OB’s by Strain and Location
14	STEC Incidence in Selected Samples (Seattle, WA) Veal 63 % ( 8 samples) Lamb 48 % ( 21 samples) Pork 18 % Chicken 12 % Samadpour et al. (1994) referenced by Meng and Doyle. 1998. Bull. Inst. Pasteur 96:151-164.
15	STEC Incidence in Selected Samples (Seattle, WA) (Cont.) Turkey 10 % Fish 10 % Shellfish 5 % Samadpour et al. (1994) referenced by Meng and Doyle. 1998. Bull. Inst. Pasteur 96:151-164.
16	Other Concerns-Irradiation Natural microflora- hide, hair and intestinal tracts Salmonella -much more resistant than E. coli O157:H7) Salmonella DT104 Selection for spores -temperature control (psychrotrophic B. cereus)
17	Salmonella typhimurium DT104 Antibiotic Resistance Spectrum (ACSSuT) Ampicillin Chloramphenicol Streptomycin Sulfonamides Tetracyclines
18	Salmonella typhimurium DT104 Reduced therapeutic options Increase severity (36 % of 105 patients-hospitalized one study-Gomey, 1997) Mortality (10 deaths of 34 hospitalized patients infected with DT104) -Wall, 1994
19	Incidence of Salmonella ACSSuT in Clinical Isolates 1990 7 % 1995 28% (976 isolates tested) 1996 32% (282 isolates tested) CDC studies reported by Meng and Doyle, 1998.
20	Salmonella DT104 Antibiotic resistance growing ? DT104 isolates found w/ resistance to Ciprofloxicin and Trimethoprim Ciprofloxicin Drug of choice for treating invasive Salmonellosis Meng and Doyle, 1998
21	Salmonella DT104 Foodborne transmission well documented UK: 78% of 46 OB’s foodborne (1992-98) 15% contact with infected animals Suspected foods: roast beef, ham, pork sausage, salami sticks, “cooked meats”, chicken, milk
22	Incidence of Salmonella DT104 in Meats Comprehensive studies lacking
23	Salmonella Induced Diseases Acute (gastrointestinal) Chronic complications - reactive arthritis - Reiter’s syndrome - ankylosing spondylitis
24	Mycobacterium paratuberculosis Johne’s Disease in Cattle Theorized cause of Crohn’s Disease in humans
25	Johne’s Disease Chronic debilitating disease of cattle (dairy) 1894-disease first reported 1910- Koch’s postulates fulfilled World-wide problem USA-1.5 billion dollar
26	Other Animal Infected Sheep Goats Other ruminants
27	Crohn’s Disease MAP isolated from intestinal tissue of Crohn’s disease patients-a role? (Harris and Barletta, 2001)
28	Mycobacterium paratuberculosis: Some characteristics Low numbers in raw milk Heat resistance/Pasteurization UK reported in pasteurized milk Septicemic animals/smoke house treatments Recovery methods poor and extremely time consuming
29	Potential Post Processing Microbial Concerns
30	Environmental contamination increases the risk of post-process contamination if the product is not biocidally treated in the end-use container
31	Microbial Growth Requirements
32	Characteristics of Organisms of Concern Mesophilic and/or psychrotrophic Widespread in environment, raw materials Able to grow in the environment Able to grow in meat and/or poultry Potentially able to cause human illness
33	Environmental Contaminants of Concern Arcobacter (butzleri, cryaerophilus) Aeromonas hydrophila
34	Arcobacter Formerly Campylobacter spp. Can grow at 15C (campy >30C) 4 species associated with human or animal disease (A. butzleri)
35	Arcobacter (continued) Isolation: healthy dairy cattle and pigs, aborted livestock fetuses, and primates and humans with diarrhea
36	Arcobacter isolations (Continued) Water Foods of animal origin - poultry carcasses - minced beef - ground pork
37	Evidence of Pathogenicity Aborted pig litters infertile sows with vaginal discharge A. butzleri cultured from people with enteritis (otherwise healthy) A. butzleri cultured form people with diarrhea with chronic underlying disease
38	Arcobacter Limited information about: Clinical signs Pathogenicity Epidemiology
39	Arcobacter (continued) Most laboratory methods developed for thermophilic Campylobacters Food and human Incidence may be underestimated
40	Arcobacter 89 % of 149 ground pork - slaughter factory, IA) 5 % of 120 ground pork- 4 factories, IA 81 % of 201 poultry - France 97 % 121 poultry carcasses - Canada 80% of 100 turkey - factory, IA) 24 % of 224 retail poultry - Netherlands I. Wesley. 1997.
41	Aeromonas hydrophila Family Vibrionaceae Name means “water loving, gas producing” bacterium Facultative, gram negative rod, motile, catalase positive, oxidase positive
42	Aeromonas hydrophila: Characteristics (continued) Ubiquitous Water - chlorinated and non-chlorinated Salt and fresh water Many fresh and processed foods including meats
43	Aeromonas hyrdrophila Psychrotrophic May be resistant to freezing Readily killed by heat, irradiation pH sensitive (5.5)
44	Aeromonas hydrophila:Evidence of Pathogenicity Causative agent of diarrhea-inconclusive Enterotoxins (heat stable and labile cytotonic also cytotoxic) Some related to Cholera Toxin ß-hemolysin
45	Aeromonas hydrophila: Evidence of Pathogenicity Invasiveness in mammalian cells Resistance to serum bactericidal effects Siderophore production Able to utilize iron from heme Production of proteases
46	Seek to Understand and Control the Microbial Ecology of the Factory
47	No Control Over Environmental Microbial Growth
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51	Useful Indicators Aerobic plate count Psychrotrophic plate count Enterobacteriaceae Coliform Yeast and mold
52	Advantages of Using Indicators Can identify microbial growth niches Are cost-effective Can be performed on site Can use data to develop statistical process control (SPC) charts Able to identify trends in daily production runs and areas