From field to plate: How do bacterial enteric pathogens interact with ready-to-eat fruit and vegetables, causing disease outbreaks?

Thomas, Gareth A., Paradell Gil, Teresa, Müller, Carsten T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0455-7132, Rogers, Hilary J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3830-5857 and Berger, Cedric N. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1316-5985 2024. From field to plate: How do bacterial enteric pathogens interact with ready-to-eat fruit and vegetables, causing disease outbreaks? Food Microbiology 117 , 104389. 10.1016/j.fm.2023.104389

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Abstract

Ready-to-eat fruit and vegetables are a convenient source of nutrients and fibre for consumers, and are generally safe to eat, but are vulnerable to contamination with human enteric bacterial pathogens. Over the last decade, Salmonella spp., pathogenic Escherichia coli, and Listeria monocytogenes have been linked to most of the bacterial outbreaks of foodborne illness associated with fresh produce. The origins of these outbreaks have been traced to multiple sources of contamination from pre-harvest (soil, seeds, irrigation water, domestic and wild animal faecal matter) or post-harvest operations (storage, preparation and packaging). These pathogens have developed multiple processes for successful attachment, survival and colonization conferring them the ability to adapt to multiple environments. However, these processes differ across bacterial strains from the same species, and across different plant species or cultivars. In a competitive environment, additional risk factors are the plant microbiome phyllosphere and the plant responses; both factors directly modulate the survival of the pathogens on the leaf's surface. Understanding the mechanisms involved in bacterial attachment to, colonization of, and proliferation, on fresh produce and the role of the plant in resisting bacterial contamination is therefore crucial to reducing future outbreaks.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0740-0020
Funders:	Wellcome Trust
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	25 September 2023
Date of Acceptance:	17 September 2023
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2023 16:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/162727

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