ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2012) ? In 2011, an conflict of Listeria monocytogenes in cantaloupe led to roughly 150 illnesses and 30 deaths. With a spate of new outbreaks of such foodborne pathogens as Salmonella , Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and L. monocytogenes , a ability to envision where and how these lethal microbes enter a food supply sequence could save lives and forestall disease.
Cornell researchers have combined a process that uses geospatial algorithms, foodborne micro-organism ecology and Geographic Information System (GIS) collection to envision prohibited spots where these pathogens might be benefaction and widespread on farms before to harvest. Many of a new outbreaks of foodborne pathogens have been related to decay on a farm.
The method, that can be practical to any farm, uses sequence tree collection with remotely sensed data, such as topography, dirt type, continue trends, vicinity to several sources (water, forests) and more, to envision areas where pathogens are expected to be present.
“We wanted to see if we could brand factors that gave us a aloft or revoke superiority of anticipating these pathogens,” pronounced Laura Strawn, a connoisseur tyro in a margin of food scholarship and lead author of a investigate published online Nov. 9 in a biography Applied and Environmental Microbiology. “We can demeanour during a plantation and use this information investigate apparatus to tell a rancher where these hotspots might be for foodborne pathogens,” she said.
“These collection are expected to yield a totally new science-based proceed for superintendence on how to revoke a odds of decay with these bacteria,” pronounced co-author Martin Wiedmann, a food scholarship highbrow and investigate co-author.
By meaningful where a prohibited spots are, farmers might afterwards exercise such surety practices as removal station water, adjusting where stock graze, or planting crops that should be consumed baked rather than raw, for example, Strawn added.
The researchers collected 588 samples soil, water, feces and drag swabs (gauze trustworthy to a fibre and dragged over a field) from 4 furnish fields on 5 farms each. Samples were collected 4 times a year, during any season, from 2009 to 2011. The superiority of L. monocytogenes , Salmonella and E. coli were 15.0, 4.6 and 2.7 percent respectively opposite all a samples. L. monocytogenes and Salmonella were rescued some-more frequently in H2O samples from irrigation sources or circuitously streams, while E. coli was found in equal distributions opposite all a representation types.
L. monocytogenes and Salmonella were found in aloft frequencies in areas with wet soils. For Salmonella , “if we had some-more flood before a representation was collected, we were some-more expected to find that pathogen,” pronounced Strawn. Also, well-drained fields had revoke Salmonella prevalence. Knowledge of such factors would assistance envision either an area of a plantation might be during aloft risk.
For Listeria , vicinity to water, pastures, stock and extending cattle, wildlife home and circuitously cool surfaces, roads and ditches all likely a aloft superiority of a pathogen.
Once such factors have been identified, a GIS height might be used to filter out specific areas formed on those factors (such as filtering areas that have wet soils and tighten vicinity to water) to emanate a color-coded map of any plantation area with likely superiority for a pathogen.
“This work advances a bargain of a environmental microbiology of foodborne pathogens and permits tailored solutions to envision decay of furnish line during cultivation,” pronounced Peter Bergholz, a investigate associate in food scholarship and a study’s analogous author.
The investigate was saved by a U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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The above story is reprinted from materials supposing by Cornell University. The strange essay was created by Krishna Ramanujan.
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Journal Reference:
- L. K. Strawn, E. D. Fortes, E. A. Bihn, K. K. Nightingale, Y. T. Grohn, R. W. Worobo, M. Wiedmann, P. W. Bergholz. Landscape and Meteorological Factors Affecting Prevalence of Three Foodborne Pathogens in Fruit and Vegetable Farms. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2012; DOI: 10.1128/AEM.02491-12
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Source: Health Medicine Network