Detection and characterization of Bifidobacterium crudilactis and B. mongoliense able to grow during the manufacturing process of French raw milk cheeses.

BACKGROUND: The study of a production chain of raw milk cheeses (St Marcellin, Vercors area, France) led to the isolation of two Bifidobacterium populations: B. crudilactis and B. mongoliense, that were able to grow along the production chain. The aims of this study were to further detect and characterize these bacteria along the process and evaluate the ability of some strains to survive or grow in adverse conditions. RESULTS: Using PCR coupled with restriction fragment length polymorphism, B. crudilactis and B. mongoliense were detected in respectively 77% and 30% of St Marcellin cheeses from production chain after 21 days of ripening. They were present in more than half of all analyzed retail cheeses with counts going from 1.6 to 5 log cfu g-1 for B. crudilactis and 1.4 to 7 log cfu g-1 for B. mongoliense. Bifidobacterium mongoliense was sensitive to pH 2, with an observed decrease of at least 3 log for both studied strains (FR49/f/2 and FR41/2) after 1 h incubation. At pH 3, no significant decrease was observed. Good survival was observed for the same strains in presence of pancreatic juice with a decrease of less than one log. Survival of strain FR49/f/2 was better than FR41/2 with a decrease of 3 logarithms (in presence of 1% bile salts) and almost 2 logarithms (in presence of 0.5% bile salts). The genotypic analyses using total DNA-DNA hybridization, GC% content, 16S rRNA gene sequencing and multilocus sequencing analysis (MLSA) confirmed the classification of Bifidobacterium. crudilactis and B. mongoliense into two different clusters well separated from other bifidobacteria clusters. CONCLUSIONS: According to the observed characteristics such as survival in adverse conditions and their ability to grow under 12 °C during the manufacturing process of the cheeses, which has never been described for bifidobacteria and which is a very interesting technological asset, these B. crudilactis and B. mongoliense strains should be further investigated for a potential use in new food or in food supplements.

Antimicrobial resistance in the food chain: a review.

Antimicrobial resistant zoonotic pathogens present on food constitute a direct risk to public health. Antimicrobial resistance genes in commensal or pathogenic strains form an indirect risk to public health, as they increase the gene pool from which pathogenic bacteria can pick up resistance traits. Food can be contaminated with antimicrobial resistant bacteria and/or antimicrobial resistance genes in several ways. A first way is the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria on food selected by the use of antibiotics during agricultural production. A second route is the possible presence of resistance genes in bacteria that are intentionally added during the processing of food (starter cultures, probiotics, bioconserving microorganisms and bacteriophages). A last way is through cross-contamination with antimicrobial resistant bacteria during food processing. Raw food products can be consumed without having undergone prior processing or preservation and therefore hold a substantial risk for transfer of antimicrobial resistance to humans, as the eventually present resistant bacteria are not killed. As a consequence, transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes between bacteria after ingestion by humans may occur. Under minimal processing or preservation treatment conditions, sublethally damaged or stressed cells can be maintained in the food, inducing antimicrobial resistance build-up and enhancing the risk of resistance transfer. Food processes that kill bacteria in food products, decrease the risk of transmission of antimicrobial resistance.

Validation of a method for simultaneous isolation of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O26, O103, O111, and O145 from minced beef by an international ring-trial.

An isolation method described by Possé et al. (FEMS Microbiol Lett 2008;282:124-131) was satisfactorily validated in an international ring-trial using artificially contaminated minced beef samples. Until now, no validated method existed for the simultaneous isolation of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli serogroups O26, O103, O111, and O145 in food. Twelve laboratories from five European countries participated and received 16 inoculated beef samples contaminated with cold-stressed cells of the four serogroups O26, O103, O111, and O145 in two levels (approximately 30 and 300 CFU 25 g⁻¹) in duplicate. In addition, they received four non-inoculated samples. The isolation protocol comprised a selective enrichment step, a selective isolation step on a non-O157 agar plate differentiating the serogroups by color, followed by confirmation by plating on confirmation agar media and agglutination. All laboratories were able to isolate the inoculated serogroups from the samples, both for the high and the low inoculation level. Results did not differ whether in-house-prepared or ready-to-use non-O157 agar plates were used, demonstrating that by following the instructions laboratories managed to perform the complete protocol with success.