Articles - Pathogens

The EU 2019 One Health Zoonoses report is a hefty document that summarizes relevant and (sometimes) comparable data on zoonoses and foodborne outbreaks. Here is the CliffsNotes version.     Introduction Infectious diseases originating from animal reservoirs (zoonoses) are a constant threat to public health, with effects on humans that can [...]

With Campylobacter infections on the rise and treatment options disappearing because of growing antimicrobial resistance, how should the food industry respond?     Why Campylobacter?   Campylobacter is one of the major foodborne pathogens of concern. C. jejuni and C. coli are the major causative agents, with C. jejuni accounting for [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic will lead to a fundamental change on how we view the health of food industry workers. It will impact every aspect of the plant layout, the physical distancing, the methods for disinfection.   Background   No single global event in recent history has had such a profound impact on food industry workers as the spread of [...]

Testing food manufacturing surfaces for SARS-CoV-2 has been widely promoted during the pandemic but is this approach effective for decreasing virus transmission of the virus?     Introduction COVID-19 is not considered a foodborne illness and surface contamination is not likely a significant source of contamination. Yet, food industry pla [...]

The second quarter of 2020 saw a drop in RASFF notifications, a plausible consequence of the pandemic measures, but has the anticipated increase in food fraud actually occurred?     It is hard to think of another event that has had such far-reaching effects in such a short period of time as the COVID-19 pandemic. We have been witness to s [...]

Despite tightened sanitary controls, sausage and processed meat containing African swine fever virus (ASF) are still found in Russia and some of its neighboring countries. On August 18, a routine inspection by the Russian veterinary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor revealed the presence of the ASF genome in sausage products manufactured by a meat process [...]

The European food production industry has been shaken over the past two years by multiple reports of foodborne outbreaks. Food safety authorities also report a trend in the growing number of outbreak-related recalls. Is something going wrong?     Introduction The summer of 2019 saw numerous foodborne outbreaks linked to Listeria and Salmo [...]