Quantitative assessment of the impacts of cross-contamination during vegetable washing on the microbial risk of infection by Salmonella in ready-to-eat vegetables

• Grant number: 14/17017-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: November 01, 2014
• End date: October 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Science
• Principal Investigator: Bernadette Dora Gombossy de Melo Franco
• Grantee: Daniele Fernanda Maffei
• Supervisor: Donald W. Schaffner
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 12/03471-1 - Minimal processing of vegetables: influence of washing-disinfection conditions on Salmonella inactivation, on the occurrence and extent of cross-contamination and impacts on microbiological safety of ready-to-eat vegetables, BP.DR

Abstract

The consumption of ready-to-eat (RTE) vegetables has grown yearly in Brazil and other countries over the last two decades, due to their convenience, freshness and nutritional quality. However, surveillance data in several countries have also shown an increased association of these products in foodborne disease outbreaks caused by a variety of pathogenic microorganisms. During RTE vegetables processing, washing-disinfection is the only step aiming to ensure inactivation of any contaminating pathogens, but also is the step in which may occur the transfer of microorganism from a contaminated product to uncontaminated products, that is, cross-contamination, mainly if the water parameters are not properly controlled. This project aims to update the quantitative microbial risk assessment model built by Danyluk and Schaffner (2011) for leafy greens in order to determine and quantify the risks of infection by Salmonella due the consumption of RTE vegetables. The update will be achieved using data derived from the pilot scale experiments simulating cross-contamination during washing-disinfection of RTE vegetables developed by the PhD candidate in the first part of her research project in the Food Microbiology laboratory, at University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MAFFEI, D. F.; SANT'ANA, A. S.; MONTEIRO, G.; SCHAFFNER, D. W.; FRANCO, B. D. G. M.. Assessing the effect of sodium dichloroisocyanurate concentration on transfer of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium in wash water for production of minimally processed iceberg lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). Letters in Applied Microbiology, v. 62, n. 6, p. 444-451, JUN 2016. (14/17017-6, 12/03471-1, 13/07914-8)

MAFFEI, DANIELE F.; SANT'ANA, ANDERSON S.; FRANCO, BERNADETTE D. G. M.; SCHAFFNER, DONALD W.. Quantitative assessment of the impact of cross-contamination during the washing step of ready-to-eat leafy greens on the risk of illness caused by Salmonella. Food Research International, v. 92, p. 106-112, FEB 2017. (14/17017-6, 12/03471-1, 13/07914-8)