MICROBES & THE

FOOD INDUSTRY:
FOOD SPOILAGE AND
POISONING
Leanna Kalicharan
Lecturer
Department of Biology
Faculty of Natural Sciences
 INTRODUCTION
Foodborne disease is an emerging area of concern
in microbiology.

Microbes are important factors in our food supply.

They are ubiquitous in our environment and are
found in air, water and even in food.
 INTRODUCTION
Fresh foods, most prepared food and some preserved
foods are contaminated with microorganisms.
However, microbial activity is highly desirable in
certain foods.
A variety of foods are produced or enhanced by
microbial action. For example, dairy products such as
cheese, buttermilk, sour cream, and yogurt.
 INTRODUCTION
Sauerkraut (cabbage and salt) is fermented vegetable
food.
Meat products including certain sausages, pates, and
liver spreads are produced using microbial
fermentation techniques.
Cider vinegar is produced by lactic acid bacteria, and
alcoholic beverages are produced by fermentation
processes using yeast.
 INTRODUCTION
For this topic, we will discuss the negative aspects of
microbial growth in food.
Uncontrolled and unwanted microbial growth
destroys vast quantities of food, causing economic
loss as well as loss of nutrients.
Consumption of food contaminated with particular
microbes or microbial products can also cause food
infections or food poisoning.
MICROBES & THE FOOD INDUSTRY

Food Preservation and Microbial Growth

 Microbial Growth and Food Spoilage
A diversity of microbes, including human pathogens,
colonize and grow on common foods.

In addition, most foods provide a suitable medium for

growth of some microorganism, and microbial growth
usually reduces food quality and availability.
 Food Spoilage
Food spoilage is defined as “any change in the
appearance, smell, or taste of a food product that
makes it unacceptable to the consumer” (Madigan &
Martinko, 2006).
Spoiled food is not necessarily unsafe to eat, but is
usually regarded as unpalatable and will not be
purchased or consumed.
 Food Spoilage
Food spoilage causes economic loss to producers,
distributors, and consumers in the form of reduced
quality and quantity as well as higher prices.

The physical and chemical characteristics of the

food determine its degree of susceptibility to
microbial activity.
 Food Spoilage
With respect to spoilage, foods can be classified into
three major categories:
1. Perishable food, this includes fresh food items such as
meats, fish, poultry, eggs, milk, most fruits and vegetables.
2. Semi-perishable food, such as potatoes, some apples and
nuts.
3. Stable or nonperishable food, such as flour, sugar, rice, and
dry beans.
 Food Spoilage
These food categories differ largely with regard to
moisture content, which is related to water activity.

Water activity is the availability of water for use in

metabolic processes.
Nonperishable foods have low water activity and can
generally be stored for considerable lengths of time
without spoilage.
 Food Spoilage
Perishable and semiperishable foods are those with
higher water activity.
These foods must be stored under conditions that
slow or stop microbial growth.
Fresh foods are spoiled by a variety of bacteria and
fungi, and each type of fresh food is typically
colonized by particular microorganisms.
Microbial Spoilage of fresh food
Food product Type of microbes Common spoilage organisms, by genus

Bacteria Erwinia, Pseudomonas, Corynebacterium ( mainly

pathogens of vegetables; rarely spoil fruit)
Fruits and
vegetables Fungi Aspergillus, Botrytis, Geotrichum, Rhizopus,
Penicillium, Cladosporium, Alternaria, Phytophthora,
various yeasts.
Bacteria Acinetobacter, Aeromonas, Pseudomonas, Micrococcus,
Achromobacter, Flavobacterium, Proteus, Salmonella,
Fresh meat, Escherichia, Campylobacter, Listeria
poultry, and
seafood Fungi Cladosporium, Mucor, Rhizopus, Penicillium,
Geotrichum, Sporotrichium, Candida, Torula,
Rhodotorula
Microbial Spoilage of fresh food
Food product Type of microbes Common spoilage organisms, by genus

Bacteria Streptococcus, Leuconostoc, Lactococcus, Lactobacillus,

Milk Pseudomonas, Proteus

Bacteria Clostridium, Bacillus, Flavobacterium

High-sugar foods

Fungi Saccharomyces, Torula, Penicillium

 Food Spoilage
Furthermore, because the chemical properties of foods
vary widely, different foods are colonized by spoilage
organisms that are best able to use the available
nutrients.
For instance, bacteria such as Salmonella, Shigella, and
Escherichia, all potential pathogens that live in the gut
of animals, are rarely implicated in fruit or vegetable
spoilage, but often contaminate and spoil meat.
 Food Spoilage
At slaughter, intestinal contents, including live
bacteria, can leak and contaminate meat.
Likewise, lactic acid bacteria, the most common
microbe in dairy products, are the major spoilers of
milk and milk products.
Pseudomonas species are found in both soil and animals
and are thus widely involved in the spoilage of fresh
foods.
 Food Spoilage
Microbial growth in foods follows the normal pattern for bacterial
growth.

The lag phase may be of variable duration in a food, depending on

the contaminating organism and its previous growth history.

The time needed for the population density to reach a significant

level in a given food product depends on both the size of the initial
inoculum and the rate of growth during the exponential phase.
 Food Spoilage
The rate of growth during the exponential phase depends on the
temperature, the nutrient value of the food, and other conditions of
growth.
Only when the microbial population density reaches a substantial
level are spoilage effects usually observed.
Throughout much of the exponential growth phase, population
densities may be so low that no effect can be observed, and only the
last few doublings lead to observable spoilage. Thus, for much of the
period of microbial growth in a food, there is no visible or easily
detectable change in food quality.
 Concept check
✓Food often spoil due to growth of contaminating
microorganisms.
✓Food vary considerably in their sensitivity to microbial
growth, depending on their nutrient value and water
content.
✓Perishable and semi-perishable foods have limited shelf
life due to spoilage.
✓A variety of microbes induce spoilage, and some food
spoilage microorganisms are also potential pathogens.
 Concept check
▪List the major categories of food with respect to
water availability. Suggest storage conditions for
each food type.

▪Identify at least three bacterial genera that cause

both food spoilage and human disease.
MICROBES & THE FOOD INDUSTRY

FOOD POISONING
 INTRODUCTION
Failure to adequately decontaminate and preserve
food may allow the growth of pathogens, resulting
in diseases with significant morbidity and mortality.

Foodborne illnesses are usually common-source

diseases. For instance, a single contaminated food
source at a food-processing plant or a restaurant,
may affect a large number of individuals.
MICROBES & THE FOOD INDUSTRY

FOODBORNE DISEASES
 FOODBORNE DISEASES
FOOD POISONING FOOD INFECTION
 Food poisoning or food intoxication is ▪ Food infection is an infection resulting from
disease that results from ingestion of foods ingestion or pathogen-contaminated food.
containing preformed microbial toxin.
 The microbes that produce the toxins do not
have to grow in the host and are often not
alive at the time the contaminated food is
consumed.
 The illness is due to ingestion and subsequent
action of the preformed bioactive toxin.
 Staphylococcal Food Poisoning
The very common food poisoning is caused by
Staphylococcus aureus.
This is a small, gram-positive cocci.
Staphylococci are found on the skin and in the
respiratory tract of nearly all humans and are
often opportunistic pathogens.
 Staphylococcal Food Poisoning
Staphylococcus aureus is frequently associated with food
poisoning because it can grow in many common foods
and some strains produce several heat-stable protein
super-antigen enterotoxins.

If food that contains toxin is ingested, gastroenteritis

characterized by nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea,
occurs within 1-6 hours.
 Staphylococcal Food Poisoning
The foods most commonly involved are custard and cream-
filled baked goods, poultry, meat and meat products, gravies,
egg and meat salads, puddings, and creamy salad dressings.

If such food are kept refrigerated after preparation, they

usually remain safe because S. aureus growth is significantly
reduced at low temperatures.
 Staphylococcal Food Poisoning
However, foods of this type are often kept at room
temperatures.
If the food is inoculated with S. aureus from an infected food
handler it will support rapid bacterial growth and
enterotoxin production. Even if the toxin-containing foods
are reheated again before eating, the toxin is relatively heat-
stable and may remain active.
Live S. aureus need not to be present in foods causing illness.
The illness is solely due to the preformed toxin.
 Staphylococcal Food Poisoning
S. aureus strains produce at least seven different but related
enterotoxins.
Most strains of S. aureus produce only one or two of these toxins,
and some produce none.
However, any one of these toxins can cause staphylococcal food
poisoning.
Staphylococcal food poisoning can be prevented by careful
sanitation and hygiene measures both in food production and food
preparation steps and by storing foods at low temperatures to
inhibit bacterial growth.
 Clostridial Food Poisoning
Both Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium botulinum cause
serious food poisoning.
Members of the Clostridium genus are anaerobic endospore
formers.
Canning and cooking procedures kill living organisms but
do not kill endospores.
Under appropriate anaerobic conditions, the endospores
germinate and toxin is produced.
 Clostridium perfringens Food Poisoning
Clostridium perfringens is an anaerobic, gram-positive spore-
forming rod commonly found in soil.
It also lives in small numbers in the intestinal tract of many
animals and humans and is therefore, found in sewage.
The disease results from the ingestion of a large dose of
Clostridium perfringens in contaminated cooked and uncooked
foods such as meat, poultry, and fish.
 Clostridium perfringens Food Poisoning
Endospores of C. perfringens germinate under anoxic
conditions, such as in a sealed container, and grow quickly
in the meat. However, the toxin is not yet present.
After consumption of the contaminated food, the living C.
perfringens begins to sporulate in the intestine, triggering
production of the perfringens enterotoxin.
The enterotoxin alters the permeability of the intestinal
epithelium, leading to diarrhea and intestinal cramps,
usually with no fever or vomiting.
 Clostridium perfringens Food Poisoning
The onset of perfringens food poisoning begins about 7-15 hours
after consumption of the contaminated food, but usually resolves
within 24 hours.
Fatalities are rare.
Prevention of perfringens food poisoning requires measures to
prevent contamination of raw and cooked foods and control of
cooking and canning procedures to ensure proper heat treatment
of all foods.
Cooked foods should be refrigerated as soon as possible to rapidly
lower temperatures and inhibit C. perfringens growth.
 BOTULISM
Botulism is a severe food poisoning.
It is often fatal and occurs following the consumption of
food containing the exotoxin produced by the anaerobic,
gram-positive rod Clostridium botulinum.
This bacterium normally inhabits soil or water, but its
endospores may contaminate raw foods before harvest or
slaughter.
 BOTULISM
If the foods are properly processed so that the C. botulinum
endospores are removed or killed, no problem arises.
However, if viable endospores are present, they may initiate
growth and toxin production.
Even a small amount of the resultant neurotoxin can be
poisonous.
Botulinum toxin is a neurotoxin that causes flaccid
paralysis, usually affecting the autonomic nerves that
control body functions such as respiration and heartbeat.
 BOTULISM
There are at least seven distinct types of botulinum toxin.
These toxins are destroyed by high temperatures (80ºC for
10 minutes). Foods even if contaminated with toxin and
when thoroughly cooked, may be harmless.
Most cases of botulism occur as a result of eating foods
that are not cooked after processing.
For instance, nonacid, home canned vegetables, e.g., corn
and beans, are often used without cooking when making
cold salads.
 BOTULISM
Smoked and fresh fish, vacuum packed in plastic, are also
often eaten without cooking.
Under such conditions, C. botulinum endospores germinate,
and the resulting cells produce toxin.
If these foods are consumed, then ingestion of even a small
amount will result in this severe and highly dangerous type
of food poisoning.
 BOTULISM
Infant botulism occurs when endospores of C. botulinum are
ingested, sometimes from raw honey, but more often from
no identifiable source.
Prevention requires maintaining careful controls over
canning and preservation methods.
Home-prepared foods are the most common source of
individual foodborne botulism outbreaks.
Heating susceptible foods to destroy endospores, or boiling
for 20 minutes destroys toxin.
 FOOD INFECTION

Food infection is active infection resulting from ingestion

of pathogen-contaminated food.
Food may contain sufficient numbers of viable pathogens to
cause infection and disease in the host.
Food infection is a very common type of foodborne illness.
 FOOD INFECTION: Salmonellosis
Salmonellosis is sometimes called food poisoning.
It is a gastrointestinal disease due to foodborne Salmonella
infection.
Salmonella are gram-negative facultatively aerobic rods
related to E. coli, Shigella, and other enteric bacteria.
Salmonella normally inhabit the gut of animals and thus, are
found in sewage.
 FOOD INFECTION: Salmonellosis
Virtually all Salmonella are pathogenic for humans. In all,
over 2000 serovars, or individual variants, of various
Salmonella species are known to be pathogenic for humans.
For example, S. typhi, causes typhoid fever.
A number of Salmonella species cause foodborne
gastroenteritis.
S. typhimurium is the most common agent of salmonellosis.
 FOOD INFECTION: Salmonellosis
The ultimate sources of the foodborne salmonella are the
intestinal tracts of humans and warm-blooded animals, and
several mechanism may introduce these organisms into the
food supply.
The organism may reach food by fecal contamination from
food handlers.
Food production such as chickens and cattle may also harbor
Salmonella strains that are pathogenic to humans and may
pass the bacteria to fresh foods such as eggs, meat, and dairy
products.
 FOOD INFECTION: Salmonellosis
Ingestion of food containing viable Salmonella results in
colonization of the small and large intestine.
Onset of the disease occurs 8-48 hours after ingestion.
Symptoms include the sudden onset of headache, chills,
vomiting, and diarrhea, followed by a fever that lasts a few
days.
The disease normally resolves without intervention in 2 to 3
days. However, even after recovery, patients shed Salmonella in
feces for several weeks.
 FOOD INFECTION: Salmonellosis
Some patients recover and remain asymptomatic, but shed
organisms for months or even years, resulting in chronic
carrier condition.
Cooked or canned foods that become contaminated by an
infected food handler can support the growth of Salmonella if
the foods are held for long periods of time without heating or
refrigeration.
Cooked foods heated to 70ºC for at least 10 minutes are
considered safe if consumed immediately, or if held at 50ºC or
stored at 10ºC or lower.
 FOOD INFECTION: Escherichia coli
Most strains of Escherichia coli are not pathogenic and are
common commensals found in the intestine of humans.
However, a few strains are potential foodborne pathogens.
All pathogenic strains act on the intestine and several are
characterized by their ability to produce potent enterotoxins.
The short, gram-negative rods are classified as enteric
Bacteria.
 FOOD INFECTION: Escherichia coli
There are about 200 known pathogenic E. coli that can cause life-
threatening diarrheal disease and urinary tract infections.
The pathogenic strains are divided into several categories based
primarily on the toxins they produce and the diseases they cause.
Treatment of all pathogenic E. coli infections involves supportive
therapy and, in severe cases, antimicrobial drugs to shorten and
eliminate infection.
In general, proper food handling, water purification, and appropriate
hygiene habits will prevent the spread of pathogenic E. coli.
 FOOD INFECTION: Campylobacter
Campylobacter species are gram-negative, motile, curved rod-
to-spirillar-shaped organisms that grow at reduced oxygen
tension as microaerophiles.
Several pathogenic species are recognized: Campylobacter jejuni,
Campylobacter coli, and Campylobacter fetus.
C. jejuni and C. coli account for most cases of bacterial
diarrhea, while C. fetus is economically important because it is
a major cause of sterility and spontaneous abortion in cattle
and sheep.
 FOOD INFECTION: Campylobacter
Campylobacter is transmitted to humans via contaminated food, such as
poultry, pork, raw clams, and other shellfish, or in surface water not
subjected to chlorination.
C. jejuni is a normal resident in the intestinal tract of poultry, and
almost all chickens and turkeys normally have this organism.
Campylobacter species also infect domestic animals such as dogs,
causing a milder form of diarrhea than that observed in humans.
Infant cases of Campylobacter infection are frequently traced to
infected domestic animals, especially dogs.
 FOOD INFECTION: Campylobacter
After ingesting cells of Campylobacter, the organism multiplies in the small
intestine, invades the epithelium, and causes inflammation, resulting in
disease.
The symptoms of Campylobacter infection include a high fever, headache,
malaise, nausea, abdominal cramps, and profuse diarrhea with watery,
frequently bloody, stools.
The disease subsides in about 7-10 days.
Spontaneous recovery from Campylobacter infections is often complete, but
relapses occurs.
Personal hygiene, proper washing of uncooked poultry and
thorough cooking of meat eliminate the possibility of Campylobacter
infection.
 FOOD INFECTION: Listeriosis
Listeria monocytogenes causes listeriosis, a gastrointestinal
food infection that may lead to bacteremia and meningitis.
It is a short, gram-positive, nonspore-forming rod that is acid
tolerant, cold tolerant (psychrotolerant), facultative aerobic,
and salt-tolerant.
Listeria monocytogenes is widely found in soil and water, and
virtually no fresh food source is safe from possible
contamination.
 FOOD INFECTION: Listeriosis
Common sources of listeriosis outbreaks are ready-to-eat
processed foods such as meat products and unpasteurized
dairy products that are stored for long periods, even at
refrigerator temperature (4ºC).
L. monocytogenes is an intracellular pathogen. It enters the
body through the gastrointestinal tract after ingestion of
contaminated food.
Prevention measures include recalling contaminated food and
taking steps to limit L. monocytogenes contamination at food-
processing sites.
 Other Foodborne Infectious Diseases
A number of other microbes and other infectious agents:
Bacteria
Viruses, and
Parasites, contribute to foodborne diseases.
Bacteria: Yersinia enterocolitica is commonly found in the
intestines of domestic animals and causes foodborne
infections due to contaminated means and diary
products.
 Other Foodborne Infectious Diseases
Yersinia enterocolitica causes enteric fever, a severe life-threatening
infection.
Bacillus cereus produced two enterotoxins that cause diarrhea and
vomiting. B. cereus grows in high-carbohydrate foods such as rice.
Endospores of this gram-positive rod germinate and, as the
organism grows in food that is left at room temperature, pathogenic
amount of toxin are produced.
Shigella spp. also cause severe foodborne invasive gastroenteritis
called shigellosis.
Several members of the Vibrio genus cause food poisoning after
consumption of contaminated shellfish.
 Other Foodborne Infectious Diseases
Viruses: The largest number of annual foodborne infections
are thought to be caused by viruses. In general, viral
foodborne illness consists of gastroenteritis characterized by
diarrhea, often accompanied by nausea and vomiting.
Rotavirus, astrovirus and hepatitis A collectively cause
foodborne disease. These viruses inhabit the gut and are often
transmitted to food or water with fecal matter.
Proper food handling, handwashing, and a source of clean
water to prepare fresh foods are essential to prevent infection.
 Other Foodborne Infectious Diseases
Protozoa: Protozoan parasites including Giardia lamblia,
Cryptosporidium parvum, and Cyclospora cayetanensis can be
spread via food, presumably contaminated by fecal matter in
untreated water to wash, irrigate, or spray crops. Fresh foods
such as fruits are often implicated as source of these
protozoans.
Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan spread through cat feces, but
also found in raw or uncooked meat. It mostly causes a mild,
self-limiting gastroenteritis.