Food Microbiology

Biography

Biography: Siobhan Sue Reilly

Abstract

Almost all animal and food manufacturing establishments have a growing population of bad bacteria resistant to antibiotics and powerful sanitizers. Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Clostridium spp., STEC E. coli, Campylobacter spp., and Staphylococcus spp., have entered our food supply, challenged our medical professionals and resulted in extreme cases of disease. The overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture has resulted in emergence of pathogenic microorganisms now dangerously resistant to many, if not all, available antibiotics. Some governmental agencies that regulate antibiotics use have begun to make changes in the use of sub-therapeutic antibiotics. These changes have altered the animal’s microbiota and subsequent environmental flora thus enhancing the pathogenic bacteria’s ability to flourish. These pathogens are making their way through the food supply to us. The use of sanitizers influences the environmental microbial population even more by increasing the pathogens resistance to these previously lethal chemicals. We propose a solution for animal and food production that may alleviate some of these problems i.e., replace the current existing environmental microflora with known groups of microorganisms that are considered safe for food use and are antagonistic to specific pathogens. This paper presents a focused application of specially formulated probiotic products for use in animal and food processing and validates their efficacy against Salmonella spp., Clostridium spp., and Listeria monocytogenes.