FOOD BORNE DISEASES

INTRODUCTION

❑ Food borne diseases can be defined as the illness due to

the ingestion of spoiled or poisonous food, contaminated by
microorganisms or toxicants, which may occur at any stage
during food processing from production to consumption.

❑ Contamination may also occur from the environment like

using chemicals or polluted water and soil for cultivation or from
air.

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SOURCES OF FOOD CONTAMINATION

❑ Air

• Air does not contain a natural flora of microorganisms, for all that are present
have come there by accident and usually are on suspended solid materials or
in moisture droplets.

• Microorganisms get into air on dust or lint; dry soil; spray from streams, lakes,
or oceans; droplets of moisture from coughing, sneezing, or talking; and
growths of sporulating molds on walls, ceilings, floors, foods, and ingredients.

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• Thus the air around a plant manufacturing yeast usually is high in yeasts, and the air of a
dairy plant may contain bacteriophages or at least the starter bacteria being used there.

• Spoilage organisms may come from air, as may those interfering with food fermentations.

• Mold spores from air may give trouble in cheese, meat, sweetened condensed milk, and
sliced bread and bacon.

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❑ Water
• Natural waters contain not only their natural flora but also microorganisms from soil
and possibly from animals or sewage.

• Surface waters in streams or pools and stored waters in lakes and large ponds vary
considerably in their microbial content.

• Ground waters from springs or wells have passed through layers of rock and soil to a
definite level; hence most of the bacteria, as well as the greater part of other suspended
material, have been removed.

• Bacterial numbers in these waters may range from a few to several hundred bacteria per
milliliter.

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• The kinds of bacteria in natural waters are chiefly species of Pseudomonas,
Chromobacterium, Proteus, Micrococcus, Bacillus, Streptococcus (enterococci),
Enterobacter, and Escherichia.

• These bacteria in the water surrounding fish and other sea life establish themselves on the
surface and in the intestinal tracts of the sea fauna.

• Contamination may come from water used as an ingredient.

• For washing foods, for cooling heated foods, and for manufactured ice for preserving foods.

• The gas forming coliform bacteria may enter milk from cooling-tank water and cause trouble
in cheese made from the milk. Anaerobic gas formers may enter foods from soil-laden water.

• Cannery cooling water often contains coliform and other spoilage bacteria that enter canned
foods during cooling through minute defects in the seams or seals of the cans.

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❑ Soil

• The soil contains the greatest variety of microorganisms of any source of contamination.

• Not only numerous kinds of microorganisms but also large total numbers are present in fertile
soils, ready to contaminate the surfaces of plants growing on or in them and the surfaces of
animals roaming over the land.

• Soil dust is whipped up by air currents, and soil particles are carried by running water to get into
or onto foods.

• The soil is an important source of heat-resistant spore-forming bacteria

• Important microorganism can come from soil are various molds and yeasts and species of the
bacterial genera Bacillus, Clostridium, Enterobacter, Escherichia, Micrococcus, Alcaligenes,
Flavobacterium, Chromobacterium, Pseudomonas, Proteus, Streptococcus, Leuconostoc, and
Acetobacter as well as some of the higher bacteria such as the actinomycetes and the iron
bacteria.

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❑ Animals

• Sources of microorganisms from animals include the surface flora, the flora of the
respiratory tract, and the flora of the gastrointestinal tract.

• The natural surface flora of meat animals usually is not as important as the
contaminating microorganisms from their intestinal or respiratory tracts.

• However, hides, hooves, and hair contain not only large numbers of microorganisms
from soil, manure, feed, and water but also important kinds of spoilage organisms.

• Feathers and feet of poultry carry heavy contamination from similar sources.

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• The skin of many meat animals may contain micrococci, staphylococci and beta-
hemolytic streptococci.

• Staphylococci on the skin or from the respiratory tract may find their way onto the
carcass and then to the final raw product.

• The feces and fecal-contaminated products of animals can contain many enteric
organisms, including Salmonella.

• Salmonellosis in animals can result in contamination animal products or by-

products and thus contaminate foods derived from them with Salmonella.

• Because of further processing and handling, very few of these organisms result in
human salmonellosis.

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❑ Plants

• The natural surface flora of plants varies with the plant but usually
includes species of Pseudomonas, Alcaligenes, Flavobacterium, and
Micrococcus and coliforms and lactic acid bacteria.

• Bacillus species, yeasts, and molds also may be present.

• The numbers of bacteria will depend on the plant and its

environment and may range from a few hundred or thousand per
square centimeter of surface to millions.

• The inner tissue of the cabbage, where the surface of the leaves
would harbor primarily the natural flora, contains fewer kinds and
lower numbers.

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• Exposed surfaces of plants become contaminated from soil, water, sewage, air, and
animals, so that microorganisms from these sources are added to the natural flora.

• Whenever conditions for growth of natural flora and contaminants are present,
increases in numbers of special kinds of microorganisms take place, especially
following harvesting.

• Some fruits have been found to contain viable microorganisms in their interior.

• Organisms also have been found in health root and tuber vegetables.

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❑ Sewage

• When untreated domestic sewage is used to fertilize plant crops, there is

likelihood that raw plant foods will be contaminated with human pathogens,
especially those causing gastrointestinal diseases.

• In addition to the pathogens, coliform bacteria, anaerobes, enterococci, other

intestinal bacteria, and viruses can contaminate the foods from this source.

• Natural waters contaminated with sewage contribute their microorganisms to

shellfish, fish, and other seafood.

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❑ Food Utensils:

• When vegetables are harvested in containers and utensils, all of the surface
organisms on the products contaminate contact surfaces.

• As more and more vegetables placed in the same containers, a normalization of the
flora would be expected to occur.

• In the similar way, the cutting block in a meat market along with cutting knives and
grinders are contaminated from initially dirty (contaminated) samples, and this
process leads to a build-up of organisms, thus ensuring a fairly constant level of
contamination of meat-borne organisms.

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BENEFICIAL EFFECTS
OF
MICRO-ORGANISMS
Fermentation of Food
• Food fermentation involves a process in which raw materials are converted to
fermented foods by the growth and metabolic activities of the desirable microorganisms.

• This process is carried out by microbes such as bacteria, yeast and moulds.

• It is useful in the production of bread, cheese and yoghurt, and alcoholic beverages like
wine and beer, etc.

• The microbes that bring about food fermentations may be added to the food in the form
of a pure culture or mixed culture; or very often no culture is added as the desired
microbes are naturally present in adequate numbers in the food.
• For example, while making idli, the bacteria Leuconostoc, Streptococcus and
Pediococcus that bring about fermentation of the rice and black gram paste are already
present in sufficient numbers on the grains.

• Bakery Products: In bread dough, sugars are fermented by the yeast Saccharomyces
cerevisiae to ethanol (alcohol) and CO2 .

• Penicillium roquefortii is used for ripening of Roquefort, Gorgonzola, and blue cheeses.

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Sewage Treatment
• Sewage contains large amounts of organic matter and microbes. Many of which are
pathogenic.

• Treatment of waste water is done by the primary sludge, and the supernatant forms
the effluent. The effluent from the primary settling tank is taken for secondary
treatment.

• The primary effluent is passed into large aeration tanks where it is constantly
agitated mechanically and air is pumped into it. This allows vigorous growth of
useful aerobic microbes into flocs.

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• While growing, these microbes consume the major part of the organic matter in the
effluent. This significantly reduces the BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) of
the effluent.

• BOD refers to the amount of the oxygen that would be consumed if all the organic
matter in one liter of water were oxidized by bacteria.

• The sewage water is treated till the BOD is reduced. BOD is a measure of the
organic matter present in the water. The greater the BOD of waste water, more
is its polluting potential.

• Once the BOD of sewage or waste water is reduced significantly, the effluent is then
passed into a settling tank where the bacterial ‘flocs’ are allowed to sediment. This
sediment is called activated sludge.

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• A small part of the activated sludge is pumped back into the aeration tank to serve as
the inoculum or starter.

• The remaining major part of the sludge is pumped into large tanks
called anaerobic sludge digesters. Here, other kinds of bacteria, which grow
anaerobically, digest the bacteria and the fungi in the sludge.

• During this digestion, bacteria produce a mixture of gases such as methane,

hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide. These gases form biogas and can be
used as source of energy as it is inflammable.

• The effluent from the secondary treatment plant is generally released into natural
water bodies like rivers and streams.

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Production of Biogas
• Biogas is a mixture of gases produced by the microbial activity and which may be used as fuel.

• Certain bacteria, which grow anaerobically on cellulosic material, produce large amount

of methane along with CO2 and H2. These bacteria are collectively called methanogens, and

one such common bacterium is Methanobacterium.

• These bacteria are also present in the rumen (a part of stomach) of cattle. A lot of cellulosic

material present in the food of cattle is also present in the rumen.

• In rumen, these bacteria help in the breakdown of cellulose and play an important role in the

nutrition of cattle. Thus, the excreta (dung) of cattle is rich in these bacteria. Dung can be used for

generation of biogas, commonly called gobar gas.

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Biocontrol Agents
• Biocontrol refers to the use of biological methods for controlling plant diseases and

pests. the use of biocontrol measures will greatly reduce our dependence on toxic

chemicals and pesticides.

• Microbial biocontrol agents introduced in order to control butterfly caterpillars is the

bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis.

• These are available in sachets as dried spores which are mixed with water and sprayed
onto vulnerable plants such as brassicas and fruit trees, where these are eaten by the

insect larvae.

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• In the gut of the larvae, the toxin is released and the larvae get killed. The bacterial
disease will kill the caterpillars, but leave other insects unharmed.

• A biological control being developed for use in the treatment of plant disease is the
fungus Trichoderma. They are effective biocontrol agents of several plant pathogens.

• Baculoviruses are pathogens that attack insects and other arthropods. They have
been shown to have no negative impacts on plants, mammals, birds, fish or even on
non-target insects.

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Biofertilizers
• Biofertilisers are organisms that enrich the nutrient quality of the soil. The main
sources of biofertilisers are bacteria, fungi and cyanobacteria.

• The nodules on the roots of leguminous plants formed by the symbiotic association
of Rhizobium. These bacteria fix atmospheric nitrogen into organic forms, which is
used by the plant as nutrient.

• Other bacteria can fix atmospheric nitrogen while free-living in the soil
(examples Azospirillum and Azotobacter), thus enriching the nitrogen content of
the soil.

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• Fungi are also known to form symbiotic associations with plants (mycorrhiza).
The fungal symbiont in these associations absorbs phosphorus from soil and
passes it to the plant.

• Plants having such associations show other benefits also, such as resistance to root-
borne pathogens, tolerance to salinity and drought, and an overall increase in plant
growth and development.

• Cyanobacteria are autotrophic microbes widely distributed in aquatic and

terrestrial environments many of which can fix atmospheric nitrogen, e.g.
Anabaena, Nostoc, Oscillatona, etc.

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Production of Vaccine and Antibiotics
• The microbes are highly useful for making vaccines and antibiotics for making
medicines.
• Fungi and bacteria help in the production of antibiotics like streptomycin, erythromycin
and tetracycline.
• The first antibiotic ever to have been discovered viz. Penicillin by Alexander Flemming
is made from fungi.
• The vaccines have microbes in the inactive mode ready to combat a particular disease
and would aid in antibody development.
• There are plenty of vaccines made from microbial influence for diseases like
tuberculosis, small pox, cholera, hepatitis.
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 Chemicals, Enzymes and Other
Bioactive Molecules
• Microbes are also used for commercial and industrial production of certain chemicals
like organic acids, alcohols and enzymes.

• Examples of acid poducers:

• Aspergillus niger produces citric acid.

• Acetobacter aceti produces acetic acid.

• Clostridium bretylium produces butyric acid.

• Lactobacillus produces lactic acid.

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• Lipases are used in detergent formulations and are helpful in removing oily
stains from the laundry.

• The bottled juices in shops are clarified using pectinases and proteases.

• Streptococcus which produces the streptokinase is used as a clot-buster in medical

treatments.

• Trichoderma polysporum produces a bioactive molecule named cyclosporin which helps

as an immunosuppressive in organ transplant surgery.

• A yeast named Monascus purpureus produces statins that help lower blood cholesterol
levels.

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 RELEVANCE OF
MICROBIOLOGICAL
STANDARDS FOR FOOD
SAFETY
Introduction

❑ Microbiological standards are essential for food safety and quality assurance.

❑ They help to ensure that food is safe to eat and free from contaminants that
could cause illness or food poisoning.

❑ Microbiological standards are also used to ensure that food products remain
safe and of high quality while they are being stored and transported.

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Types of Microbiological Standards

❑ Microbiological standards can be divided into two categories:

a) Those that are used to identify and measure the presence of

microorganisms in food.

b) Those that are used to set limits on the amount of microorganisms in food.

❑ The most common types of microbiological standards are those that are
used to measure the presence of bacteria, fungi, and viruses in food.

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Importance of Microbiological Standards

❖ Microbiological standards provide assurance that food is safe to eat and free
from contaminants that could cause foodborne illness.

❖ They also help to reduce the risk of food spoilage and food poisoning as well
as to identify and measure the presence of microorganisms in food.

❖ The use of microbiological standards helps to ensure that food products

remain safe and of high quality while they are being stored and transported.

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Uses of Microbiological Standards

❖ Microbiological standards are used to assess the safety and quality of food
products.

❖ They are used to identify and measure the presence of microorganisms in

food, as well as to set limits on the amount of microorganisms in food.

❖ Microbiological standards can also be used to detect and measure the

presence of toxins and other contaminants in food that could cause
foodborne illness.
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THANK YOU