ARS | Publication request: MICROBIAL ECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING PRE-HARVEST INTERVENTION STRATEGIES

Submitted to: Preharvest and Postharvest Food Safety
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: September 10, 2003
Publication Date: May 3, 2004
Citation: Callaway, T.R., Anderson, R.C., Edrington, T.S., Bischoff, K.M., Genovese, K.J., Poole, T.L., Nisbet, D.J. 2004. Microbial ecological principles underlying preharvest intervention strategies. In: Beier, R.C., Pillai, S.D., Phillips, T.D., Ziprin, R.L., editors. Preharvest and Postharvest Food Safety: Contemporary Issues and Future Directions. Ames, IA: Blackwell Publishing Professional. p. 129-139.

Technical Abstract: The gastrointestinal tract of monogastric and ruminant animals is populated by a wide variety of bacteria, some of which are human pathogens. Each year more than 75 million Americans become ill after eating contaminated foods, many of which are produced from animals. Although slaughterhouses and processing plants do reduce pathogenic bacterial loads, food borne bacterial illnesses caused by animal-derived products still occur. In an effort to reduce pathogenic bacterial levels from farm to fork, pre-harvest intervention strategies have been devised to reduce the pathogen load entering the abattoir. Because many of these pre-harvest intervention strategies are targeted against intestinal bacteria that can be pathogenic to humans it is important to understand how the microbial ecology of the gastrointestinal tract can aid or hinder the effectiveness of pathogen reduction strategies.