Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Food Safety and Intervention Technologies Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #295007
Title: Prospects for biocontrol of foodborne pathogens on leafy greens with Pseudomonas fluorescens

Author
item Olanya, Modesto
item Niemira, Brendan
item Ukuku, Dike
item Annous, Bassam
item Sommers, Christopher

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/30/2013
Publication Date: 7/15/2013
Citation: Olanya, O.M., Niemira, B.A., Ukuku, D.O., Annous, B.A., Sommers, C.H. 2013. Prospects for biocontrol of foodborne pathogens on leafy greens with Pseudomonas fluorescens. The 2nd International Conference and Exhibition on Nutritional Science. Abstract. 3(4):69.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Foodborne outbreaks of Escherichia coli O157:H7 (Ec) and other pathogenic bacteria have been associated with consumption of leafy vegetables. In addition to food safety procedures during production, processing and handling, other controls of foodborne bacteria such as physical, cultural, chemical and biological controls are often used to enhance food safety. We evaluated the recovery and selectivity of Restaino and Frampton E. coli O157:H7 chromogenic medium(RFCM) for enumeration of Ec and the biological control organism Pseudomonas fluorescens (Pf) from spinach and media. The efficacy of Pf (non-pectolytic and non-plant pathogenic) for biocontrol of Ec on spinach was also determined. Spinach was dip-inoculated with Pf strains 2-79, Q2-87, and Q8R-1, prior to inoculation with Ec strains 43894, 43895, and 35150 individually or in a cocktail mixture. The inoculated spinach was stored at 20 deg C for 24 and 48 hours, and then evaluated for recovery of Ec populations. In subsequent experiments, the effects of storage time (24 and 48 hrs) and temperatures (5-30 deg C) on recovery and the efficacy of biocontrol were determined. Bacteria populations from mixed cultures plated and recovered from media were 3.6-8.7 and 4.2-7.7 log cfu/ml for Ec and Pf, respectively. On spinach, microbial counts ranged from 6.0-8.2 and 6.5-8.6 log cfu/g for the same bacteria above. Relative to the untreated control, the reduction of Ec by Pf ranged from 0.5-2.1 log CFU/g of spinach. The efficacy of biocontrol was significantly (P<0.05) affected by storage temperature and time. Suppressive effects were greater at 15 deg C (1.5-2.4 log CFU/g) than at other temperatures (<0.93 log CFU/g). These results provide a methodology for recovery and differentiation of Ec from Pf and assessment of the effectiveness of a biocontrol. As a post-harvest intervention measure, Pf may provide moderate reductions of Ec populations on spinach.