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Submitted to: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Review Article Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/2015 Publication Date: 4/9/2015 Citation: Friedman, M. 2015. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria: prevalence in food and inactivation by food compatible compounds and plant extracts. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5b00778. Interpretive Summary: Antibiotic resistance often arises from administration of subtherapeutic levels of antibiotics in animal feeds. Resistant microorganisms may be present in the animal waste, contaminating ground, surface, and irrigation waters, and often contaminating fruits, vegetables, and other edible plant tissues. They suffuse throughout the food chain and can enter the human intestinal tract after the produce or the undercooked meat, poultry, and other food products are consumed.. In the United Sates, infections of about 2 million people annually cannot be treated with antibiotics, resulting in about 23,000 deaths. Consumers are concerned with the growing number of foodborne illness outbreaks caused by some pathogens. The antibiotic resistance associated with foodborne infections is another concern. There is, therefore, a need to develop new alternatives to standard antibiotics, preferably based on safe, food-compatible plant compounds and extracts. The present comprehensive review of the multidisciplinary aspects of antibiotic resistance and its prevention will hopefully help meet this need. Largely unanswered questions are whether or not different classes of natural antimicrobials that have been found to effective against susceptible pathogens will exhibit similar efficacy against resistant bacteria, and whether antimicrobial activities in vitro will be duplicated in vivo after consumption. We are challenged to help solve these problems associated with microbial food safety and human health. Technical Abstract: Foodborne antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria such as Campylobacter jejuni, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Staphylococcus aureus, and Vibrio cholerae can adversely affect animal and human health, but a better understanding of the factors involved in their pathogenesis is needed. To help meet this need, this comprehensive review surveys and interprets much of our current knowledge of antibiotic (multidrug)-resistant bacteria in the food chain, and the implications for microbial food safety and animal and human health. Topics covered include the origin of resistance, the prevalence of resistant bacteria in the food chain, their inactivation by different classes of compounds and plant extracts and by the use physicochemical methods (heat, UV light, pulsed electric fields, and high pressure), the synergistic antimicrobial effects of combinations of natural antimicrobials with medicinal antibiotics, and mechanisms of antimicrobial and resistant effects. Also covered are resistant fungi, rapid assays for resistance, and suggested areas for future research. Plant-derived and other safe natural antimicrobial compounds have the potential to control the prevalence of both nonresistant and antibiotic-resistant pathogens in various environments. The collated information and suggested research will hopefully contribute to a better understanding of approaches that could be used to minimize the presence of resistant pathogens in animal feed and human food, thus reducing adverse effects, improving microbial food safety, and helping to prevent or treat animals and human infections. |
