Impact of Vacuum Cooling on Escherichia Coli O157:H7 Infiltration into Lettuce Tissue

Overview

Journal Appl Environ Microbiol

Specialties Environmental Health
Microbiology

Date 2008 Mar 18

PMID 18344328

Citations 4

Authors

Haiping Li

Mehrdad Tajkarimi

Bennie I Osburn

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Vacuum cooling is a common practice in the California leafy green industry. This study addressed the impact of vacuum cooling on the infiltration of Escherichia coli O157:H7 into lettuce as part of the risk assessment responding to the E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks associated with leafy green produce from California. Vacuum cooling significantly increased the infiltration of E. coli O157:H7 into the lettuce tissue (2.65E+06 CFU/g) compared to the nonvacuumed condition (1.98E+05 CFU/g). A stringent surface sterilization and quadruple washing could not eliminate the internalized bacteria from lettuce. It appeared that vacuuming forcibly changed the structure of lettuce tissue such as the stomata, suggesting a possible mechanism of E. coli O157:H7 internalization. Vacuuming also caused a lower reduction rate of E. coli O157:H7 in stored lettuce leaves than that for the nonvacuumed condition.

Citing Articles

Internalization of Salmonella in Leafy Greens and Impact on Acid Tolerance.

Grivokostopoulos N, Makariti I, Hilaj N, Apostolidou Z, Skandamis P Appl Environ Microbiol. 2022; 88(6):e0224921.

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Influence of Vacuum Cooling on Escherichia coli O157:H7 Infiltration in Fresh Leafy Greens via a Multiphoton-Imaging Approach.

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Internalization of Salmonella enterica in leaves is induced by light and involves chemotaxis and penetration through open stomata.

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