Foodborne illnesses involving ready-to-eat vegetables are increasing. Lettuce is the third most consumed fresh vegetable in the United States with worth approximately $1.9 billion, making it the most valuable leafy crop. Previous reviews have described the survival of pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella on different ready-to-eat vegetables, but the colonisation of lettuce by Listeria has received limited attention. Listeria monocytogenes has high mortality compared to other foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella. This review summarises recent studies on the mechanisms of attachment and colonisation of Listeria on lettuce leaves. We discuss various factors that affect colonisation of lettuce by Listeria in terms of the number of bacteria that can be recovered after inoculation, the effect of washing, different radiation treatments and cultivation systems on the recovery of Listeria. We propose strategies that can be used to minimise the colonisation of lettuce by Listeria to enhance food safety. Colonisation of lettuce by L. monocytogenes E. O. Kyere et al. 15 Colonisation of lettuce by L. monocytogenes E. O. Kyere et al. Colonisation of lettuce by L. monocytogenes E. O. Kyere et al.

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Salmonella is commonly found in a variety of food products and is a major cause of bacterial foodborne illness throughout the world. In this study, we investigated the prevalence and diversity of Salmonella in eight different food types: sheep ground meat, cow ground meat, chicken meat, cow offal, traditional Sanliurfa cheese, unripened feta cheese, pistachios, and isot (a spice blend of dried red peppers specific to Sanliurfa), traditionally and commonly consumed in Turkey. Among 192 food samples, Salmonella was detected in 59 samples, with the highest prevalence in raw poultry parts (58%) and offal (58%) samples, while Salmonella was not detected in pistachios and dried red pepper. Resultant Salmonella isolates were characterized by serotyping, multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Ten different serotypes represented 10 MLST sequence types (STs) with 1 novel ST and 17 PFGE types. Antimicrobial resistance profiling revealed that 30.5% of the isolates were resistant to two or more antimicrobials. Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serotype Telaviv, which is rare throughout the world, was the second most common serotype isolated from food samples in this study, suggesting that this serotype might be one of the subtypes that is endemic to Turkey.

Biofilms cause problems in the food industry due to their persistence and incompetent hygiene processing technologies. Interest in photodynamic inactivation (PDI) for combating biofilms has increased in recent years. This technique can induce microbial cell death, reduce cell attachment, ruin biofilm biomolecules and eradicate structured biofilms without inducing microbial resistance. This review addresses microbial challenges posed by biofilms in food environments and highlights the advantages of PDI in preventing and eradicating microbial biofilm communities. Current findings of the antibiofilm efficiencies of this technique are summarized. Additionally, emphasis is given to its potential mechanisms and factors capable of influencing biofilm communities, as well as promising hurdle strategies.