Alternatives to antibiotics: chemical and physical antimicrobial interventions and foodborne pathogen response

Abstract

Successful control of foodborne pathogens requires placement of chemical and physical hurdles in the preharvest and postharvest food production sectors. Pathogens may also encounter indigenous antimicrobials in foods including certain botanical compounds that have historically been used for flavor enhancement as well as preservation. Chemical additives have traditionally included organic acids to control microbial contamination in foods and feeds. However, there is some concern that continuous application of certain chemical antimicrobials can lead to a buildup of microbial resistance. This creates problems if foodborne pathogens survive and develop resistance to a variety of environmental stressors encountered in pre- and postharvest animal production. To expand the diversity of potential antimicrobials that have practical application to food animal production requires exploring the interaction between the food matrix and foodborne pathogens. There is potential for isolating antimicrobial compounds that exhibit mechanisms unrelated to conventional antimicrobial compounds. However, understanding the potential for novel antimicrobial compounds in foods and feeds will require the physiological examination of foodborne pathogen response under experimental conditions comparable to the environment where the pathogen is most likely to occur. Research on foodborne Salmonella pathogenesis is extensive and should provide a model for detailed examination of the factors that influence antimicrobial effectiveness. Analysis of pathogen response to antimicrobials could yield clues for optimizing hurdle technologies to more effectively exploit vulnerabilities of Salmonella and other foodborne pathogens when administering antimicrobials during food and feed production.

Improved performance and immunological responses as the result of dietary genistein supplementation of broiler chicks

“…The increasing effect of antibiotics on ADFI is mostly due to the depression of microbial populations of intestine especially the harmful ileal and cecal microbiota. These microbial colonies could produce toxic compounds and gases that damage epithelial cells and reduce bird's appetite (Ricke et al, 2005;Tellez et al, 2006). In this regard, it has been demonstrated that the harmful intestinal microbial colonies were diminished by administration of different flavonoid and isoflavonoid compounds (Bankova et al, 2000;Havsteen, 2002;Kosalec et al, 2005).…”

Thermal inactivation of Salmonella Enteritidis on chicken skin previously exposed to acidified Sodium chlorite or tri-sodium phosphate

“…The main advantage of ASC is the ability to maintain antimicrobial efficacy even in the presence of extraneous organic matter (Cherrington et al 1992) unlike chlorine (Ricke et al 2005). Combination of thermal treatment and antimicrobial treatments are, therefore, needed that are practical, cost-effective and safe to use while maintaining the organoleptic attributes of poultry meat.…”

Bacteriophages of Clostridium perfringens

“…Removal of these antimicrobials will induce changes within the chicken intestinal microbial flora, dictating the need to further understand the microbial ecology of this system (Knarreborg et al, 2002;Wise and Siragusa, 2007), so that appropriate antibiotic alternatives may be developed based on this knowledge (Cotter et al, 2005;Ricke et al, 2005). There has been a limited number of new antibiotic drugs marketed recently with only two, linezolid which targets bacterial protein synthesis and daptomycin wherein the mechanism of action is unknown, appearing since 2000.…”