CHALLENGING THE SAFETY OF SAUCES

Challenging the Safety of Sauces

Abstract

Food borne pathogens cause an estimated 76 million cases of food borne illness, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,200 deaths in the U.K. annually. Related medical costs and lost wages are significant, accounting for a yearly loss of up to £17 billion1. The main bacterial causes of food-related illness are Campylobacter, Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Shigella. Viral pathogens, specifically Norovirus (formerly known as Norwalk-like virus) and Hepatitis A virus, are also major causes of food borne illness in U.K. Food-related and other diarrheal illnesses remain underreported throughout the U.K. Most diarrheal illnesses resolve within 24 to 48 hours without any medical attention. As a result, many food-related illnesses are not diagnosed and associated food borne disease outbreaks are often not recognized. This poses a challenge for public health professionals to maintain the knowledge and resources to identify and respond to these outbreaks.-In the sauces with lactobacilli and Laktocid, the total count of lactobacilli was lower than 3 log cfu g-1 during the storage period. The highest count of lactobacilli ranged between 5 and 8 log cfu g-1 in all the tested sauces except the non-contaminated Tartar sauces (3 log cfu g-1).

Table of Content

Introduction4

Materials and methods4

Sampling and isolation of lactobacilli4

Fluorescence in situ hybridization5

Food preservatives5

Analysis of sauces6

Microbiological analysis6

pH measurement6

Results7

Discussion10

Conclusion11

References13

Challenging the Safety of Sauces

Introduction

Sauces are important ingredient for the production of a series of mayonnaise-based product. It can be used as a decorative element or raw material in production of salads, sauces and other delicacies. Mayonnaise is made by emulsification of vegetable oil and water phase by egg yolk. In general water phase is composed of water, salt, sugar, vinegar, polysaccharides, additives and condiments (especially mustard). Mayonnaise is a relatively microbiologically stable product due to its high fat content (700-800 g kg-1) and addition of organic acids and acid ingredients. Organic acids and acid ingredients contribute to the desirable flavour, decrease final pH of product (<4.8) and are toxic to food borne pathogens. Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157:H7, E. coli, L. monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Yersinia enterocolitica die when are inoculated into mayonnaise and dressing. Homemade mayonnaise has been associated with outbreaks of food-poisoning, mainly due to Salmonella, with raw eggs as the principal vehicle of infection, milder acid content and un-chilled storage for hours or days before consumption (Anderson, 2002, 139).

Materials and methods

Sampling and isolation of lactobacilli

Sauces (mayonnaise, Tartar sauce and Tartar sauces with hot pepper) used for isolation of lactobacilli were obtained from the local supermarket. Samples of sauces were analysed on the presence of lactobacilli and they were enumerated on MRS agar (Biokar, France) acidified to pH 5.4 with hydrochloric acid and incubated for 72 h at 37 -C anarobically. Randomly selected colonies were purified in the same media and growth conditions and cultivated in MRS broth (Biokar, France) for 17 h at 37 -C anaerobically (Benthin, 2005, 647).

Fluorescence in situ hybridization

A specific fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) kit for Lactobacillus spp. by the fluid methods with FITC (495/520 nm) label ...