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Food testing strips are products that help determine whether or not food contains bacteria that can cause foodborne illness. These products can typically be used on food, water, and hard surfaces, and are often designed for quick and easy home and commercial use.
Currently, there are two categories of food testing strips on the market.
One type of food testing strip is an assay enzyme reactant test, which requires the strip to be dipped into a blended mixture of food or test samples, distilled water and a reagent. Such tests are designed specifically to detect those strains of E.coli and Salmonella that are harmful to humans.
A second type of food testing strip is a gram-negative swab, which is usually administered directly to the food itself. Gram-negative swabs generally work faster than enzyme reactant strips, but they differ in that the gram-negative swabs are designed to detect a broad group of organisms, not just those that can cause foodborne illness in humans.
The enzyme reactant test strips react when the buffer solution breaks the bacterial wall. This breach releases enzymes, which react upon contact to the enzyme test strips.
The gram-negative reactant activates when components of the gram-negative cell wall or specific enzymes are present, causing the swab itself to change color. This is not directly indicative of the presence or absence of human pathogen in the test sample.
People are now working on new ways to enhance these pathogen strips with silk pills and new nano-fiber technology.
Salmonella is a genus of rod-shaped (bacillus) gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two known species of Salmonella are Salmonella enterica and Salmonella bongori. S. enterica is the type species and is further divided into six subspecies that include over 2,600 serotypes. Salmonella was named after Daniel Elmer Salmon (1850–1914), an American veterinary surgeon.
Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a serotype of the bacterial species Escherichia coli and is one of the Shiga-like toxin–producing types of E. coli. It is a cause of disease, typically foodborne illness, through consumption of contaminated and raw food, including raw milk and undercooked ground beef. Infection with this type of pathogenic bacteria may lead to hemorrhagic diarrhea, and to kidney failure; these have been reported to cause the deaths of children younger than five years of age, of elderly patients, and of patients whose immune systems are otherwise compromised.
Campylobacter is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria. Campylobacter typically appear comma- or s-shaped, and are motile. Some Campylobacter species can infect humans, sometimes causing campylobacteriosis, a diarrhoeal disease in humans. Campylobacteriosis is usually self-limiting and antimicrobial treatment is often not required, except in severe cases or immunocompromised patients. The most known source for Campylobacter is poultry, but due to their diverse natural reservoir, Campylobacter spp. can also be transmitted via the air, though this is rare. Other known sources of Campylobacter infections include food products, such as unpasteurised milk and contaminated fresh produce. Sometimes the source of infection can be direct contact with infected animals, which often carry Campylobacter asymptomatically. At least a dozen species of Campylobacter have been implicated in human disease, with C. jejuni (80–90%) and C. coli (5-10%) being the most common. C. jejuni is recognized as one of the main causes of bacterial foodborne disease in many developed countries. It is the number one cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in Europe, with over 246,000 cases confirmed annually. C. jejuni infection can also cause bacteremia in immunocompromised people, while C. lari is a known cause of recurrent diarrhea in children. C. fetus can cause spontaneous abortions in cattle and sheep, and is an opportunistic pathogen in humans.
An agar plate is a Petri dish that contains a growth medium solidified with agar, used to culture microorganisms. Sometimes selective compounds are added to influence growth, such as antibiotics.
Clostridium perfringens is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, spore-forming pathogenic bacterium of the genus Clostridium. C. perfringens is ever-present in nature and can be found as a normal component of decaying vegetation, marine sediment, the intestinal tract of humans and other vertebrates, insects, and soil. It has the shortest reported generation time of any organism at 6.3 minutes in thioglycolate medium.
Foodborne illness is any illness resulting from the contamination of food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites, as well as prions, and toxins such as aflatoxins in peanuts, poisonous mushrooms, and various species of beans that have not been boiled for at least 10 minutes.
Bacteriological water analysis is a method of analysing water to estimate the numbers of bacteria present and, if needed, to find out what sort of bacteria they are. It represents one aspect of water quality. It is a microbiological analytical procedure which uses samples of water and from these samples determines the concentration of bacteria. It is then possible to draw inferences about the suitability of the water for use from these concentrations. This process is used, for example, to routinely confirm that water is safe for human consumption or that bathing and recreational waters are safe to use.
Proteus is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria. It is a rod shaped, aerobic and motile bacteria, which is able to migrate across surfaces due its “swarming” characteristic in temperatures between 20 and 37 °C. Their size generally ranges from 0.4–0.8 μm in diameter and 1.0–3.0 μm in length. They tend to have an ammonia smell. Proteus bacilli are widely distributed in nature as saprophytes, being found in decomposing animal matter, sewage, manure soil, the mammalian intestine, and human and animal feces. They are opportunistic pathogens, commonly responsible for urinary and septic infections, often nosocomial.
Coliform bacteria are defined as either motile or non-motile Gram-negative non-spore forming Bacilli that possess β-galactosidase to produce acids and gases under their optimal growth temperature of 35-37°C. They can be aerobes or facultative aerobes, and are a commonly used indicator of low sanitary quality of foods, milk, and water. Coliforms can be found in the aquatic environment, in soil and on vegetation; they are universally present in large numbers in the feces of warm-blooded animals as they are known to inhabit the gastrointestinal system. While coliform bacteria are not normally causes of serious illness, they are easy to culture, and their presence is used to infer that other pathogenic organisms of fecal origin may be present in a sample, or that said sample is not safe to consume. Such pathogens include disease-causing bacteria, viruses, or protozoa and many multicellular parasites.
A fecal coliform is a facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, gram-negative, non-sporulating bacterium. Coliform bacteria generally originate in the intestines of warm-blooded animals. Fecal coliforms are capable of growth in the presence of bile salts or similar surface agents, are oxidase negative, and produce acid and gas from lactose within 48 hours at 44 ± 0.5°C. The term "thermotolerant coliform" is more correct and is gaining acceptance over "fecal coliform".
Indicator bacteria are types of bacteria used to detect and estimate the level of fecal contamination of water. They are not dangerous to human health but are used to indicate the presence of a health risk.
Food microbiology is the study of the microorganisms that inhabit, create, or contaminate food. This includes the study of microorganisms causing food spoilage; pathogens that may cause disease ; microbes used to produce fermented foods such as cheese, yogurt, bread, beer, and wine; and microbes with other useful roles, such as producing probiotics.
Cefquinome is a fourth-generation cephalosporin with pharmacological and antibacterial properties valuable in the treatment of coliform mastitis and other infections. It is only used in veterinary applications.
Pasteurized eggs are eggs that have been pasteurized in order to reduce the risk of foodborne illness in dishes that are not cooked or are only lightly cooked. They may be sold as liquid egg products or pasteurized in the shell.
Bioactive paper is a paper-based sensor that can identify various contaminants in food and water. First developed in 2009, bioactive paper research has been ongoing and in 2011 was awarded a 5-year grant totalling $7.5 million CAD. It has been developed at the biosensor stage level, which means it can detect pesticides but is not yet able to repel and deactivate toxins. However, its ability to detect potential hazards has applications for human health and safety. The benefits of bioactive paper are that it is simple, portable, disposable, and inexpensive.
Raw meat generally refers to any type of uncooked muscle tissue of an animal used for food. In the meat production industry, the term ‘meat’ refers specifically to mammalian flesh, while the words ‘poultry’ and ‘seafood’ are used to differentiate between the tissue of birds and aquatic creatures.
Paper-based biosensors are a subset of paper-based microfluidics used to detect the presence of pathogens in water. Paper-based detection devices have been touted for their low cost, portability and ease of use. Its portability in particular makes it an good candidate for point-of-care testing. However, there are also limitations to these assays, and scientists are continually working to improve accuracy, sensitivity, and ability to test for multiple contaminants at the same time.
Food safety is the process of ensuring safe food consumption in the country and preventing diseases outbreaks by approving laws that ensure safety and sanitation in food industries. In Qatar, Food safety is a major concern because unsafe food can result in foodborne diseases outbreaks and cause death due to the fact that contaminated food consumption can affect everyone with severe impacts on elderly, children, infants, people with chronic diseases such as diabetes, pregnant women, and people with a compromised immune system. Foodborne illnesses are a result of eating contaminated food with different types of pathogens.
Milk borne diseases are any diseases caused by consumption of milk or dairy products infected or contaminated by pathogens. Milk borne diseases are one of the recurrent foodborne illnesses—between 1993 and 2012 over 120 outbreaks related to raw milk were recorded in the US with approximately 1,900 illnesses and 140 hospitalisations. With rich nutrients essential for growth and development such as proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and vitamins in milk, pathogenic microorganisms are well nourished and are capable of rapid cell division and extensive population growth in this favourable environment. Common pathogens include bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites and among them, bacterial infection is the leading cause of milk borne diseases.