Abstract
Consumption of microbiologically contaminated food is one of the leading causes of diarrheal diseases. Understanding the source of enteric pathogens in food is important to guide effective interventions. Enterobacteriaceae bacterial assays typically used to assess food safety do not shed light on the source. Source-specific Bacteroides microbial source tracking (MST) markers have been proposed as alternative indicators for water fecal contamination assessment but have not been evaluated as an alternative fecal indicator in animal-derived foods. This study tested various milk products collected from vendors in urban Kenyan communities and infant foods made with the milk (n = 394 pairs) using conventional culture methods and TaqMan qPCR for enteric pathogens and human and bovine-sourced MST markers. Detection profiles of various enteric pathogens and Bacteroides MST markers in milk products differed from that of milk-containing infant foods. MST markers were more frequently detected in infant food prepared by caregivers, indicating recent contamination events were more likely to occur during food preparation at home. However, Bacteroides MST markers had lower sensitivity in detecting enteric pathogens in food than traditional Enterobacteriaceae indicators. Bacteroides MST markers tested in this study were not associated with the detection of culturable Salmonella enterica and Shigella sonnei in milk products or milk-containing infant food. The findings show that while Bacteroides MST markers could provide valuable information about how foods become contaminated, they may not be suitable for predicting the origin of the enteric pathogen contamination sources.
Highlights
Diarrheal diseases remain the third most common cause of preventable illness and death among children under five globally
This study described the detection frequency for the common food safety indicator Enterobacteriaceae, multiple enteric pathogens, and human and bovine Bacteroides microbial source tracking (MST) markers in Kenyan milk products and milk-containing infant food through both culture and qPCR approaches
The study assessed the performance of Bacteroides MST markers as an alternative fecal indicator to Enterobacteriaceae of enteric pathogen presence in milk based foods
Summary
Diarrheal diseases remain the third most common cause of preventable illness and death among children under five globally. Infant foods are more likely to be stored for prolonged periods and contaminated with bacteria than adult foods (Barrell and Rowland, 1979; Black et al, 1982). Some of this contamination may be caused by unhygienic infant food preparation behaviors that introduce human or animal fecal bacteria, which can replicate during storage. More evidence on the primary sources of enteric pathogen contamination in infant food in developing countries would help determine whether hygiene interventions targeting the food supply chain versus food preparation provide greater health gains
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