Abstract
Fresh vegetables including baby greens, microgreens, and sprouts can host human pathogens without exhibiting any visible signs of spoilage. It is clear that the vast majority of foodborne disease outbreaks associated with vegetable produce are not simply a result of an oversight by a producer, as it was shown that zoonotic pathogens from Enterobacteriaceae can contaminate produce through various routes throughout the entire production cycle. In this context, phenotypic and genotypic signatures have been used since early ages in agriculture to obtain better produce, and can be used today as a strategy to reduce the risk of outbreaks through plant breeding. In this mini-review, we provide an updated view and perspectives on to what extent the selection of biological markers can be used to select safer cultivars of vegetable crops such as tomato (the most studied), leafy greens and cabbage. Once this knowledge will be better consolidated, these approaches should be integrated into the development of comprehensive farm-to-fork produce safety programs.
Highlights
Fresh vegetables including baby greens, microgreens, and sprouts can host human pathogens without exhibiting any visible signs of spoilage
It is clear that the vast majority of foodborne disease outbreaks associated with vegetable produce are not a result of an oversight by a producer, as it was shown that zoonotic pathogens from Enterobacteriaceae can contaminate produce through various routes throughout the entire production cycle
This mini-review focuses on the feasibility of harnessing crop’s genetic potential to improve produce safety, with the emphasis on enteric pathogenic bacteria, primarily nontyphoidal Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, which have been the primary culprits of a large number of outbreaks linked to vegetable produce
Summary
Outbreaks linked to the consumption of fresh fruits, vegetables, and sprouts suggest that human pathogens can contaminate produce pre- and/or post-harvest (Bartz et al, 2014). The majority of outbreaks of gastrointestinal illnesses have been associated with fruits, lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, spinach and tomatoes (Dewey-Mattia et al, 2018; CDC, 2019) Based on these observations, it is reasonable to hypothesize that enteric pathogens interact differently with various crops ( a number of other hypotheses can be offered and tested). In addition to these tools, plant breeding has been recently suggested as another opportunity to enhance produce safety This mini-review focuses on the feasibility of harnessing crop’s genetic potential to improve produce safety, with the emphasis on enteric pathogenic bacteria, primarily nontyphoidal Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, which have been the primary culprits of a large number of outbreaks linked to vegetable produce. We explore cases when potential biomarkers are identified and tentatively associated with the response to enteric pathogens (Figure 1)
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