Molecular Methods for the Detection and Characterization of Food‐Borne Pathogens

Abstract

Food-borne diseases are of major public health concern and are responsible for thousands of deaths worldwide in both developed and developing countries. Food-borne illnesses are also responsible for economic losses due to medical costs, loss in productivity, product recalls and plant shutdowns. Ensuring food safety is a complex and difficult task as the food chain is long with many vulnerable nodes or links. Although a large number of conventional and rapid detection methods of food-borne pathogens are available, food safety still remains a threat to consumers. Rapid, accurate and sensitive detection, identification and characterization of the food-borne pathogens associated with human illnesses are important for better understanding of emerging food-borne diseases. Methods that accurately describe or elucidate genetic variation among pathogens are crucial in understanding their epidemiology and traceability. Compared to traditional methods, ‘omics‘ technologies are sensitive, rapid and simple and can deliver high sample-throughput; they are therefore indispensable for detection and characterization of food-borne pathogens as well as identification of biomarkers. Omics technologies, divided into the three main categories of genomics, proteomics and metabolomics technologies, provide important insights in understanding key aspects of food-borne pathogens (such as genetic diversity and virulence factors), which can also lead to development of rapid molecular detection, identification and characterization methods.