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The Microbiological Safety of Low Water Activity Foods and Spices pp 67–83Cite as

Processing Plant Investigations: Practical Approaches to Determining Sources of Persistent Bacterial Strains in the Industrial Food Processing Environment

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Part of the book series: Food Microbiology and Food Safety ((PRACT))

Abstract

Persistent pathogenic bacterial strains may result from many sources, such as repetitively contaminated ingredients brought into the plant environment, unrepaired roof leaks, and workers routinely entering the plant from agricultural or other contaminated areas, as well as from a microbial population that has established itself in the plant environment, perhaps originating from one or more of these venues. Pathogenic bacteria may also adapt to dry conditions and survive for years under these conditions, including within the production environment and in dry raw ingredients, a phenomena documented to occur with strains of Salmonella. These can be very difficult situations to effectively investigate and resolve, made even worse by certain false paradigms employed by investigators, Molecular subtyping approaches to identify the occurrence of persistent strains are usually required.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kornacki Microbiology Solutions, Inc., Madison, WI, 53716, USA

    Jeffrey L. Kornacki Ph.D.

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  1. Jeffrey L. Kornacki Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Jeffrey L. Kornacki Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Food Safety Intervention Technologies, U.S. Department of Agriculture ARS, Eastern Regional Research Center, Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, USA

    Joshua B. Gurtler

  2. University of Georgia Center of Food Safety, Griffin, Georgia, USA

    Michael P. Doyle

  3. Kornacki Microbiology Solutions, Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Jeffrey L. Kornacki

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Kornacki, J.L. (2014). Processing Plant Investigations: Practical Approaches to Determining Sources of Persistent Bacterial Strains in the Industrial Food Processing Environment. In: Gurtler, J., Doyle, M., Kornacki, J. (eds) The Microbiological Safety of Low Water Activity Foods and Spices. Food Microbiology and Food Safety(). Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2062-4_5

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