Description

Increasing consumer demand for low-input cultivation and minimal processing has significantly increased the risk of microbiological contamination of fresh produce. This both presents a health risk to consumers and undermines trust in the food supply chain from farm to fork.

Advances in ensuring the microbiological safety of fresh produce reviews our current understanding of key pathogenic risks to fresh produce such as Salmonella, Listeria and E.coli. The book addresses recent advances in improving safety along the value chain, from advances in detection to improving consumer handling of fresh produce.

By providing a comprehensive insight into the pathogenic risks facing the fresh produce sector, the book details how key stakeholders across the agri-food supply chain can reduce the risk of pathogen contamination and outbreaks of foodborne illnesses.

Edited by an internationally-renowned expert in the field and featuring contributions from a team of expert authors, Advances in ensuring the microbiological safety of fresh produce will be a standard reference for researchers in food safety, agricultural engineers specialising in fresh produce storage, retail and other companies involved in the fresh produce supply chain, as well as government and commercial agencies responsible for safety and quality monitoring of agri-food supply chains.

Key features

• Provides an overview of advances in understanding the contamination of fresh produce by four key pathogens: Salmonella, Listeria, pathogenic Escherichia coli and Clostridium
• Reviews recent advances in the surveillance of foodborne diseases and developments in rapid detection techniques for identifying pathogens in food
• Addresses the importance of good agricultural practices (GAP) and good manufacturing practices (GMP) in maintaining the safety of fresh/minimally-processed produce

Table of contents

View/buy chapters

Part 1 Pathogenic risks

• 1.Advances in understanding contamination of fresh produce by Salmonella: Shirley A. Micallef, University of Maryland, USA;
• 2.Advances in understanding and presenting contamination of fresh produce by Listeria monocytogenes: Xinyi Zhou and Wei Zhang, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA;
• 3.Advances in understanding contamination of fresh produce by pathogenic Escherichia coli: Karl R. Matthews, Rutgers University, USA;

Part 2 Detection and risk assessment

• 4.Developments in rapid detection/high throughput screening techniques for identifying pathogens in food: Kannappan Arunachalam and Chunlei Shi, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China;
• 5.Advances in modelling pathogen behaviour in fresh produce: Panagiotis N. Skandamis, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece;
• 6.Advances in quantitative microbiological risk assessment for pathogens in fresh produce: Donald W. Schaffner, Rutgers University, USA; Marina Girbal, University of Barcelona, Spain; Matt Igo, Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, USA; and Kaitlyn Casulli, University of Georgia, USA;

Part 3 Improving safety along the value chain

• 7.Advances in understanding sources of pathogenic contamination of fresh produce: soil and soil amendments: Alexis Omar, University of Delaware, USA; Manan Sharma, USDA-ARS, USA; and Kalmia E. Kniel, University of Delaware, USA;
• 8.The role of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) in preventing pathogenic microbial contamination of fresh produce: Thomas P. Saunders and Elizabeth A. Bihn, Produce Safety Alliance – Cornell University, USA;
• 9.Advances in sanitising techniques and their assessment for assuring the safety of fresh produce: Silvia Vanessa Camacho Martinez, Mahdiyeh Hasani, Lara Jane Warriner and Keith Warriner, University of Guelph, Canada;
• 10.Developments in packaging techniques and their assessment for assuring the safety of fresh produce: Jinhe Bai, Gabriela Maria Olmedo and Xiuxiu Sun, USDA-ARS, USA;
• 11.The role of good manufacturing practice and hazard analysis and critical control point systems in maintaining the safety of minimally processed fresh produce: Carol A. Wallace, Jan M. Soon and Shingai P. Nyarugwe, University of Central Lancashire, UK;
• 12.Improving safe consumer handling of fresh produce: Jennifer Quinlan and Melissa Kavanaugh, Drexel University, USA;