Purpose: The Food and Water Safety (FWS) project targets two priority food and water pathogens; E. coli (O157 and non-O157) and Salmonella Enteritidis. The objectives are: 1) develop rapid methodologies and tools for detection and source track these pathogens from farm to consumer, 2) provide genomic tools for risk assessment, epidemiological analysis, and intervention strategy development, 3) create of a national genomic database, and 4) supporting the development of needed guidelines and policies to enhance food and water safety.
Methods: The FWS has 3 major themes; 1) Isolation and Detection to rapidly detect and identify these pathogens in foods and water, 2) Information Generation through the development of comprehensive national genomic database of whole genome sequences of strains as well as source attribution, and 3) Bioinformatic analysis.
Results: “Priority six” non-O157 VTEC (O26, O45, O103, O111, O121 and O145), reference strains have been selected. Completed development of rapid isolation methods, functional PWEF sensor microarrays for E. coli, achieved rapid enrichment of VTEC from 1 cell per 65 g in 3-5 hours, and developed a functional prototype integrated Lab-on-A-Chipmicrofluidics-based for rapid capture of whole VTEC cells from food matrices and subsequent identification and characterization. Methods developed aim at reducing time of bacterial isolation, detection and confirmation from days to only few hours. Whole genome sequencing and bioinformatics work is ongoing where more than 200 strains have already been sequenced.
Significance: Outcome should contribute to improving food and water safety and would support development of needed policies and guidelines.