A total of 954 samples of raw non-soy plant-based meat alternatives were tested for E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella and generic E. coli. Testing showed 99.7% of samples were satisfactory. The CFIA conducted appropriate follow-up activities when necessary.

,Foodborne pathogens are a significant cause of illness and infection with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) has the potential to produce life-threatening complications. The current methods to identify STEC in meat involve culture-based, molecular, and proteomic assays and take at least four days to complete. This time could be reduced by using long-read whole genome sequencing to identify foodborne pathogens. Therefore, the goal of this project was to evaluate using long-read sequencing to detect STEC in ground beef. The objectives of the project included: establishing optimal sequencing parameters, determining the limit of detection of all STEC virulence genes of interest in pure cultures and spiked ground beef, and evaluating selective sequencing to enhance STEC detection in ground beef. Sequencing libraries were run on Oxford Nanopore Technologies’ MinION sequencer. Optimal sequencing output was obtained using the default parameters in MinKNOW, except for setting the minimum read length to 1 kb. All genes of interest (eae, stx1, stx2, fliC, wzx, wzy, rrsC) were detected in DNA extracted from STEC pure cultures within 1 hour of sequencing, and 30X coverage was obtained within 2 hours. All virulence genes were confidently detected in STEC DNA quantities as low as 12.5 ng. In STEC inoculated ground beef, software-controlled selective sequencing improved virulence gene detection; however, several virulence genes were not detected due to high bovine DNA concentrations in the samples. Growth enrichment of inoculated meat samples in mTSB resulted in a 100-fold increase in virulence gene detection as compared to the unenriched samples. The results of this project suggest that further development of long-read sequencing protocols may result in a faster, less labor-intensive method to detect STEC in ground beef. The sequencing data from this project has been uploaded.,

,Identifying and developing effective and sensitive detection methods for antimicrobial resistant Salmonella enterica from surface water is a goal of the U.S. National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS). No specific microbiological methods used in surveillance efforts for Salmonella enterica or antimicrobial resistant S. enterica in water have been standardized or reported in the U.S. Here we describe a multi-laboratory evaluation of four methods, bulk water enrichment (BW), vertical Modified Moore Swab (VMMS), modified Standard Method 9260.B3 (SM), and dead-end ultrafiltration (DEUF), to recover S. enterica from surface water. In Phase 1, one-liter volumes of surface water (n=60) were collected from the same site in Fall 2021 on five different dates. Water was shipped and analyzed at four different USDA ARS laboratories for recovery of environmental Salmonella and an inoculated fluorescent S. Typhimurium strain (ca. 30 CFU/L). One-liter samples (n=20) were subjected to recovery and enrichment by either BW, VMMS, or SM. Overall, fluorescent S. Typhimurium and environmental Salmonella spp. were recovered from 65% (39/60) and 45% (27/60) of water samples, respectively. SM, VMMS, and BW recovered fluorescent S. Typhimurium from 75%, 60% and 60% of inoculated samples, respectively. Analysis by Chi-squared test determined that laboratory location had a significant (p < 0.05) effect on recovery compared to method or date of water collection. In Phase 2, DEUF was compared to SM at two different laboratory locations to recover fluorescent S. Typhimurium (30 CFU/L) from 1-L samples. SM and DEUF recovered S. Typhimurium from 100% (20/20) and 95% (19/20) of inoculated water samples, respectively; laboratory location nor recovery method (p> 0.05) affected S. Typhimurium recovery. Results indicate that SM method consistently recovered low levels of Salmonella from inoculated water samples and should be prioritized for Salmonella recovery from surface water.,Resources in this dataset:,,

,This repository contains all data and code required to reproduce the cumulative logistic mixed-effects model for the manuscript:,"Susceptibility of pESI positive Salmonella to treatment with biocide chemicals approved for use in poultry processing as compared to Salmonella without the pESI plasmid": citation to be added upon publication.,Abstract: Salmonella is a common cause of human foodborne illness which is frequently associated with consumption of contaminated or undercooked poultry meat. Serotype Infantis is among the most common serotypes isolated from poultry products. Isolates of serotype Infantis carrying the pESI plasmid have been shown to exhibit oxidizer tolerance. Therefore, sixteen strains of Salmonella with and without pESI carriage were investigated for susceptibility to biocide chemical processing aids approved for use in U.S. poultry processing. All strains tested were susceptible to all concentrations of peracetic acid, cetylpiridinium chloride, and sodium hypochlorite when applied for 90 minutes. When cetylpiridinium chloride, calcium hypochlorite, and sodium hypochlorite were applied for 15 seconds to simulate spray time, strains responded similarly to each other. However, strains responded variably to exposure to PAA. The variation was not statistically significant and appears unrelated to pESI carriage. Results highlight the necessity of testing biocide susceptibility in the presence of organic material and in relevant in situ applications.,,

Data on the number of foodborne disease investigations per organism and time period including organism, number of persons ill and source of outbreak.