Microbial Forensics in Food Safety

Abstract

Foodborne diseases represent a significant public health burden to the United States, considering that they cause illness in 1 in 6 people annually, which amounts to ∼48 million people (E. Scallan, R. M. Hoekstra, F. J. Angulo, R. V. Tauxe, M. A. Widdowson, S. L. Roy, J. L. Jones, and P. M. Griffin, Emerg Infect Dis 17:7–15, 2011). The average national cost of illness associated with 30 foodborne pathogens is estimated to be $55.5 to $93.2 billion based on two cost-of-illness models (R.L. Scharff, J Food Prot 78:1064–1071, 2015). Predominately, foodborne illnesses are the result of accidental contamination or unintentional mishandling of food materials during the farm-to-table continuum. Nevertheless, principles and methodologies derived from microbial forensics are applied in foodborne outbreaks investigation to determine the source of the pathogen. Drawing from multiple real-life examples and case studies, this review discusses how the current food industry practice, demography, and consumer preference are shaping the landscape of food safety. The approaches to source tracking, or traceback, are described, with a focus on bacterial pathogens associated with food-producing animals. Current challenges and opportunities in microbial forensics in food safety are also addressed.