Food Safety and Antimicrobial Resistance an Approach to the Genus Salmonella spp.

Abstract

Foodborne Illnesses (FI) are considered an important problem in public health for their high levels of morbidity and, in some cases, of mortality in Mexico and around the world. Different agents that cause Foodborne Illnesses, in which biological agents such as the genus Salmonella spp., are included, have been often associated with outbreaks. A continued effort has been observed in the food industry, in collaboration with sanitary authorities on a global scale, through the creation and continued improvement of different procedures to prevent the contamination by Salmonella, in which the elaboration of laboratory methodologies for the detection and isolation of this pathogen in foods and, in such manner, prevents the outbreak of illnesses. However, along with the aforementioned, it has been reported that a few years ago, the appearance of an ever-increasing number of strains of Salmonella spp., in foods with multi-drug resistance to antibiotics which are used in the treatment of its illness, results in a major emphasis on the health issue related to Foodborne Illnesses and, in particular, to those generated by factors of medical dependence such as the increase in recuperation time, costs, and reduction in the number of alternative pharmaceutical treatments. This work presents a general overview of FI, in which illnesses generated by bacteria of the genus Salmonella spp., their detection in a microbiological laboratory, as well as the phenomenon of resistance to antibiotics by these bacteria, and the current and difficult issue reported through different investigations all around the world, of the rise in this phenomenon and its importance in public health, are discussed.