Do the Escherichia coli European Union shellfish safety standards predict the presence of Arcobacter spp., a potential zoonotic pathogen?
Author
Salas-Massó, Nuria
Figueras, M. José
Andree, Karl B.
Furones, M. Dolors
Publication date
2017-12-27ISSN
0048-9697
Abstract
The genus Arcobacter comprises Campylobacter-related species, considered zoonotic emergent pathogens, the presence of which in water has been associated with fecal pollution. Discharges of fecal polluted water into the sea have been considered as one of the main reasons for the presence of Arcobacter in shellfish, and this may represent a risk for public health. In this study, the European Union shellfish food safety criteria based on levels of Escherichia coli were studied in relation to their capacity to predict the presence of Arcobacter species. In addition, the accumulation factor (AF) that measures the concentration ratio between the microbes present in the shellfish and in the water, was also studied for both bacteria. The results show that the presence of E. coli correlated with the presence of the potentially pathogenic species A. butzleri and A. cryaerophilus. However, in 26.1% of the shellfish samples (corresponding to those taken during summer months) E. coli failed to predict the presence of, for instance A. butzleri and A. skirrowii, among other species. In the rest of the samples a significant correlation between the concentration of E. coli and Arcobacter spp. (mussels and oyster; R2 = 0.744) was found. This study indicates that the presence of E. coli can predict the presence of pathogenic Arcobacter species in shellfish samples harvested from water with temperatures lower than 26.2 °C. Consumption of shellfish collected at higher temperatures which may not be permissive to the growth of E. coli but does allow growth of Arcobacter spp., may represent a risk for consumers.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Accepted version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
63 - Agriculture and related sciences and techniques
Pages
40
Publisher
Elsevier
Is part of
Science of the Total Environment
Citation
Salas-Massó, Nuria, M. José Figueras, Karl B. Andree, and M. Dolors Furones. 2018. "Do The Escherichia Coli European Union Shellfish Safety Standards Predict The Presence Of Arcobacter Spp., A Potential Zoonotic Pathogen?". Science Of The Total Environment 624: 1171-1179. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.12.178.
Grant agreement number
MINCINN/Programa Nacional de Proyectos de Investigación Fundamental/AGL2011-30461-C02-02/ES/Evaluación del impacto de la presencia de las bacterias potencialmente patogenas aeromonas y arcobacter en aguas regeneradas y en la seguridad alimentaria/
EU/FP7/311846/EU/Protecting the health of Europeans by improving methods for the detection of pathogens in drinking water and water used in food preparation/AQUAVALENS
Program
Aqüicultura
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2829]
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/