OFFICIALOFFICIAL JOURNALJOURNAL OFOF THETHE AUSTRALIANAUSTRALIAN SOCIETYSOCIETY FORFOR MICROBIOLOGYMICROBIOLOGY INC.INC. VolumeVolume 3434 NumberNumber 22 MayMay 20132013 Food ASMASM AdelaideAdelaide Safety 7–107–10 JulyJuly 20132013 The Australian Society for Microbiology Inc. OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY INC. 210/55 Flemington Road North Melbourne, Vic. 3051 Tel: 1300 656 423 Volume 34 Number 2 May 2013 Fax: 03 9329 1777 Email: [email protected] www.theasm.org.au ABN 24 065 463 274 Contents For Microbiology Australia correspondence, see address below. Guest Editorial 58 Editorial team Food safety 58 Prof. Ian Macreadie, Mrs Jo Macreadie Narelle Fegan and Mrs Hayley Macreadie In Editorial Board Focus 59 Dr Chris Burke (Chair) Dr John Merlino The OzFoodNet story: 2000 to present day 59 Prof. Mary Barton Dr Wieland Meyer Prof. Linda Blackall Prof. William Rawlinson Michelle Green and Gerard Fitzsimmons Prof. Sharon Chen Dr Paul Selleck Foodborne viruses: a focus on challenges associated 63 Prof. Peter Coloe Prof. Lindsay Sly with detection methods Dr Narelle Fegan Dr David Smith Dr Ruth Foxwell Ms Helen Smith Gail E Greening Dr Geoff Hogg Prof. John Turnidge Dr Ipek Kurtböke Dr Paul Young Under the Microscope 67 Dr Gary Lum Campylobacter survival through poultry processing 67 Subscription rates Lesley Duffy Current subscription rates are available from the ASM Melbourne offi ce. Mycotoxins and food 70 Editorial correspondence Nai Tran-Dinh Prof. Ian Macreadie/Mrs Jo Macreadie Antimicrobial resistance in food associated Salmonella 73 Tel: 0402 564 308 (Ian) Email: [email protected] Boey Y Cheng, Amy HT Teh, Patric TC Chua and Gary A Dykes Published four times a year Listeria monocytogenes: illuminating adaptation with proteomics 75 in print and open access online by John P Bowman, Rolf E Nilsson, Chawalit Kocharunchitt and Tom Ross Baseline studies for pathogens in meat 78 Ian Jenson Foodborne pathogenic E. coli (focus on STEC) 80 150 Oxford Street Robert S Barlow and Glen E Mellor Collingwood, Vic. 3066 http://microbiology.publish.csiro.au Microbiological risk assessment: making sense of an increasingly 83 complex world Publishing enquiries Richard Hecker Duncan Craig Email: [email protected] Bovine spongiform encephalopathy and food safety 86 Production enquiries Rosalind Dalefield and Scott Crerar Helen Pavlatos Email: [email protected] Listeria surveillance in Australia from the laboratory perspective 90 Advertising enquiries Geoff Hogg, Agnes Tan and Joy Gregory Doug Walters Food poisoning due to Clostridium perfringens 92 Tel: 03 9662 7606 Mobile: 0419 357 779 John Bates Email: [email protected] Salmonella and egg-related outbreaks 94 © 2013 The Australian Society for Microbiology Inc. Cameron RM Moffatt and Jennie Musto The ASM, through CSIRO Publishing, reserve all rights to the content, artwork and photographs in Microbiology Foodborne campylobacteriosis in Australia 98 Australia. Permission to reproduce text, photos and artwork must be sought from CSIRO Publishing. Russell Stafford The Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent Food safety plans: three problems to address when 102 amendments permit downloading and use of an article by an individual or educational institution for non- analysing microbiological hazards commercial personal use or study. Multiple reproduction Prue Bramwell of any Microbiology Australia article in a study block is governed by rights agreement managed by Copyright Microbiological testing of foods: what, why, how 105 Agency Limited and fees may apply. Agnes Tan and Numani Weerasuriya Authors published in Microbiology Australia have the moral right under Australian law to be acknowledged as Advanced food preservation technologies 108 the creator. Roman Buckow and Michelle Bull ISSN 1324-4272 eISSN 2201-9189 Cooking meat at home 111 While reasonable effort has been made to ensure the Patricia Desmarchelier and Juliana Madden accuracy of the content, the Australian Society for Micro- biology, CSIRO, and CSIRO PUBLISHING accept no ASM Affairs 114 responsibility for any loss or damage from the direct or indirect use of or reliance on the content. The opinions ASM NZ Postgraduate Research Travel Award, 2012 114 expressed in articles, letters, and advertisements in Microbiology Australia are not necessarily those of the ASM, Parasitology and Tropical Medicine SIG 115 Australian Society for Microbiology, the Editorial Board, CSIRO, and CSIRO PUBLISHING. MICROBIOLOGY AUSTRALIA • MAY 2013 57 Guest Editorial Food safety and changing, leading to the emergence of new pathogenic types and new modes of transmission through food. Advances in disease surveillance networks, tools for tracing outbreaks and pathogen characterisation have enabled the identification of foodborne out- breaks, which would previously have gone unnoticed. The use of standardised tests across many countries has facilitated the identi- fication of outbreaks that may cross international borders. Food safety issues that were once restricted to a limited area may now impact on geographically diverse populations due to the globalisa- tion of the production and trade of food in comparison to the past. Narelle Fegan This can also have a significant impact on trade with various countries requiring imported food to meet certain criteria in relation to food safety. In recent years there has also been recognition that Producing safe food is essential for protecting the health of foodborne pathogens could be used in terror attacks. consumers and for ensuring the sustainability and profit- As you can see from the above challenges, keeping food safe is a ability of food industries, including primary production, complex task. It involves input from food producers, food manu- food manufacture, food service and retail. Food safety facturers, consumers, researchers, clinicians, epidemiologists, poli- hazards may result from contamination of food with micro- ticians and regulators, and as highlighted from this edition of bial, physical or chemical hazards. This edition of Microbi- Microbiology Australia, requires skills beyond just microbiology. ology Australia focuses on microbial food safety hazards, Understanding food safety requires knowledge of microbial ecology including prions, viruses, bacteria and fungi. Technological through the whole food chain, along with an understanding of the advancements throughout history, such as pasteurisation, types of pathogens present, the virulence properties they possess canning and refrigeration, have significantly improved and how they are transferred through food production. The avail- the safety of our food supply; however, foodborne illness ability of effective detection methods and surveillance systems is remains a global problem impacting on millions of people also critical for identifying outbreaks and tracing the sources of each year. A recent example is the large outbreak of E. coli foodborne illness. Understanding the cause of outbreaks is impor- O104:H4 that occurred during 2011 in Germany and many tant for preventing future occurrences. More recently, the devel- other countries across Europe and North America, which opment of new tools such as “omics” and the application of affected more than 4,000 people resulting in 50 deaths. The computational and mathematical science to biological/food systems outbreak was associated with seeds used for sprouting that has increased our fundamental knowledge on how foodborne had originated from Egypt. The causative agent, E. coli O104: pathogens enter, persist and behave within food systems. Such H4, had acquired new virulence properties in the form of information will guide the future development of new processing toxin genes carried by bacteriophage, creating a highly technologies and underpin risk management and intervention pathogenic strain. This outbreak highlighted some of the systems to control hazards throughout the food system from difficulties faced by those involved in keeping the food we eat farm to fork. Effective information and education around safe safe. Many of these challenges are discussed throughout the food handling practices and understanding risks associated with articles in this edition of Microbiology Australia. food production is important not only for those working in the food The way we produce our food is constantly evolving. Changing food industry producing our food, but also for consumers. Having production practices through the application of new farming tech- appropriate risk-based food regulation and the application of nologies, climate change and the availability of water and land standards to the food industry is also important for limiting food- resources as well as intensive rearing of animals can all impact on borne illness. This edition of Microbiology Australia covers many the presence of foodborne pathogens during primary production. aspects of these complexities and highlights the challenges faced Technologies are constantly being developed to improve food by all those who work to ensure the safety of our food supply. processing, which may in turn provide new and unpredictable ways for food pathogens to enter the food supply. Consumer preferences are also changing with an increasing demand for fresh, minimally Biography processed foods that have limited or no interventions to reduce Dr Narelle Fegan is a microbiologist in the Food Safety and Stability microbial contamination or limit their growth. Changing demo- Theme and current leader of the Microbiology Group at