Prevalence Trends of Foodborne Pathogens Bacillus cereus, Non-STEC Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in Ready-to-Eat Foods Sourced from Restaurants, Cafés, Catering and Takeaway Food Premises

Nicole Foxcroft (), Edmore Masaka and Jacques Oosthuizen
Additional contact information
Nicole Foxcroft: Occupational and Environmental Health, Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University Joondalup, Perth 6017, Australia
Edmore Masaka: Occupational and Environmental Health, Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University Joondalup, Perth 6017, Australia
Jacques Oosthuizen: Occupational and Environmental Health, Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University Joondalup, Perth 6017, Australia

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 11, 1-27

Abstract: Foodborne pathogens of Bacillus cereus ( B. cereus ), non-STEC Escherichia coli (non-STEC E. coli ) and Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus ) are currently non-notifiable in Australia unless attributed to a food poisoning outbreak. Due to the lack of data around individual cases and isolations in foods, any changes in prevalence may go undetected. The aim of this study was to determine any changes in the prevalence of B. cereus , non-STEC E. coli and S. aureus in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods sampled from Western Australian restaurants, cafés, catering facilities and takeaway food premises from July 2009 to June 2022. A total of 21,822 microbiological test results from 7329 food samples analysed over this 13-year period were reviewed and analysed. Linear trend graphs derived from the annual prevalence and binary logistic regression models were used to analyse the sample results, which indicated an increase in prevalence for B. cereus. In contrast, a decrease in prevalence for both S. aureus and non-STEC E. coli was determined. Additionally, there were changes in prevalence for the three bacteria in specific months, seasons, specific RTE foods and food premises types. Further research is needed to gain a better understanding of the potential drivers behind these changes in prevalence, including the potential impacts of climate change, COVID-19, legislation and guidelines targeting specific RTE foods, and the difficulty of differentiating B . cereus from B. thuringeniesis using standard testing methods.

Keywords: Bacillus cereus; non-STEC Escherichia coli; Staphylococcus aureus; ready-to-eat foods; restaurants; cafes; catering; prevalence; linear trends (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/11/1426/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/11/1426/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:11:p:1426-:d:1507658

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().