Bacterial microbiota associated with raw plant-based meat analogue products and their influences on selective enrichment for Escherichia coli O157:H7

Towards fostering a more sustainable food production system in face of the climate change challenge, alternative protein meat-substitute products that are plant-based and free of animal by-products have been gaining attractions from both food manufacturers and consumers. With these so-called plant-b...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sabrina Capitani, Liam P. Brown, Catherine D. Carrillo, Calvin Ho-Fung Lau
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-01-01
Series:Current Research in Food Science
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665927124002715
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1846139851654561792
author Sabrina Capitani
Liam P. Brown
Catherine D. Carrillo
Calvin Ho-Fung Lau
author_facet Sabrina Capitani
Liam P. Brown
Catherine D. Carrillo
Calvin Ho-Fung Lau
author_sort Sabrina Capitani
collection DOAJ
description Towards fostering a more sustainable food production system in face of the climate change challenge, alternative protein meat-substitute products that are plant-based and free of animal by-products have been gaining attractions from both food manufacturers and consumers. With these so-called plant-based meat analogues (PBMAs) becoming increasingly available at supermarkets, there is very little known about their microbial properties. In this short report, we characterized the bacterial composition of raw plant-based ground meat imitation retail products using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Despite the observed bacterial community dissimilarity between sample brands, a total of 18 shared genera (dominated by Bacilli and Gammaproteobacteria classes) were identified as the core constituents of the bacterial microbiota of these PBMA products. Within the scope of food safety testing, to gain insights on the dynamics of the enrichment process for E. coli O157:H7 in accordance with the Health Canada reference method MFHPB-10, bacterial taxonomic analyses were conducted at different stages of the prescribed cultural procedures. Using both control and E. coli O157:H7-inoculated PBMA samples it was revealed that, independent of the presence of E. coli O157:H7, off-target bacteria of the Clostridium sensu stricto 1 genus were significantly enriched from the uncultured samples. Additionally, the abundance of Hafnia-Obesumbacterium bacteria in the PBMA samples was also increased in the enrichment products, but only when E. coli O157:H7 was absent. Consistent with the spread-plating results indicating that the inoculated E. coli O157:H7 cells were capable of reaching a high density (>108 CFU/ml) in the resultant enrichment cultures, the significant enrichment of bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences belonging to the targeted genus of Escherichia, but not Hafnia-Obesumbacterium. This further highlights the competitive nature of the selective enrichment for E. coli O157:H7 against specific background bacteria associated with the PBMA products.
format Article
id doaj-art-7dd9d34113f14450ad146f399c71a4cd
institution Kabale University
issn 2665-9271
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Current Research in Food Science
spelling doaj-art-7dd9d34113f14450ad146f399c71a4cd2024-12-06T05:14:30ZengElsevierCurrent Research in Food Science2665-92712025-01-0110100944Bacterial microbiota associated with raw plant-based meat analogue products and their influences on selective enrichment for Escherichia coli O157:H7Sabrina Capitani0Liam P. Brown1Catherine D. Carrillo2Calvin Ho-Fung Lau3Ottawa Laboratory (Carling), Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaOttawa Laboratory (Carling), Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaOttawa Laboratory (Carling), Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaCorresponding author.; Ottawa Laboratory (Carling), Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaTowards fostering a more sustainable food production system in face of the climate change challenge, alternative protein meat-substitute products that are plant-based and free of animal by-products have been gaining attractions from both food manufacturers and consumers. With these so-called plant-based meat analogues (PBMAs) becoming increasingly available at supermarkets, there is very little known about their microbial properties. In this short report, we characterized the bacterial composition of raw plant-based ground meat imitation retail products using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Despite the observed bacterial community dissimilarity between sample brands, a total of 18 shared genera (dominated by Bacilli and Gammaproteobacteria classes) were identified as the core constituents of the bacterial microbiota of these PBMA products. Within the scope of food safety testing, to gain insights on the dynamics of the enrichment process for E. coli O157:H7 in accordance with the Health Canada reference method MFHPB-10, bacterial taxonomic analyses were conducted at different stages of the prescribed cultural procedures. Using both control and E. coli O157:H7-inoculated PBMA samples it was revealed that, independent of the presence of E. coli O157:H7, off-target bacteria of the Clostridium sensu stricto 1 genus were significantly enriched from the uncultured samples. Additionally, the abundance of Hafnia-Obesumbacterium bacteria in the PBMA samples was also increased in the enrichment products, but only when E. coli O157:H7 was absent. Consistent with the spread-plating results indicating that the inoculated E. coli O157:H7 cells were capable of reaching a high density (>108 CFU/ml) in the resultant enrichment cultures, the significant enrichment of bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences belonging to the targeted genus of Escherichia, but not Hafnia-Obesumbacterium. This further highlights the competitive nature of the selective enrichment for E. coli O157:H7 against specific background bacteria associated with the PBMA products.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665927124002715Plant-based meat analoguesAlternative proteinMicrobiomeBacterial communityCultural enrichmentE. coli O157:H7
spellingShingle Sabrina Capitani
Liam P. Brown
Catherine D. Carrillo
Calvin Ho-Fung Lau
Bacterial microbiota associated with raw plant-based meat analogue products and their influences on selective enrichment for Escherichia coli O157:H7
Current Research in Food Science
Plant-based meat analogues
Alternative protein
Microbiome
Bacterial community
Cultural enrichment
E. coli O157:H7
title Bacterial microbiota associated with raw plant-based meat analogue products and their influences on selective enrichment for Escherichia coli O157:H7
title_full Bacterial microbiota associated with raw plant-based meat analogue products and their influences on selective enrichment for Escherichia coli O157:H7
title_fullStr Bacterial microbiota associated with raw plant-based meat analogue products and their influences on selective enrichment for Escherichia coli O157:H7
title_full_unstemmed Bacterial microbiota associated with raw plant-based meat analogue products and their influences on selective enrichment for Escherichia coli O157:H7
title_short Bacterial microbiota associated with raw plant-based meat analogue products and their influences on selective enrichment for Escherichia coli O157:H7
title_sort bacterial microbiota associated with raw plant based meat analogue products and their influences on selective enrichment for escherichia coli o157 h7
topic Plant-based meat analogues
Alternative protein
Microbiome
Bacterial community
Cultural enrichment
E. coli O157:H7
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665927124002715
work_keys_str_mv AT sabrinacapitani bacterialmicrobiotaassociatedwithrawplantbasedmeatanalogueproductsandtheirinfluencesonselectiveenrichmentforescherichiacolio157h7
AT liampbrown bacterialmicrobiotaassociatedwithrawplantbasedmeatanalogueproductsandtheirinfluencesonselectiveenrichmentforescherichiacolio157h7
AT catherinedcarrillo bacterialmicrobiotaassociatedwithrawplantbasedmeatanalogueproductsandtheirinfluencesonselectiveenrichmentforescherichiacolio157h7
AT calvinhofunglau bacterialmicrobiotaassociatedwithrawplantbasedmeatanalogueproductsandtheirinfluencesonselectiveenrichmentforescherichiacolio157h7