Protecting Romaine lettuce from pathogens - (Agricultural Research Service, USDA)
June 27, 2008 – 7:01 pmKnowing the preferences of foodborne pathogens such as Escherichia coli O157:H7 is essential to a successful counterattack on these microbes. That’s why Agricultural Research Service (ARS) microbiologist Maria T. Brandl and University of California-Berkeley colleague Ronald G. Amundson are scrutinizing the little-understood ability of E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica to contaminate romaine lettuce.
Brandl is with the ARS Produce Safety and Microbiology Research Unit, part of the agency’s Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif.
In experiments, the scientists exposed romaine lettuce leaves to E. coli O157:H7 and found that, after 24 hours, populations of the microbe were 10 times higher on young leaves than on middle ones.
One explanation: The young leaves offer more nutrition for E. coli. They exude about three times more nitrogen and about 1.5 times more carbon than do the middle leaves, Brandl and Amundson reported.
For the complete research item, please visit http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr
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