title: Occurrence of emerging food-borne pathogenic Arcobacter spp. isolated from pre-cut (ready-to-eat) vegetables.
abstract: Given that changes in consumer food behaviours have led to an increase in the demand for pre-cut ready-to-eat (RTE) vegetables, and that few data are currently available on the occurrence of Arcobacter spp. in such foods, the aim of the present study was to assess the occurrence of Arcobacter spp. that carry virulence-associated genes on pre-cut RTE vegetables, using cultural and molecular methods. Arcobacter was detected using biomolecular identification methods in 44/160 (27.5%) of the samples, of which 40/44 (90.9%) isolates corresponded to A. butzleri and 4/44 (9.1%) to A. cryaerophilus. Studying the incidence of 9 virulence-associated genes revealed the widespread distribution of these genes among the Arcobacter isolates tested. The results obtained in our research provided plenty of information on the health risks associated with the direct consumption of raw vegetables, and highlight the need to implement further studies at each level of the production chain, in order to obtain further information to help protect human health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Prov. le Casamassima, km 3, 70010 Valenzano, Bari, Italy. Electronic address: anna.mottola@uniba.it.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mottola
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Prov. le Casamassima, km 3, 70010 Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bonerba
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Prov. le Casamassima, km 3, 70010 Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bozzo
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Prov. le Casamassima, km 3, 70010 Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marchetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Prov. le Casamassima, km 3, 70010 Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Gaetano Vitale
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Celano
authors.affiliation: A.B.A.P. (Apulian Society of Biologists), Via Giulio Petroni 15/F, 70124 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Valeriana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Colao
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Prov. le Casamassima, km 3, 70010 Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Terio
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Prov. le Casamassima, km 3, 70010 Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tantillo
authors.affiliation: Unitat de Microbiologia, Departament de Ciències Mèdiques Bàsiques, Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut, IISPV, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Sant Llorenç 21, 43201 Reus, Spain.
authors.forename: Maria José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Figueras
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Prov. le Casamassima, km 3, 70010 Valenzano, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Pinto
mesh_terms: D020640:Arcobacter / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005516:Food Microbiology; D059022:Food Safety; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014675:Vegetables / Q000382:microbiology*
keywords: Arcobacter butzleri; Arcobacter cryaerophilus; Emerging food-borne pathogens; Pre-cut vegetables (ready-to-eat)