Jeffrey LeJeune

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations | FAO · Food Systems and Food Safety

FAO has published targeted guidelines for farmers on best practices to increase crop yields that ensure foods produced are of high quality and safe. Production practices to increase yield, quality and safety of fruits and vegetables outlines practical measures to combat plant diseases that reduce reliance on pesticides, including antimicrobials. T...

Antimicrobials are medicines used to prevent and treat infections in humans, animals and plants. They include antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) refers to the ability of microorganisms to persist or grow in the presence of antimicrobials designed to inhibit or kill them. It occurs when bacteria,...

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become a health, environmental, and economic threat around the globe. It is rising in Ethiopia. This analysis was designed to determine the current status of AMR on major bacterial pathogens, laboratory capacities, surveillance systems, and containment activities in the country. Data were collected from published...

The presence of antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms and antimicrobial residues in food are biological and chemical hazards leading to public health and food safety risks. The continued use, misuse, or abuse of antimicrobials in animals and plants, is one of the main drivers of the increased detection of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the food...

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is estimated to cause over two million cases of human disease annually. Trinidad and Tobago is one of the largest livestock producer and consumer of sheep and goat meat in the Caribbean, however, the potential role of these animals in the epidemiology of STEC infections has not been previously described...

Global population increase and climate change continue to present challenges to the sustainability of the primary production of food. Among the efforts to address the challenges, exploration of the use of seaweed as food is gaining traction. World seaweed production has more than tripled since the turn of the millennium, increasing from 10.6 mi...

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been clearly identified as a major global health challenge. It is a leading cause of human deaths and also has a toll on animals, plants, and the environment. Despite the considerable socioeconomic impacts, the level of awareness of the problem remains woefully inadequate, and antimicrobials are not generally reco...

Subtyping of bacterial isolates of the same genus and species is an important tool in epidemiological investigations. A number of phenotypic and genotypic subtyping methods are available; however, most of these methods are labor-intensive and time-consuming and require considerable operator skill and a wealth of reagents. Matrix-Assisted Laser Deso...

Bactericides, fungicides, and other pesticides play an important role in the management of plant diseases. However, their use can result in residues on plants and in the environment, with potentially detrimental consequences. The use of streptomycin, oxytetracycline, copper-based products, and some fungicides is correlated with increased resistance...

The changing epidemiologic role of wildlife as reservoirs of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria (ARB) is poorly understood. In this study, we characterize the phenotypic resistance of commensal Escherichia coli from fecal samples of 879 individual white-tailed (Odocoileus virginianus; WTD) over a ten-year period and analyze resistance patterns. Our r...

FAO Conferences in 2015 and 2019 underscored the importance and urgency of addressing the growing global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in all countries through a coordinated, multisectoral, One Health approach in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. They highlighted that access to effective antimicrobials and their...

Since the late 1990s, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) has convened expert meetings and consultations to address the microbiological risk assessment (MRA). These meetings are held to provide scientific advice in response to requests for from Codex Alimentarius, the internation...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

This research study was conducted to determine if bird depredation in feedlots is associated with the prevalence of ciprofloxacin-resistant Escherichia coli in cattle and to determine if removal of invasive bird species could be an effective management strategy to help reduce ciprofloxacin-resistant E. coli in cattle within the United States. Europ...

Antimicrobial use in livestock production is a driver for the development and proliferation of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Wildlife interactions with livestock, acquiring associated AMR bacteria and genes, and wildlife’s subsequent dispersal across the landscape are hypothesized to play an important role in the ecology of AMR. Here, we examined...

Tomatoes have been linked to Salmonella outbreaks in the United States (US). Plasticulture systems, that combine raised beds, plastic mulch, drip irrigation and fumigation, are common in commercial staked fresh tomato production in the US. The US FDA Produce Safety Rule prohibits the distribution of any produce covered by the rule (including fresh...

The gut microbiome plays an important role in the immune system development, maintenance of normal health status, and in disease progression. In this study, we comparatively examined the fecal microbiomes of Amish (rural) and non-Amish (urban) infants and investigated how they could affect the mucosal immune maturation in germ-free piglets that wer...

Although the usage of signifcant amounts of World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and World Health Organization (WHO) critically important antibiotics in livestock production is well recognised, the impact of antimicrobial usage (AMU) on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Bangladesh is still poorly characterised. Furthermore, no standard survei...

Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli are two of the main causes of foodborne disease globally, and while they have been implicated as possible causes of foodborne disease within the Caribbean region, the actual incidence is unknown. Trinidad and Tobago, one of the larger countries in the Caribbean, has an estimated annual foodborne...

Campylobacter jejuni clone SA is the major cause of sheep abortion and contributes significantly to foodborne illnesses in the United States. Clone SA is hypervirulent because of its distinct ability to produce systemic infection and its predominant role in clinical sheep abortion. Despite the importance of clone SA, little is known about its distr...

This study considers gene location within bacteria as a function of genetic element mobility. Our emphasis is on prophage encoding of bacterial virulence factors (VFs). At least four mechanisms potentially contribute to phage encoding of bacterial VFs: (i) Enhanced gene mobility could result in greater VF gene representation within bacterial popula...

Plasmids encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP) are frequently used to label bacteria, allowing the identification and differentiation from background flora during experimental studies. Because of its common use in survival studies of the foodborne pathogen Escherichia coli O157:H7, it is important to know the extent to which the plasmid is retai...

Objective This study compared knowledge and food-handling behavior after pathogen-specific (experimental treatment) versus basic food safety instruction (active control) presented during nutrition education classes for low-income English- and Spanish-language pregnant women. Methods Subjects (n = 550) were randomly assigned to treatment groups in t...

Two similar phage-like plasmids carrying CTX-M-15 resistance cassettes were identified from two environmental Escherichia coli isolates. They demonstrate strong nucleotide sequence identity to the phage-like plasmid pECOH89 and Salmonella bacteriophage SSU5.

Food Indwelling Clostridium difficile in Naturally Contaminated Household Meals: Data for Expanded Risk Mathematical Predictions - Volume 38 Issue 4 - Alexander Rodriguez-Palacios, Sanja Ilic, Jeffrey T. LeJeune

Most of fresh tomatoes sold in the United States (US) are grown using protected agriculture. The risk of contamination and severe disease outbreaks in humans due to foodborne pathogens linked to fresh produce are a constant threat to the public and the industry. To date, there are limited tools to prioritize food safety management practices in comm...

Wild birds that forage around livestock facilities have been implicated as vectors of antimicrobial resistant organisms. Although antimicrobial resistant bacteria have been isolated from European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), their role in the dissemination of antimicrobial resistant elements in livestock facilities needs further investigation. To...

The internet has become an increasingly important way of communicating with consumers about food risk information. However, relatively little is known about how consumers evaluate and come to trust the information they encounter online. Using the example of unpasteurized or raw milk this paper presents two studies exploring the trust factors associ...

Emerging enteric pathogens could have not only more antibiotic resistance or virulence traits; they could also have increased resistance to heat. We quantified the effects of minimum recommended cooking and higher temperatures, individually on a collection of C. difficile isolates and on the survival probability of a mixture of emerging C. difficil...

Foodborne pathogen persistence in soil fundamentally affects production of safe vegetables and small fruits. Interventions that reduce pathogen survival in soil would have positive impacts on food safety by minimizing pre-harvest contamination entering the food chain. Laboratory-controlled studies determined the effects of soil pH, moisture content...

Escherichia coli strains that carry Shiga toxin genes are commonly isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of a wide variety of animal species ( Table 1 ). Intestinal carriage of most Shiga toxin‐producing E. coli (STEC) strains by domestic and wild animals has little clinical relevance to either the animal hosts or humans. Most animals lack recep...

One half of fresh tomato sales in the US are from greenhouse grown crops. Fresh tomato was linked to a number of foodborne disease outbreaks. Collectively, foodborne and phytopathogen hazards threaten both public health and economic viability of the greenhouse industry. Management practices in tomato greenhouses in North America were documented pre...

Potential dairy farm management and environmental factors that attract European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) to dairy farms were explored. During the period from 2007 to 2009, 150 dairy farms were each visited twice (once during the summer and again in the fall) and the number of starlings was recorded. Risk factors were assessed for possible assoc...

Health professionals play an important role in educating the public about food safety risks. However, the ways this important group of educators remains up-to-date on these topics are not well defined. In this study, a national sample of dietitians employed in direct teaching of patients (n = 327) were recruited to complete a web-delivered survey d...

Wildlife is a known reservoir of pathogenic bacteria, including Mycobacterium bovis and Brucella spp. Transmission of these pathogens between wildlife and food animals can lead to damaging impacts on the agri-food industry and public health. Several international case studies have highlighted the complex and cross-sectoral challenges involved in pr...

Although recent reports indicated that produce contamination with foodborne pathogens is widespread in Nigeria, the sources and magnitude of microbial contamination of fruits and vegetables on farms and in markets have not been thoroughly identified. To ascertain possible pathways of contamination, the frequency and magnitude of coliform and Escher...

We (i) determined the prevalence of Clostridium difficile and their antimicrobial resistance to six antimicrobial classes, in a variety of fresh vegetables sold in retail in Ohio, USA, and (ii) conducted cumulative meta-analysis of reported prevalence in vegetables since the 1990s. Six antimicrobial classes were tested for their relevance as risk f...

The detailed search algorithm, along with the inclusion, exclusion, and data extraction criteria.

The cross-sectional (period) prevalence of Clostridium difficile in 875 farm animals from 29 commercial operations during the summer of 2008 in Ohio, USA was quantified. Compared to an external referent population of intensively managed race horses (12.7%), intensively managed commercially mature food animals (poultry, cattle, swine; < 0.6%) were i...

Wildlife can contribute to environmental contamination with bacterial pathogens and their transfer to the human food chain. Global usage and frequent misuse of antimicrobials contribute to emergence of new antimicrobial resistant (AMR) strains of foodborne pathogens. We conducted a scoping review of published research to identify and characterize t...

The One Health concept recognizes that human health is connected to, and dependent on the health of animals, plants and the environment. Human beings and other organisms have coevolved on the earth for hundreds of millennia. Over time, they have come to depend on each other in a very intricate manner. The survival and welfare of the human species c...

Abstract To better understand the epizootiology of Escherichia coli O157:H7 among cattle, all E. coli O157 isolates recovered on a research feedlot during a single feeding period were characterized by multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA). Three distinct MLVA subtypes (A, B, C), accounting for 24%, 15%, and 64% of total isola...

Irrigation water is considered a potential source of preharvest pathogen contamination of vegetables. Hence, several organizations have recommended microbiological standards for water used to irrigate edible plants. The purpose of this study was to determine the strength of association between microbial quality indicators (coliforms and Escherichia...

Knowledge of the behavior and movement patterns of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris L.) is important to wildlife managers that seek to resolve conflicts at livestock facilities. We captured and radio tagged 10 starlings at each of 5 dairies in northeastern Ohio. From September 19 to October 31, 2007, we obtained sufficient data from 40 birds to...

Many articles have summarized the changing epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) in humans, but the emerging presence of C. difficile in foods and animals and possible measures to reduce human exposure to this important pathogen have been infrequently addressed. CDIs have traditionally been assumed to be restricted to health-care s...

Guidelines for microbial irrigation water quality have been proposed by regulatory agencies and organizations to reduce potential risks of waterborne contamination of produce. Most recommendations emphasize threshold values of fecal indicators and typically rely on only a limited number of water tests over the course of irrigation season. In this s...

Abstract Dairy cattle serve as a potential source for Campylobacter infection in humans. Outbreaks associated with consumption of either Campylobacter contaminated raw milk or contaminated milk after treatment were previously recorded in the United States. Further, starlings have been implicated in the spread of bacterial pathogens among livestock....

Agricultural water may contact fresh produce during irrigation and/or when crop protection sprays (e.g., cooling to prevent sunburn, frost protection, and agrochemical mixtures) are applied. This document provides a framework for designing research studies that would add to our understanding of preharvest microbial food safety hazards and control m...

Experts identified water quality, manure, good handling practices (including personal hygiene and equipment sanitation), and traceability as critical farm problem areas that, if addressed, are likely to decrease risk associated with microbial contamination of fresh produce from all scales of agriculture. However, the diverse nature of production st...

The perspectives, practices and potential gaps in knowledge regarding fresh produce safety hazards among Midwestern US vegetable producers were measured using a survey-based confirmatory assessment. Although the majority of vegetable producers considered themselves familiar with national Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and agreed that implementi...

This research intends to refocus the on-farm fresh produce food safety paradigm away from an emphasis on knowledge deficit models and ready-made or tightly-coupled, reductionist solutions toward a loosely-coupled systems approach. The dynamic environment of produce farming and multi-dimensional objectives of produce growers create manifold pathways...

Water plays an important role in the transmission of many infectious diseases, which pose a great burden on global public health. However, the global distribution of these water-associated infectious diseases and underlying factors remain largely unexplored. Based on the Global Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Network (GIDEON), a global database...

The invasion associated marker (iam) has been detected in the majority of invasive Campylobacter jejuni retrieved from humans. Furthermore, the detection of iam in C. jejuni isolated from two important hosts, humans and chickens, suggested a role for this marker in C. jejuni's colonization of multiple hosts. However, no data exist regarding the occ...

Antimicrobial resistance profiles, Sequence Types, and MRP clusters of C.jejuni isolates. (DOC)

Since cattle are a major source of food and the cattle industry engages people from farms to processing plants and meat markets, it is conceivable that beef-products contaminated with Campylobacter spp. would pose a significant public health concern. To better understand the epidemiology of cattle-associated Campylobacter spp. in the USA, we charac...

To assess the potential for food contamination with Clostridium difficile from food animals, we conducted a cross-sectional fecal prevalence study in 944 randomly selected cattle harvested at seven commercial meat processing plants, representing four distant regions (median distance of 1,500 km) of the United States. In all, 944 animals were sample...

European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) are common, widely distributed birds in North America that frequently come into contact with agricultural operations. However, starlings have been one of the neglected land-based wild bird species for influenza surveillance. To study the potential role of starlings in the ecology and epidemiology of influenza v...

Sand bedding material is frequently used in dairy operations to reduce the occurrence of mastitis and enhance cow comfort. One objective of this work was to determine if sand-based bedding also supported the microbiologically based suppression of an introduced bacterial pathogen. Bedding samples were collected in summer, fall, and winter from vario...

Clostridium difficile spores can survive extended heating at 71°C (160°F), a minimum temperature commonly recommended for adequate cooking of meats. To determine the extent to which higher temperatures would be more effective at killing C. difficile, we quantified (D values) the effect of moist heat at 85°C (145°F, for 0 to 30 min) on C. difficile...

To longitudinally assess fecal shedding and animal-to-animal transmission of Clostridium difficile among finishing feedlot cattle as a risk for beef carcass contamination, we tested 186 ± 12 steers (mean ± standard deviation; 1,369 samples) in an experimental feedlot facility during the finishing period and at harvest. Clostridium difficile was iso...

Phenotypic detection of methicillin resistance in coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CoNS) of animal origin has been challenging due to the heterogeneous expression of mecA. To compare different phenotypic methods in predicting the mecA presence in CoNS, a total of 87 CoNS isolates from agricultural animals were analyzed in this study by agar dilut...

Manure from draft animals deposited in fields during vegetable and fruit production may serve as a potential source of preharvest pathogen contamination of foods. To better quantify this risk, we determined the prevalence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in horses. Between June and September 2009, freshly voided fecal samples were collected from horses...

The objectives of this study were to compare the performance of different diagnostic protocols (rectoanal mucosal swabs and immunomagnetic separation [RAMS-IMS], fecal samples and IMS [fecal-IMS], and direct plating) to determine the prevalence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and to evaluate the pattern of E. coli O157:H7 shedding and super-shedding (d...

Alteration of the gastro-intestinal tract through manipulation of cattle diets has been proposed as a preharvest control measure to reduce fecal shedding of Escherichia coli O157:H7. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of the energy source's moisture content (high moisture corn and dry whole-shelled corn), two natural feed supple...

The raising of captive white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is a growing agricultural industry in Ohio as it is in several other areas of the United States and around the world. Pooled fecal samples were collected from 30 white-tailed deer confinement facilities. Samples were cultured for five enteric bacterial pathogens. Premise prevalence r...

Foodborne disease outbreaks caused by contaminated fresh vegetables continue to be a concern in the United States despite efforts by industry, academia and the government to reduce their incidence. Gaps, misconceptions and emerging perceptions among growers with regard to their decision-making process and practices concerning prevention of and resp...

Fecally contaminated irrigation water is frequently implicated as either a source of contamination of fresh produce with foodborne pathogens. Since the concentrations of pathogenic microorganisms in irrigation water are usually low, sampling of larger volumes of water should be performed prior to detection and quantification. The objective of this...

Contaminated irrigation water has been shown to be an important vehicle for transfer of Escherichia coli O157:H7 to produce. Timely detection of this pathogen in irrigation water can prevent contamination of the final product, and such detection should integrate concentration of pathogens from large volumes of water. Antimicrobial Incorporated Mult...

The survival of enteric pathogens on vegetable leaves improves due to presence of phytopathogens. Phytopathogen damage alters the microenvironment on the leaf surface. The objective of this study was to identify differences in sugar concentrations in tomato leaves damaged by biotropic plant pathogens and determine if these differences affect Escher...