Hygiene and Sanitation

Food Microbiology

Introduction

Food Microbiology is the study of microbes (micro-organism) that create, inhibit or/ and
contaminate the food. Food Microbiology thus deals with
• Food Spoilage
• Disease causing pathogens
• Beneficial roles of microbes e.g. fermentation, pro-biotics
• Microorganism groups important in food microbiology

Viruses

Virus are the infectious agent of small size and simple composition that can multiply only in living
cells of animals, plants, or bacteria. The name is from a Latin word meaning “slimy liquid” or
“poison.”

Viruses, especially norovirus and hepatitis A, are an important cause of food borne diseases. Viral
contamination of food occurs through contact with infected persons, e.g. food handlers. Food
contaminated with viruses can cause dangerous infections in humans ranging from mild diarrhea
to severe hepatitis. Foods that are handled manually and are not processed before consumption are
at particular risk of viral contamination.

Bacteria

Bacteria are unicellular micro-organisms which do not have cell wall and nucleus. Bacteria are
classified into five groups according to their basic shapes: spherical (cocci), rod (bacilli), spiral
(spirilla), comma (vibrios) or corkscrew (spirochaetes). They can exist as single cells, in pairs,
chains or clusters. A lot of these bacterial cells are found lining the digestive system. Some bacteria
live in the soil or on dead plant matter where they play an important role in the cycling of nutrients.
Some types cause food spoilage and crop damage but others are incredibly useful in the production
of fermented foods such as yoghurt and soy sauce. Relatively few bacteria are parasites or
pathogens that cause disease in animals and plants. Bacteria have both beneficial and harmful role
in food.

Beneficial role of Bacteria in Food

Bacteria are commonly used in the production of variety of dairy products. Bacteria are used to
make a wide range of food products. The most important bacteria in food manufacturing are
Lactobacillus species, also referred to as lactic bacteria. Bacillus subtilis is used to produce
amylase and also used to produce hyaluronic acid, which is useful in the joint-care sector in
healthcare.

Harmful Role of Bacteria in Food

Bacteria Inhabitation Mode of Spread Illness Caused

Soil
Water Uncooked Pneumonia
Acinetobacter
Fresh Contaminated Skin and wound Infections
baumannii
Refrigerated Food Meningitis
Products
Soil Uncooked
Food Cooked
Bacillus Cereus Diarrheal Illness
Milk Refrigerated food
Meat Milk
Improperly
soil and
Clostridium Canned food
sediments Botulism
botulinum products like
meat, poultry
Food Borne Gastroeneritis

Foodborne-illness can be
placed into five groups:
Different 1. enteropathogenic (EPEC),
Faecal Pollution
Escherichia coli Media and 2. enterotoxigenic (ETEC),
Food
Many Food 3. enteroinvasive (EIEC),
4. enterohemorrhagic (EHEC)
and
5. facultatively
enteropathogenic (FEEC)
Leading cause of Food borne
Salmonella illness in humans.
Food
(S. typhimurium, Milk, Meat,
Finished Food • Enteric Fever
S. typhi, Poultry
Products • Typhoid
S. enteritidis)
• Paratyphoid
Staphylococcus Enterotoxins
Food Food
aureus Gastro intestinal disorders
Contaminated
Shigella Faeces Shigellosis
food
Fungi (Yeast and Molds)

Fungus, plural fungi, any of about 144,000 known species of organisms of the kingdom Fungi,
which includes the yeasts, rusts, smuts, mildews, molds, and mushrooms. Fungi are among the
most widely distributed organisms on Earth and are of great environmental and medical
importance. Many fungi are free-living in soil or water; others form parasitic or symbiotic
relationships with plants or animals.

Yeast

Yeasts are fungi that grow as single cells, producing daughter cells either by budding (the budding
yeasts) or by binary fission (the fission yeasts). They differ from most fungi, which grow as thread-
like hyphae. But this distinction is not a fundamental one, because some fungi can alternate
between a yeast phase and a hyphal phase, depending on environmental conditions. Such fungi are
termed dimorphic (with two shapes) and they include several that cause disease of humans.

There are several examples of yeasts and dimorphic fungi:

1. the common baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae

2. the genus Cryptococcus, which includes C. neoformans, a pathogen of humans
3. the dimorphic fungus Candida albicans which can be a significant pathogen of humans
4. some of the common leaf surface yeasts.

Mold

A mold or mould is a fungus that grows in the form of multicellular filaments called hyphae. A
hypha is a branching tubular structure approximately 2-10 µm in diameter which is usually divided
into cell-like units by cross walls called septa. The total mass of hyphae is termed a mycelium.
The portion of the mycelium that anchors the mold and absorbs nutrients is called the vegetative
mycelium, composed of vegetative hyphae; the portion that produces asexual reproductive spores
is the aerial mycelium, composed of aerial hyphae.

Algae

Algae can exist as single cells, an example of which is Chlamydomonas, or joined together in
chains like Spirogyra or made up of many cells, for instance Rhodymenia (red seaweed).

Some algae can grow on rocks, soil or vegetation as long as there is enough moisture. A few algae
form very close partnerships with fungi to form lichens. Unusual algal habitats are the hairs of the
South American sloth and polar bears.
All algae contain a pigment called chlorophyll a (other types of chlorophyll such as b, c and/or d
may also be present) and they make their own food by photosynthesis. The chlorophyll is contained
in the chloroplasts and gives many algae their green appearance. However, some algae appear
brown, yellow or red because in addition to chlorophylls they have other accessory pigments that
camouflage the green colour.

Diatoms, a type of algae, are found floating in the phytoplankton of the seas. Their cell walls
contain a hard substance called silica. When the diatoms die, they sink to the floor. Their soft parts
decay and the silica cell wall remains. Over time the pressure of the seawater pushes the silica
together to form one large layer. This silica is mined from the seabed, crushed and used in abrasives
and polishes such as toothpaste.

Their gelling, thickening and stabilizing properties have led to the development of such products
as agar, alginate and carrageenan. Moreover, algae are used in the food industry as food
supplements and an addition to functional food. Algae are also added to meat products, such as
pasty, steaks, frankfurters and sausages, as well as to fish, fish products, and oils, to improve their
quality. Cereal-based products, such as pasta, flour and bread, are another group of products
enriched with algae. Due to their properties algae may also be used for construction of fermented
functional food. Fermented products containing algae are, most of all, dairy products, such as
cheese, cream, milk deserts, yoghurt, cottage cheese, and processed cheese. Combination of
fermented products offering a high content of lactic acid bacteria with algae possessing
biologically active metabolites of natural origin allows not only to compose products with a high
content of nutrients, but also to create a brand-new segment of fermented food.

Parasites

A parasite is an organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food from or at the expense
of its host. There are three main classes of parasites that can cause disease in humans: protozoa,
helminths, and ectoparasites.

Numerous parasites can be transmitted by food including many protozoa and helminth. The most
common foodborne parasites are protozoa such as Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia intestinalis,
Cyclospora cayetanensis, and Toxoplasma gondii; roundworms such as Trichinella spp.

Factors affecting the growth of microbes

The most important factors that affect microbial growth in foods can be categorized as under

(i) factors related to the food itself, the “intrinsic factors,”

1. Nutrient content,
2. Water activity,
 3. Ph value,
4. Redox potential, and
• the presence of antimicrobial substances and mechanical barriers to microbial invasion;

(ii) factors related to the environment in which the food is stored, the “extrinsic factors,”
• including the temperature of storage,
• the composition of gases and
• relative humidity in the atmosphere surrounding the food;

(iii) factors related to the microorganisms themselves, the “implicit factors,”

• interactions between the microorganisms contaminating the food and
• between these microorganisms and the food, e.g., their abilities to utilize different nutrient
sources, tolerate stresses, and produce promoters or inhibitors of growth of other
microorganisms, etc.;

(iv) Processing factors, which include treatments such as heating, cooling, and drying that affect
the composition of the food and also affect the types and numbers of microorganisms that remain
in the food after treatment; and

(v) Interaction between the above‐described factors can also affect the growth of microorganisms
in foods in a complicated way; the combined effects may be additive or synergistic.

Beneficial role of Microbes

Microorganisms have uses and benefits across all aspects of human life. From the bacteria that
help humans digest food to the viruses that help plants resist heat, bacteria, viruses and fungi –
when used properly – are key components in food, medicine, agriculture and other areas. In the
future, they may even be core components of infrastructure and other new technologies.

1. Microorganisms in Food

In addition to their direct environmental benefits, microorganisms are important partners when it
comes to the work of creating food. They can be used to increase the fertility of the soil and
increase crop yields, and they are necessary when making products like bread, beer and cheese and
when growing coffee. At the same time, foods with probiotic properties, such as yogurt and certain
types of chocolate, deliver helpful microorganisms to our digestive systems.
• Adds variety
• Flavour
 • Colour
• Fermentation
• Supplement
• Important component of Food processing industry
• Beer and wine making

2. Environmental Benefits
Bacteria and fungi are required to maintain a healthy environment. Not only do they recycle natural
wastes and dead animal and plant matter, they also produce many of the nutrients that plants need
to grow. Bacteria, in particular, are the only living things that can fix nitrogen for use in plants. At
the same time, microorganisms work in tandem with certain plants to aid them. Some viruses have
been found to provide heat resistance to grasses in arid locations, and many plants store bacteria
in their roots to help absorb certain nutrients more easily.

3. Medical Benefits
We regularly aid the microorganisms in our bodies by adding more. Though certain species of
microorganisms can make you sick – strep throat, the flu and measles are nothing to laugh at –
modern medicine would not exist if not for the careful study of microorganisms. Bacteria and
viruses are the key components of the vaccines that prevent the spread of once-deadly diseases
like smallpox. Today microorganisms allow us to artificially grow helpful substances such as
insulin and human growth hormones, and reprogrammed viruses are frequently used as drug-
delivery mechanisms.

4. Bodily Benefits
Microorganisms known as gut flora help us digest food and regulate the production of vitamins
and nutrients essential to keeping our bodies strong and healthy. Bacteria are the first line of
defence the human body has against infection. The bacteria in our bodies produce natural
antibiotics to repel harmful microorganisms, and if a foreign virus does infect us, many people
are host to a beneficial virus that slows the rate of viral spread in the body.