Antibiotic Use in Livestock and Residues in Food-A Public Health Threat: A Review

The Impact of a Phytobiotic Mixture on Broiler Chicken Health and Meat Safety

The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of different doses of a phytobiotic mixture on selected production parameters and meat quality and to assess the residue of the preparation in tissues and the possible toxic effects in broiler chickens. Broiler chicks aged 160 days, divided into four equal groups, were supplemented with the phytobiotic mixture at different doses, D1-0.5 mL/L, D2-1 mL/L, and D3-2 mL/L, four times during a 42-day trial. There were no statistically significant differences in weight gain per week of life and mortality in the birds. The study also demonstrated that the use of the mixture of phytobiotics had no significant effect on colour, pH, WHC, and natural leakage. However, a beneficial effect of the additive was found in the group treated with a dose of 1 mL/L, where less thermal leakage from the meat was demonstrated. Furthermore, significant differences in the change in thigh muscle tenderness were also observed. In the histopathological analysis of the liver no significant differences were observed. In addition, no residues of the mixture or its metabolites were found in the tissues analysed. In conclusion, the proposed scheme of administration of the phytobiotic additive, regardless of the dose, does not cause pathological changes in organs and does not carry the risk of residues of the product in tissues intended for human consumption.

Prototype for rapid test devices to detect residues of sulfonamides in chicken carcasses from traditional breeders in Surabaya, Indonesia

Background and Aim

Sulfadiazine, one of the sulfonamide group's active compounds, is widely used for therapeutic production against several diseases. Veterinary drug residues can have a significant impact on human health conditions. This study aimed to develop a prototype of rapid test devices (RTDs) for detecting sulfadiazine residues on chicken carcasses based on the color indication.

Materials and Methods

Seven samples of carcasses collected from traditional breeders in Surabaya-Indonesia were prepared and tested using RTDs. This sample represents the population considering that in the last report, the use of antibiotics was more than 40%, while the ability to monitor RTDs was estimated at 100. The standard color of purple by Hex code standard color or decimal code color was used to compare the positive samples. A light-emitting diode (LED) lamp was used to observe purple color. Analysis of sulfonamides resulting from RTDs was compared using a ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer.

Results

Sulfonamides contamination levels of 50% and 100% were detected at concentrations of 0.472 μg/mL and 0.642 μg/mL, respectively. Sulfonamides contamination that was <0.395 μg/mL did not appear purple.

Conclusion

The study's findings showed that RTDs can be used to detect sulfonamides residues at a limit of detection 0.5 mg/mL after a 45 min exposure to an LED operating at a wavelength of 980 nm (p < 0.05). The limitation of RTDs was not being able to monitor the presence of residues bound in fat samples. Rapid test devices can be developed for commonly monitoring devices due to the limited technology available in the market.

Bacteriostatic Effects of Yujin Powder and Its Components on Clinical Isolation of Multidrug-Resistant Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli is one of the most common pathogenic bacteria in diarrheal chickens, leading to serious economic losses in the poultry industry. The limited effect of antibiotics on antibiotic-resistant E. coli makes this bacterium a potential threat to human health. Yujin powder (YJP) has been reported as an agent that releases the symptoms caused by E. coli for a long time. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of Yujin powder (YJP) and its components, Scutellariae Radix (SR) and Baicalin (Bac), anti-against multi-drug-resistant E. coli in vitro and in vivo. A multi-drug-resistant bacteria was isolated and identified from a clinical diarrheal chick. Then, the anti-bacterial effects of drugs were assessed in vitro and in vivo by analyzing the bacteria loads of organs, the levels of endotoxin, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 of the serum. Results found that the pathogenic E. coli was resistant to 19 tested antibiotics. YJP, SR, and Bac could directly inhibit the growth of this strain at high concentrations in vitro, and presents obvious anti-bacterial effects by reducing the bacterial loads, the release of endotoxin, and inflammation in vivo, which was much more effective than the resistant antibiotic ciprofloxacin. This study demonstrates that those natural medicines have the potential to be used as novel treatments to treat the disease caused by this isolated MDREC strain.

Antibiotic Resistance and Food Safety: Perspectives on New Technologies and Molecules for Microbial Control in the Food Industry

Antibiotic resistance (ABR) has direct and indirect repercussions on public health and threatens to decrease the therapeutic effect of antibiotic treatments and lead to more infection-related deaths. There are several mechanisms by which ABR can be transferred from one microorganism to another. The risk of transfer is often related to environmental factors. The food supply chain offers conditions where ABR gene transfer can occur by multiple pathways, which generates concerns regarding food safety. This work reviews mechanisms involved in ABR gene transfer, potential transmission routes in the food supply chain, the prevalence of antibiotic residues in food and ABR organisms in processing lines and final products, and implications for public health. Finally, the paper will elaborate on the application of antimicrobial peptides as new alternatives to antibiotics that might countermeasure ABR and is compatible with current food trends.

Lebanese fermented goat milk products: From tradition to meta-omics

Ambriss, Serdaleh and Labneh El Darff are traditional Lebanese products made from fermented goat's milk. A questionnaire completed by 50 producers of these products showed that they are prepared by periodic percolation either by milk or by Laban in amphora or goat skins during the lactation season. Production is carried out on a small scale and in a limited number of production units, often by elderly people, resulting in a real risk of disappearance of these products and loss of the corresponding microbial resources. In this study, 34 samples from 18 producers were characterized by culture-dependent and -independent analyses. The results obtained from these two methods were radically different, the latter revealing in Ambriss and Serdaleh the co-dominance of Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens, a fastidious-growing species, and Lactococcus lactis in a viable but not culturable state. Overall, their composition is reminiscent of kefir grains. Phylogenomic and functional analyses of the genomes of the key species Lb. kefiranofaciens have revealed differences from those found in kefir, particularly in their polysaccharide genes, which may explain the absence of grains. However, Labneh El Darff displayed a dominance of Lactobacillus delbrueckii, probably due to the addition of Laban. In addition, the study identified several zoonotic pathogens, including Streptococcus parasuis, which dominated in one sample. Metagenome-Assembled Genome (MAG) analysis indicated that this pathogen acquired lactose utilization genes through horizontal gene transfer. The contamination of the herd with Mycoplasmopsis agalactiae in the Chouf region was also revealed by MAG analysis of the Serdaleh samples. Antibiotic resistance genes were detected in most of the samples, particularly in the Serdaleh ones, where the dominant L. lactis strains possessed a plasmid with a multi-resistance island. Finally, this study paves the way for further analyses to shed light on the resilience of these ecosystems established in amphora or in goatskins and to improve hygiene practices for milk production.

Research Progress on Lycopene in Swine and Poultry Nutrition: An Update

Oxidative stress and in-feed antibiotics restrictions have accelerated the development of natural, green, safe feed additives for swine and poultry diets. Lycopene has the greatest antioxidant potential among the carotenoids, due to its specific chemical structure. In the past decade, increasing attention has been paid to lycopene as a functional additive for swine and poultry feed. In this review, we systematically summarized the latest research progress on lycopene in swine and poultry nutrition during the past ten years (2013-2022). We primarily focused on the effects of lycopene on productivity, meat and egg quality, antioxidant function, immune function, lipid metabolism, and intestinal physiological functions. The output of this review highlights the crucial foundation of lycopene as a functional feed supplement for animal nutrition.

Evaluation of the efficacy of the antimicrobial peptide HJH-3 in chickens infected with Salmonella Pullorum

As a promising substitute for antibiotics, increasing attention has been given to the clinical application of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). In this study, the mode of action of the HJH-3 against Salmonella Pullorum was investigated. The structure and properties of HJH-3 were examined in silico, and minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined to evaluate its antimicrobial spectrum. The time-kill kinetics of HJH-3 was determined. The hemolytic activity of HJH-3 was determined by measuring the hemoglobin ultraviolet absorption value, and the cytotoxicity was determined using a CCK-8 kit. The protective effect of HJH-3 on chickens infected with S. Pullorum was evaluated in vivo. The results demonstrated that HJH-3 exhibited strong antibacterial activity against Gram-negative pathogens at MIC values of 1.5625-25 μg/mL and against Gram-positive pathogens at MIC values of 25-50 μg/mL. HJH-3 also showed activity against the Candida albicans (100 μg/mL) and Bacillus subtilis (6.25-12.5 μg/mL). HJH-3 at 100 μg/mL completely killed S. Pullorum after co-incubation for 6 h. Likewise, the hemolysis rate of CRBCs treated with 100 μg/mL HJH-3 (7.31%) was lower than that of CRBCs treated with 100 μg/mL pexiganan (40.43%). Although the hemolysis rate of CRBCs treated with 400 μg/mL HJH-3 was increased to 13.37%, it was much lower than that of 400 μg/mL pexiganan (57.27%). In regards to cytotoxicity, HJH-3 had almost no-effect on the CEF proliferation, pexiganan decreased CEFs proliferation from 56.93 to 31.00% when increasing the concentration from 50 to 200 μg/mL. In a chicken infection model, the results showed that the antibiotic prevention and HJH-3 prevention groups exhibited the best treatment effect, with the chickens being protected from the lethal dose of S. Pullorum, a decreased number of bacteria in the blood and spleen, and less pathological changes in intestinal segments. The prevention of infection by HJH-3 was similar to that by Ampicillin; the effect of treatment after infection was lower than that of treatment before infection, and the survival rate of infected chicks treated with HJH-3 was 70%, which was still higher than that of the infected chickens. These results suggest that HJH-3 has good clinical application potential and can be used as a substitute for antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of S. Pullorum infection.

Current Landscape of Methods to Evaluate Antimicrobial Activity of Natural Extracts

Natural extracts have been and continue to be used to treat a wide range of medical conditions, from infectious diseases to cancer, based on their convenience and therapeutic potential. Natural products derived from microbes, plants, and animals offer a broad variety of molecules and chemical compounds. Natural products are not only one of the most important sources for innovative drug development for animal and human health, but they are also an inspiration for synthetic biology and chemistry scientists towards the discovery of new bioactive compounds and pharmaceuticals. This is particularly relevant in the current context, where antimicrobial resistance has risen as a global health problem. Thus, efforts are being directed toward studying natural compounds' chemical composition and bioactive potential to generate drugs with better efficacy and lower toxicity than existing molecules. Currently, a wide range of methodologies are used to analyze the in vitro activity of natural extracts to determine their suitability as antimicrobial agents. Despite traditional technologies being the most employed, technological advances have contributed to the implementation of methods able to circumvent issues related to analysis capacity, time, sensitivity, and reproducibility. This review produces an updated analysis of the conventional and current methods to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of natural compounds.

Microbial Resistance to Antibiotics and Biofilm Formation of Bacterial Isolates from Different Carp Species and Risk Assessment for Public Health

The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of biofilm on antibiotic resistance of the bacterial isolates present in fish meat and to assess the risk of antibiotic residues for public health. Common carp, silver carp and grass carp fishes were purchased from retail stores for an in vitro biofilm investigation and a drug-resistant pattern determination. In all samples, up to 10⁴ CFU/g of bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, Aeromonas hydrophila, Shewanella putrefaciens, Vibrio spp. and Staphylococcus spp., were observed. Isolates from the samples and their biofilms were subjected to an antibiogram assay using antibiotics such as amoxicillin, ampicillin, cefotaxime, ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, gentamicin, streptomycin, tetracycline and trimethoprim. Obtained results showed that some of the isolates were sensitive to antibiotics and some were resistant. Results of LC-MS/MS analysis showed that antibiotics residues were present in fish samples in the range between 4.9 and 199.4 µg/kg, with a total sum of 417.1 µg/kg. Estimated daily intake (EDI) was established to be 0.274 μg/kg of body weight/day for men and 0.332 μg/kg of body weight/day for women, with an acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 8.5 and 7.0 µg/kg of body weight/day for men and women, respectively. The results of the present study, therefore, highlight the safe consumption of fresh fish.

Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, Antimicrobial Resistance Genes, and Antibiotic Residue in Food from Animal Sources: One Health Food Safety Concern

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing foodborne serious illnesses can be found in contaminated food. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the pathogens, genes, and antimicrobial residues present in raw milk and meat. We collected 40 raw milk and 40 beef samples using the aseptic method from various parts of the Faisalabad metropolis, Pakistan. The samples were cultured on blood, MacConkey, and UTI chrome agar. The VITEK 2 compact system was used for microbial identification and determination of minimum inhibitory concentrations. Antimicrobial resistance genes for extended-spectrum β-lactamases, methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus, and carbapenem resistance were identified using molecular techniques. ELISA was used to determine the tetracycline residue level in each sample. The beef samples showed polymicrobial contamination with 64 bacterial isolates, with Escherichia coli (29; 45.3%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (11; 17.1%) predominating. The milk samples showed polymicrobial contamination with 73 bacterial isolates, with E. coli (22; 30%), K. pneumoniae (12; 16.4%), and S. aureus (10; 13.6%) forming the majority. Twenty-eight (43.7%) isolates from beef harbored tet genes, nineteen (29.6%) bla_CTX-M, and fourteen (21.8%) bla_NDM-1, and twenty-six (35.6%) isolates from milk harbored tet genes, nineteen (26%) bla_TEM and bla_CTX-M, and three (4%) bla_NDM-1. Twenty-two (55%) each of the beef and milk samples exceeded the maximum residue limit for tetracycline. Polymicrobial contamination by bacteria possessing bla_CTX-M, bla_TEM, bla_NDM-1, bla_OXA, mecA, and tet genes was identified in food samples. The high tetracycline residue levels pose a serious health risk to consumers.

Microbiological and chemical evaluation of dairy products commercialized in the Lebanese market

Background and Aim

Cheese is considered an essential component of the Lebanese table, however, several foodborne illnesses have been reported due to cheese consumption. This study aimed to assess the microbiological quality and the occurrence of antibiotic and pesticide residues in two traditional Lebanese cheeses, Akkawi and Baladiyeh. In addition, drug resistance of isolated pathogens from the cheese samples was evaluated.

Materials and Methods

Fifty Akkawi and Baladiyeh cheese samples were obtained in duplicate from 37 different commercial brands in supermarkets and shops from various regions of Lebanon. Samples of different weights were either individually vacuum packed or soaked in brine unpacked where it was placed in plastic bag after being purchased. Samples were homogenized to determine antibiotic and pesticide residues using liquid and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, and microbiological evaluation was performed according to the International Organization for Standardization reference analytical methods. The disk diffusion method was used to determine the susceptibility of these isolates to antibiotics.

Results

Microbiologically, 17% of Akkawi and 14% of Baladiyeh samples were found to be non-conforming. The bacterial isolates (n = 29) were tested for their susceptibility to 11 different antibiotics commonly prescribed in the Lebanese community or used for treating infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria and listeriosis. Each isolate was found to be resistant to at least three antibiotics. Liquid and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectroscopy analysis showed the absence of pesticide residues in all samples. However, sulfamethazine antibiotic residue was found in 14% of the samples.

Conclusion

The results suggest that the cheese samples tested could cause foodborne illnesses due to the detection of pathogenic bacteria and are a public health concern due to the presence of antibiotic residues and the transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms.

Impact of Anthropogenic Activities on the Dissemination of ARGs in the Environment-A Review

Over the past few decades, due to the excessive consumption of drugs in human and veterinary medicine, the antimicrobial resistance (AR) of microorganisms has risen considerably across the world, and this trend is predicted to intensify. Many worrying research results indicate the occurrence of pools of AR, both directly related to human activity and environmental factors. The increase of AR in the natural environment is mainly associated with the anthropogenic activity. The dissemination of AR is significantly stimulated by the operation of municipal facilities, such as wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) or landfills, as well as biogas plants, agriculture and farming practices, including animal production and land application of manure. These activities entail a risk to public health by spreading bacteria resistant to antimicrobial products (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Furthermore, subinhibitory concentrations of antimicrobial substances additionally predispose microbial consortia and resistomes to changes in particular environments that are permeated by these micropollutants. The current state of knowledge on the fate of ARGs, their dissemination and the complexity of the AR phenomenon in relation to anthropogenic activity is inadequate. This review summarizes the state-of-the-art knowledge on AR in the environment, in particular focusing on AR spread in an anthropogenically altered environment and related environmental consequences.

Exposure to Veterinary Antibiotics via Food Chain Disrupts Gut Microbiota and Drives Increased Escherichia coli Virulence and Drug Resistance in Young Adults

Exposure to veterinary antibiotics (VAs) and preferred as veterinary antibiotics (PVAs) via the food chain is unavoidable for their extensive use not only for treating bacterial infections, but also for use as growth promoters in livestock and aquaculture. One of the consequences is the disturbance of gut microbiota. However, its impact on the virulence and drug resistance of opportunistic pathogens is still unclear. In this study, a total of 26 antibiotics were detected in the urine of 300 young undergraduates in Anhui Province. We found that excessive intake of milk was positively correlated to high levels of VAs and PVAs. It led to the dysbiosis of gut microbiota characterized by high abundance of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria. The increase in Proteobacteria was mainly due to a single operational taxonomic unit (OTU) of Escherichia coli (E. coli). We isolated several E. coli strains from participants and compared their drug resistance and virulence using PCR assay and virulence-related assays. We observed that exposure to high levels of VAs and PVAs induced more resistant genes and drove E. coli strain to become more virulent. At last, we conducted transcriptome analysis to investigate the molecular mechanism of virulent and drug-resistant regulators in the highly virulent E. coli strain. We noted that there were multiple pathways involved in the drug resistance and virulence of the highly virulent strain. Our results demonstrated that participants with high-level VAs and PVAs exposure have a disrupted gut microbiota following the appearance of highly drug-resistant and virulent E. coli and, therefore may be at elevated risk for long-term health complications.