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Díaz Cárdenas B, Salazar Llorente E, Gu G, Nou X, Ortiz J, Maldonado P, Cevallos-Cevallos JM. Microbial Composition and Diversity of High-demand Street-vended Foods in Ecuador. J Food Prot 2024; 87:100247. [PMID: 38369192 DOI: 10.1016/j.jfp.2024.100247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Revised: 02/11/2024] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Developing countries such as Ecuador carry a heavy food safety burden but reports on the microbiological quality of their foods are scarce. In this investigation, the microbial diversity of 10 high-risk and mass-consumption street-vended foods including bolones, encebollado, food dressings, ceviche, chopped fruits, fruit juices, fruit salads, cheese, raw chicken, and ground beef in Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca, three major population centers in Ecuador, were evaluated using 16S rRNA gene High Throughput Sequencing. In total, 1,840 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were classified into 23 phyla, 253 families, 645 genera, and 829 species. In the tested food samples, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were the most abundant phyla accounting for 97.41% of relative abundance (RA). At genus level, 10 dominant genera were identified: Acinetobacter (12.61% RA), Lactococcus (12.08% RA), Vibrio (8.23% RA), Weissella (7.43% RA), Aeromonas (6.18% RA), Photobacterium (6.32% RA), Pseudomonas (3.92% RA), Leuconostoc (3.51% RA), Klebsiella (3.49% RA), and Cupriavidus (2.86% RA). The highest microbial diversity indices were found in raw chicken, encebollados, fruit salads, and fruit juices from Guayaquil and Cuenca. From sampled foods, 29 species were classified as food spoilage bacteria and 24 as opportunistic pathogenic bacteria. Two groups associated with human diseases were identified, including 11 enteric species and 26 species of fecal bacteria. The occurrence of recognized and opportunistic pathogenic bacteria, as well as enteric and fecal microorganisms, in the street-vended foods indicated extensive risks for the consumers' health. This study demonstrated the application of culture-independent amplicon sequencing in providing a more comprehensive view of microbial safety for street-vended food, which could be a useful tool to facilitate the control of foodborne diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Byron Díaz Cárdenas
- Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida (FCV), Campus Gustavo Galindo Km. 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador
| | - Enrique Salazar Llorente
- Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida (FCV), Campus Gustavo Galindo Km. 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador
| | - Ganyu Gu
- Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory, USDA ARS, Beltsville, Maryland, United States
| | - Xiangwu Nou
- Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory, USDA ARS, Beltsville, Maryland, United States
| | - Johana Ortiz
- Department of Biosciences, Food Nutrition and Health Research Unit. Faculty of Chemical Sciences, Cuenca University. Cuenca, Ecuador
| | - Pedro Maldonado
- Escuela Politécnica Nacional. Departamento de Alimentos y Biotecnología (DECAB). P.O. Box 17-01-2759, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Juan Manuel Cevallos-Cevallos
- Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida (FCV), Campus Gustavo Galindo Km. 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador; Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Centro de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas del Ecuador (CIBE), Campus Gustavo Galindo Km. 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
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Tomasevic I, Hambardzumyan G, Marmaryan G, Nikolic A, Mujcinovic A, Sun W, Liu XC, Bursać Kovačević D, Markovinović AB, Terjung N, Heinz V, Papageorgiou M, Skendi A, Goel G, Raghav M, Dalle Zotte A, Nakov D, Velkoska V, Sołowiej BG, Semenova AA, Kuznetsova OA, Krocko M, Duckova V, Lorenzo JM, Echegaray N, Oz E, Oz F, Djekic I. Eurasian consumers' food safety beliefs and trust issues in the age of COVID-19: evidence from an online survey in 15 countries. JOURNAL OF THE SCIENCE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE 2023; 103:7362-7373. [PMID: 37394888 DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.12815] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Revised: 06/21/2023] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND This investigation provides an important insight into Eurasian consumers' food safety beliefs and trust issues influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted in 15 European and Asian countries involving more than 4000 consumers. RESULTS It has confirmed that different socioeconomic characteristics, cultural aspects and education levels shape food safety perceptions within Eurasian countries. The COVID-19 pandemic influenced their beliefs and trust in food safety, which is relatively low on average. However, it is significantly higher for European consumers (especially European Union ones) compared to their Asian counterparts. Both Asian and European respondents agreed that food fraud and climate changes represent a food safety issue. However, European consumers were less concerned regarding the food safety of genetically modified foods and meat and dairy analogs/hybrids. Asian consumers were, to a greater extent, worried about the risk of getting COVID-19 from food, restaurants, food retail establishments and home food deliveries. CONCLUSION Eurasian consumers have put their greatest extent of trust, when food safety assurance is concerned, into food scientists and food producers holding a food safety certificate. Broadly, they are uncertain to what extent their federal governments and food inspectors are competent, able and efficient in ensuring food safety. Higher education of Eurasian consumers was followed by increased food safety confidence in all parts of the food chain. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Igor Tomasevic
- Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
- German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL), Quakenbrück, Germany
- Department of Dairy Technology and Functional Foods, Faculty of Food Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Lublin, Poland
| | | | | | - Aleksandra Nikolic
- Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
| | - Alen Mujcinovic
- Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
| | - Weizheng Sun
- School of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xiao-Chen Liu
- School of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
| | | | | | - Nino Terjung
- German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL), Quakenbrück, Germany
| | - Volker Heinz
- German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL), Quakenbrück, Germany
| | - Maria Papageorgiou
- Department of Food Science and Technology, International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Adriana Skendi
- Department of Food Science and Technology, International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Gunjan Goel
- Department of Microbiology, Central University of Haryana, Mahendragarh, India
| | - Mamta Raghav
- Department of Life Sciences, RPS Degree College, Mahendragarh, India
| | - Antonella Dalle Zotte
- Department of Animal Medicine, Production and Health, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Dimitar Nakov
- Faculty of Agriculture, "Goce Delcev" University in Stip, Shtip, Republic of North Macedonia
- Faculty of Medical Sciences, "Goce Delcev" University in Stip, Shtip, Republic of North Macedonia
| | - Valentina Velkoska
- Faculty of Agriculture, "Goce Delcev" University in Stip, Shtip, Republic of North Macedonia
| | - Bartosz G Sołowiej
- Department of Dairy Technology and Functional Foods, Faculty of Food Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Lublin, Poland
| | | | | | - Miroslav Krocko
- Department of Technology and Quality of Animal Products, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Institute of Food Sciences, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovakia
| | - Viera Duckova
- Department of Technology and Quality of Animal Products, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Institute of Food Sciences, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovakia
| | - Jose M Lorenzo
- Centro Tecnológico de la Carne de Galicia, Ourense, Spain
| | | | - Emel Oz
- Department of Food Engineering, Agriculture Faculty, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Türkiye
| | - Fatih Oz
- Department of Food Engineering, Agriculture Faculty, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Türkiye
| | - Ilija Djekic
- Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
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