During the last decades, plant-based milk has become very appreciated by consumers, becoming a staple ingredient, especially for alternative breakfasts. Milk contains lactose, which is a sugar hydrolysed by the lactase enzyme. Lactose intolerance and lactose malabsorption are very common food intolerances among individuals. However, a lot of consumers consider themselves as lactose intolerant on the basis of self-reported intolerance and start to avoid dairy products, ignoring that plant-based milk alternatives are not nutritionally comparable to animal milk, especially in terms of protein intake. The aim of this study is to grow folder knowledge of the security of plant-based drinks, helping competent authorities to issue a risk assessment and to apply national plans about consumer safety. Results show that proper sanitary practices, such as pasteurization, are necessary in plant-based milk alternatives as well as in dairy milk. Chemical analysis has highlighted that there are no pesticide risks for consumers.

In summer 2017, a foodborne outbreak occurred in Central Italy, involving 26 workers employed in the post-earthquake reconstruction. After eating a meal provided by a catering service, they manifested gastrointestinal symptoms; 23 of them were hospitalized. The retrospective cohort study indicated the pasta salad as the most likely vehicle of poisoning. Foods, environmental samples, and food handlers’ nasal swabs were collected. Bacillus cereus (Bc) and coagulase-positive staphylococci (CPS) including S. aureus, together with their toxins, were the targets of the analysis. CPS, detected in all the leftovers, exceeded 10⁵ CFU/g in the pasta salad, in which we found Staphylococcal Enterotoxins (SEs) (0.033 ng SEA/g; 0.052 ng SED/g). None of the environmental and human swabs showed contamination. We characterized 23 S. aureus from foods. They all belonged to the human biotype, showed the same toxigenic profile (sea, sed, sej, and ser genes), and had the same Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) pattern; none of them harbored mecA or mupA genes. We also detected Bc contamination in the pasta salad but none of the isolates harbored the ces gene for the emetic toxin cereulide. The EU Reference Laboratory for CPS confirmed the case as a strong-evidence outbreak caused by the ingestion of SEs produced by a single strain of S. aureus carried by the same human source. This outbreak was successfully investigated despite the emergency situation in which it occurred.

Staphylococcus aureus is a major cause of clinical infections in humans and its enterotoxins cause foodborne disease. In the present study, we tested a total of 51 isolates of S. aureus from small-ruminant dairy farms with artisan dairy facilities, all located in Latium, Italy. The farms have a known history of a high prevalence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Most of the MRSA isolates (27 of 51) belonged to spa-type t127 (43.1%), followed by t2678 (3.9%), t044 (2%), t1166 (2%), and t1773 (2%). PFGE performed on mecA positive strains identified one cluster (≥ 80% of similarity), comprising 22 MRSA. Nine of twenty-two MRSA isolates were assigned human host origin, and 13 isolates did not belong to a specific host. During the characterization study, one strain isolated from bulk tank milk samples harbored the pvl gene; the strain was not enterotoxigenic with a non-specific host according to the biotyping scheme, highlighting the possible emerging risk of transmission of bacterial virulence factors by foods, the environment, and foodhandlers. These findings stress the importance of hygienic measures at all processing steps of the food production chain and underline that monitoring for the presence of MRSA throughout the food chain is essential for public health.

Infectious abortion in ruminants is a problem in animal husbandry worldwide. It is important to obtain a diagnosis, to make sure that proper control measures can be instituted, but most abortion cases remain without an etiologic diagnosis. This report describes the presence of Arcobacter species and several neglected opportunistic abortifacient agents in ruminant abortion cases showing or not co-infections among at least one of the major recognized protozoal, fungal, bacterial and viral abortifacient agents. A total of 67 fetuses (55 cattle and 12 goats) and just one placenta (cattle) were considered. Among the most common abortive agents, Neospora caninum (19,4%), followed by Chlamydophila abortus (4,5%), Listeria monocytogenes 1/2a (2,98%), Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus type 1b (2,98%), Bovine herpesvirus 4 (2,98%), and Aspergillus spp. (2,98%) were detected. The isolated neglected opportunistic bacteria include Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter lwoffii, Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., Streptococcus uberis, Streptococcus suis, Trueperella pyogenes, Mannheimia haemolytica, Bacillus cereus and Nocardia spp. Other bacterial species, not associated with abortion by literature, but described as causes of diseases occurring sporadically both in humans and animals, were also detected. Three Arcobacter strains, namely two A. skirrowii and one A. cryaerophilus, were isolated from 3 bovine aborted fetuses, and A. butzleri was isolated from the placenta. A not negligible isolation of Arcobacter species and other neglected abortifacient agents has to be mentioned, with prevalences that seem to be emerging and replacing or co-placing the major infectious players in bovine and caprine reproductive failure due to abortion disease, even if further studies investigating the aetiological power and transmission routes are needed in order to define the role of these microrganisms in ruminant abortion.