Presence of extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) in bacteria is a growing health concern of global significance. The local, regional, national, and international epidemiological studies for extended spectrum beta-lactamases-producing Enterobacteriaceae and their encoding genes in foods are still incomplete. The objective of this study was to determine the occurrence of extended spectrum beta-lactamases-producing Enterobacteriaceae and the characteristics of their encoding genes from a total of 250 samples of various foods of animal-origin (100 raw chicken meat, 100 raw cow milk, and 50 raw cow milk cheese) sold in Turkey. Overall, 55 isolates were positive as extended spectrum beta-lactamases-producing Enterobacteriaceae. The most prevalent extended spectrum beta-lactamases-producing strain were identified as Escherichia coli (80%), followed by Enterobacter cloacae (9.1%), Citrobacter braakii (5.5%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (3.6%), and Citrobacter werkmanii (1.8%) by Vitek(®) MS. The simultaneous production of extended spectrum beta-lactamases and AmpC was detected in five isolates (9.1%) in E. coli (80%) and E. cloacae (20%). The frequency rates of blaTEM, blaCTX-M, and blaSHV were 96.4%, 53.7%, and 34.5%, respectively. The co-existence of bla-genes was observed in 82% of extended spectrum beta-lactamases producers with a distribution of blaTEM &blaCTX-M (52.7%), blaTEM &blaSHV (20%), blaTEM &blaCTX-M &blaSHV (12.7%), and blaSHV &blaCTX-M (1.8%). The most prevalent variant of blaCTX-M clusters was defined as blaCTX-M-1 (97.2%), followed by blaCTX-M-8 (2.8%). In summary, the analysed foods were found to be posing a health risk for Turkish consumers due to contamination by Enterobacteriaceae with a diversity of extended spectrum beta-lactamases encoding genes.

Gıda ve Tarım Örgütü (FAO), dünyada üretilen toplam gıda miktarının %25-33’ünün israf edildiğini ve ekonomik değerinin toplam 990 milyar dolara karşılık geldiğini bildirmektedir. Türkiye İsraf Raporu 2018 yılı verilerine göre, ülkemizde her yıl 26 milyon ton gıda israf olmakta, maddi karşılığı 555 milyar TL’nı geçmekte ve milli gelirinin %15’ine karşılık gelmektedir. Gıda israfı ve kaybı yalnızca gıda maddelerinin kaybedilmesi değil, aynı zamanda su, enerji, zaman, öz kaynakların israfı anlamına da gelmektedir. Gıda israfının gerçek boyutlarını öngörmek için kullanılan yaklaşımların tutarsız veriler vermesi ve çözüm yöntemlerinin geliştirilememesi gıda israfı arttırmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, Dünyada ve Türkiye’de gıda israfı ve kaybının durumunu ele almak amaçlanmıştır.

The product of the lactoperoxidase system (LPOS) has been developed as a preservative agent to inhibit foodborne bacteria, but its action was, heretofore, limited to several original compounds in milk. This research was conducted to analyze the application of the lactoperoxidase system against Escherichia coli in fresh bovine milk and its derivative products to determine the strength of antibacterial activity. Lactoperoxidase was purified from bovine whey using the SP Sepharose Big Beads Column. The enzymatic reaction involving lactoperoxidase, thiocyanate, and hydrogen peroxide was used to generate the antibacterial agent from LPOS. This solution was then added to milk, skimmed milk, untreated whey, reduced-LPO whey, reduced-lactose whey, and high-lactose solution containing E. coli at an initial count of 6.0 log CFU/mL. LPOS showed the greatest reduction of bacteria (1.68 ± 0.1 log CFU/mL) in the reduced-lactose whey among the products tested. This result may lead to a method for enhancement of the antimicrobial activity of LPOS in milk and derived products.