Influence of pathogen contamination on beef microbiota under different storage temperatures

Abstract

Outbreaks of food poisoning due to the consumption of contaminated beef from fast-food chains are becoming more frequent. Pathogen contamination in beef influences its spoilage as well as the development of foodborne illness. Thus, the influence of pathogen contamination on beef microbiota should be analyzed to evaluate food safety. We analyzed the influence of pathogen contamination on the shift in microbiota and the interactions between the pathogen and indigenous microbes in beef stored under different conditions. Sixty beef samples were stored at 25 °C and 4 °C for 24 h, and the shifts in microbiota were analyzed using the MiSeq system. The influence of pathogen contamination on microbiota was analyzed by artificial contamination experiments with Escherichia coli FORC_044, which was isolated from the stool of a food poisoning patient in Korea. The bacterial amounts and the proportion of Escherichia were higher when the beef was stored at 25 °C. Artificially contaminated Escherichia positively correlated with the indigenous microbes such as Pseudomonas, Brochothrix, Staphylococcus, Rahnella, and Rhizobium as determined by co-occurrence network analyses. Carnobacterium, a potential spoilage microbe, was negatively correlated with other microbes. The predicted functions of altered microbiota showed that the pathways related to the process of spoilage including biosynthesis of acetic acid and lactic acid increased over time. The shift in pathways was more pronounced in contaminated beef stored at 25 °C. Carnobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Escherichia were the main genera contributing to the shift in the relative abundance of functional genes involved in the various spoilage pathways. Our results indicated that pathogen contamination could influence beef microbiota and mediate spoilage. This study extends our understanding of the beef microbiota and provides insights into the role of pathogen and storage conditions in meat spoilage.

Keywords: Beef; Contamination; Food safety; Microbial interactions; Microbiota; Spoilage.