The risk of enteric pathogen contamination
and growth on fresh produce is one of the main safety
concerns associated with the increasing number of
foodborne outbreaks in recent years. Plants in general
are not considered as host for enteric pathogens.
However, the increased persistence of pathogenic and
commensal E. coli in plants has led to the consideration
of these fresh produce as a secondary reservoir although
factors associated in the increased persistence are not
very clear. Biofilms formation by pathogenic E. coli and
other Enterobacter pose a serious threat to the safety of
fresh produce as they can persist and colonize for long
periods of time in the food processing environment and
thus represent a source of recurrent contamination.
Concurrently, increased antibiotic resistance is equally a
major concern with respect to biofilm formation as these
factors aids in the enhanced levels of virulence,
persistence and colonization of the pathogenic E. coli in
fresh produce. In the present study the biofilm
formation, antibiotic resistance and the multicellular
behavior by pathogenic/non-pathogenic E. coli strains
derived from fresh produce has been investigated. The
formation of biofilm and its associated role with
antibiotic resistance has been addressed unveiling the
importance of factors leading to an increased host –
microbe interaction. A total number of 33 E. coli strains
were isolated from ready- to- eat fresh produce. The
obtained results confirmed the ability to form biofilm by
the E. coli strains obtained from fresh produce. Most of
the E. coli with increased number of cellulose/curlifimbriae production was able to form stronger biofilm
and showed a significant number of antibiotic
resistances. Overall, the present study suggests a
correlation between biofilm formation and antibiotic
resistance, implicating its important role in the food
borne intoxications and increased virulence and its
potential relevance for the management of food-borne
illnesses linked with consumption of fresh produce.
Keywords :
E. Coli, Fresh Produce, Biofilm, CurliFimbriae, Cellulose, Antimicrobial Resistance.