Abstract

The aim of this work was to assess and improve the enrichment cultivation of food-contaminating bacteria prior to detection by means of RNA-based sandwich hybridization assay (SHA). The examples of beer-spoiling lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and food-borne Salmonella Typhimurium were selected based on their relevance in Finnish food industry. Also universal challenges affecting on the selection of the enrichment cultivation procedure are discussed, including some potential possibilities for improved enrichment cultivation. The results of this study may therefore be used for the assessment of the efficiency of bacterial cultivation in other applications.

The evaluation of the enrichment cultivation procedures prior to SHA lead to following conclusions: i) the enrichment cultivation procedure is necessary prior to rRNA-based SHA, and it directly influences the accuracy of SHA; ii) the improvement of the enrichment cultivation may allow faster recovery and growth of bacteria; iii) the improved recovery of bacteria can be achieved by reducing environmental stress factors in the enrichment culture; and iv) the growth of bacteria may be accelerated by assuring the selectivity of medium and allowing accessibility to growth factors. Several growth factors were studied by means of full factorial design and response surface modeling. Measured cell densities, as well as predicted lag-times and maximum growth rates in the bacterial cultures were used as responses.

The results show that small shifts in the cultivation conditions extend the lag-time and decrease the growth rate of both LAB and Salmonella. Besides adjusting the temperature and pH, the growth of LAB was facilitated by reducing osmotic and oxidative stresses in the enrichment medium. In this study, a novel enzyme controlled glucose delivery system was used for the first time in the enrichment cultivation of food-contaminating bacteria. The glucose delivery system improved the growth of LAB in single strain cultures and in actual brewing process samples. The recovery of injured Salmonella was also enhanced by using the glucose delivery system together with selective siderophore ferrioxamine E, both in terms of reduced lag-times and increased growth rates. Based on the SHA, the adjusted BPW broth enhanced the molecular detection of heat-injured Salmonella in meat.