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Pathogens
Special Issues
Foodborne and Waterborne Parasites: The Next Frontier of Food Safety
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Foodborne and Waterborne Parasites: The Next Frontier of Food Safety

A special issue of Pathogens (ISSN 2076-0817). This special issue belongs to the section "Parasitic Pathogens".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 March 2025 | Viewed by 5248

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Alessandra Barlaam

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Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, Food, Natural Resource and Engineering (DAFNE), University of Foggia, Via Napoli 25, 71100 Foggia, Italy
Interests: foodborne parasites; fresh produce; microscopy; molecular detection; epidemiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Alessia L. Gazzonis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
Interests: parasitic diseases; Apicomplexa; gastrointestinal nematodes; epidemiology; ruminants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Antonio Bosco

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
Interests: epidemiology; diagnosis; parasites; animals; humans

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last few years, foodborne and waterborne parasites (FBPs and WBPs) have received less attention than bacteria and viruses and represent a neglected pathogen group. To date, they are increasingly being recognized as a global public health challenge. In fact,  not only have food items and water been found to be contaminated by pathogenic parasites, many of zoonotic concern, in several studies available in the literature, but a significant number of outbreaks linked to their consumption have been reported over the years.

Many changes taking place worldwide can contribute to the spread of FBPs and WBPs: globalization and the movement of people due to tourism or emi-/immigration and the international trade of food products have inevitably increased the risk of acquiring exotic infections.

Social changes are also involved: the growing demand and increased consumption of raw foods and animal products from organic and/or animal friendly breeding environments has led to a rise in parasitic infections.

On the other hand, the lack of harmonized surveillance systems at the national and supranational level and the inadequacy of the currently available diagnostic techniques and reporting systems mean that the spread of foodborne and/or waterborne infections is probably widely underestimated.

Therefore, given the need for scientific research on these neglected pathogens from several points of view, we invite you to submit review or original research articles related to foodborne and waterborne parasites, ranging from surveillance, epidemiology and public health to sampling strategies and detection methods, from diagnosis to prevention and control and from the assessment of viability and infectivity of the parasitic forms contaminating food and water to traditional and innovative methods for decontaminating them.

Dr. Alessandra Barlaam
Dr. Alessia L. Gazzonis
Dr. Antonio Bosco
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pathogens is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • foodborne parasites
  • waterborne parasites
  • contamination
  • detection
  • food safety

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 1053 KiB  
Communication
Parasitic Contamination of Fresh Leafy Green Vegetables Sold in Northern Lebanon
by Dima El Safadi, Marwan Osman, Angel Hanna, Iman Hajar, Issmat I. Kassem, Sara Khalife, Fouad Dabboussi and Monzer Hamze
Pathogens 2023, 12(8), 1014; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12081014 - 4 Aug 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3055
Abstract
Contaminated, raw or undercooked vegetables can transmit parasitic infections. Here, we investigated parasitic contamination of leafy green vegetables sold in local markets in the Tripoli district, Lebanon, during two consecutive autumn seasons (2020–2021). The study involved the microscopic examination of 300 samples of [...] Read more.
Contaminated, raw or undercooked vegetables can transmit parasitic infections. Here, we investigated parasitic contamination of leafy green vegetables sold in local markets in the Tripoli district, Lebanon, during two consecutive autumn seasons (2020–2021). The study involved the microscopic examination of 300 samples of five different types of vegetables (60 samples per type) and used standardized qualitative parasitological techniques for some protozoa and helminths. The results showed that 16.7% (95% interval for p: 12.6%, 21.4%) (50/300) of the vegetable samples were contaminated with at least one parasite. The most frequently detected parasite was Blastocystis spp. (8.7%; 26/300); this was followed in frequency by Ascaris spp. (3.7%; 11/300). Among the different vegetable types, lettuce (23.3%; 14/60) was the most contaminated, while arugula was the least contaminated (11.7%; 7/60). The statistical analysis did not reveal any significant association between the prevalence of parasitic contamination and the investigated risk factors, which included collection date, vegetable type, market storage status, and wetness of vegetables at the time of purchase (p > 0.05). The high prevalence of parasitic contamination also suggested the potential presence of other microbial pathogens. These findings are important because leafy green vegetables are preferentially and heavily consumed raw in Lebanon. Thus, implementing effective measures that target the farm-to-fork continuum is recommended in order to reduce the spread of intestinal pathogens. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Foodborne and Waterborne Parasites: The Next Frontier of Food Safety)
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9 pages, 2209 KiB  
Brief Report
Molecular Survey of Parasitic Contamination of Frozen Berries
by Alessandra Barlaam, Marialoreta Datteo, Stefania Perdonò, Antonella Puccini and Annunziata Giangaspero
Pathogens 2024, 13(10), 900; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens13100900 - 14 Oct 2024
Viewed by 663
Abstract
Berries represent healthy dietary options and contain bioactive compounds associated with a decreased risk of diseases. Despite representing healthy food choices, these products can be contaminated by pathogenic microorganisms, including parasites. Among foodborne parasites, Giardia duodenalis, Cryptosporidium parvum, Cyclospora cayetanensis, [...] Read more.
Berries represent healthy dietary options and contain bioactive compounds associated with a decreased risk of diseases. Despite representing healthy food choices, these products can be contaminated by pathogenic microorganisms, including parasites. Among foodborne parasites, Giardia duodenalis, Cryptosporidium parvum, Cyclospora cayetanensis, Toxoplasma gondii, and Echinococcus multilocularis are of significant public health importance and have been recently detected in fresh berries in Europe, including Italy. Berries can be purchased fresh or frozen, and it is worrying that even frozen berries could represent a risk for the consumer. In fact, several parasites can resist freezing temperatures and have been responsible for outbreaks of infection. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of G. duodenalis, C. parvum, C. cayetanensis, T. gondii, and E. multilocularis in frozen berries with simplex and multiplex real-time PCR protocols. A total of 108 packages of mixed frozen berries were bought from supermarkets located in a south-eastern region of Italy. The samples were tested using two simplex real-time PCR protocols targeting C. parvum and G. duodenalis, respectively, and a multiplex real-time PCR targeting C. cayetanensis, T. gondii, and E. multilocularis. None of the investigated parasites were detected in the frozen berry samples tested. This research topic is still unexplored and of great current interest. These results represent a first attempt to investigate parasitic contamination of frozen berries sold on the Italian market, but further large-scale surveys are required. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Foodborne and Waterborne Parasites: The Next Frontier of Food Safety)
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