Listeriosis is an important foodborne zoonotic disease affecting humans and animals in Ethiopia. This review aims to synthesize the epidemiology, prevalence, distribution, and antimicrobial resistance of Listeria species in the country. The literature reveals a widespread occurrence of Listeria infection in humans, animals, and food products, with an average prevalence of 21.6% for Listeria species and 6.9% for L. monocytogenes. Three sequence types (STs) of L. monocytogenes (2, 145, and 18) and twelve STs of L. innocua (1489, 1619, 603, 537, 1010, 3186, 492, 3007, 1087, 474, 1008, and 637) were reported from milk and dairy products. Contamination rates ranged from 4.1% to 42.9% across livestock, dairy, slaughterhouses, and processing facilities, indicating faults in production practices. Sporadic human listeriosis outbreaks have occurred since 1967, causing meningitis, perinatal infections, and deaths, with recent studies showing L. monocytogenes isolation in up to 10.4% of febrile patients, confirming foodborne transmission. Non-pathogenic Listeria species were also common on farms and in facilities. Ovine listeriosis poses a threat to Ethiopia\'s sheep and goat industries, with over 40% seroprevalence in some herds. Comprehensive control measures across the food chain are needed to curb contamination and protect public health. Isolates from various foods show antibiotic resistance to first-line agents but susceptibility to others like gentamicin and cephalosporins. In conclusion, this review synthesizes evidence on Listeria distribution in Ethiopia\'s food system and disease burden, highlighting the need for improved food safety policies and awareness.

\"Fried rice syndrome\" originated from the first exposure to a fried rice dish contaminated with Bacillus cereus. This review compiles available data on the prevalence of B. cereus outbreak cases that occurred between 1984 and 2019. The outcome of B. cereus illness varies dramatically depending on the pathogenic strain encounter and the host\'s immune system. B. cereus causes a self-limiting, diarrheal illness caused by heat-resistant enterotoxin proteins, and an emetic illness caused by the deadly toxin named cereulide. The toxins together with their extrinsic factors are discussed. The possibility of more contamination of B. cereus in protein-rich food has also been shown. Therefore, the aim of this review is to summarize the available data, focusing mainly on B. cereus physiology as the causative agent for \"fried rice syndrome.\" This review emphasizes the prevalence of B. cereus in starchy food contamination and outbreak cases reported, the virulence of both enterotoxins and emetic toxins produced, and the possibility of contaminated in protein-rich food. The impact of emetic or enterotoxin-producing B. cereus on public health cannot be neglected. Thus, it is essential to constantly monitor for B. cereus contamination during food handling and hygiene practices for food product preparation.

Despite the recent advances in food preservation techniques and food safety, significant disease outbreaks linked to foodborne pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses still occur worldwide indicating that these pathogens still constitute significant risks to public health. Although extensive reviews of methods for foodborne pathogens detection exist, most are skewed towards bacteria despite the increasing relevance of other pathogens such as viruses. Therefore, this review of foodborne pathogen detection methods is holistic, focusing on pathogenic bacteria, fungi, and viruses. This review has shown that culture-based methods allied with new approaches are beneficial for the detection of foodborne pathogens. The current application of immunoassay methods, especially for bacterial and fungal toxins detection in foods, are reviewed. The use and benefits of nucleic acid-based PCR methods and next-generation sequencing-based methods for bacterial, fungal, and viral pathogens\' detection and their toxins in foods are also reviewed. This review has, therefore, shown that different modern methods exist for the detection of current and emerging foodborne bacterial, fungal, and viral pathogens. It provides further evidence that the full utilization of these tools can lead to early detection and control of foodborne diseases, enhancing public health and reducing the frequency of disease outbreaks.

From the point of public health, the objective of the slaughterhouse is to guarantee the safety of meat in which meat inspection represent an essential tool to control animal diseases and guarantee the public health. The slaughterhouse can be used as surveillance center for livestock diseases. However, other aspects related with animal and human health, such as epidemiology and disease control in primary production, control of animal welfare on the farm, surveillance of zoonotic agents responsible for food poisoning, as well as surveillance and control of antimicrobial resistance, can be monitored. These controls should not be seen as a last defensive barrier but rather as a complement to the controls carried out on the farm. Regarding the control of diseases in livestock, scientific research is scarce and outdated, not taking advantage of the potential for disease control. Animal welfare in primary production and during transport can be monitored throughout ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection at the slaughterhouse, providing valuable individual data on animal welfare. Surveillance and research regarding antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at slaughterhouses is scarce, mainly in cattle, sheep, and goats. However, most of the zoonotic pathogens are sensitive to the antibiotics studied. Moreover, the prevalence at the slaughterhouse of zoonotic and foodborne agents seems to be low, but a lack of harmonization in terms of control and communication may lead to underestimate its real prevalence.

Toxoplasmosis is mainly transmitted to human beings through the consumption of contaminated food, and several outbreaks caused by infected meat consumption have been reported in Brazil. We performed a systematic literature review on the prevalence and risk factors for toxoplasmosis in slaughtered animals and performed a meta-analysis of its prevalence for different species and regions. Furthermore, we also discussed the infectivity of seropositive animals, risk factors, and preventive strategies. In the meta-analysis, the overall prevalence estimates for poultry, ostrich, goats, swine, equids, sheep, and bovines were 42.4, 40.4, 23.0, 19.9, 19.1, 17.3, and 16.2%, respectively. Regarding the Brazilian regions, the highest prevalence values were detected for bovines and equids in the South (32.3 and 34.4%, respectively) and swine, goats, sheep, and poultry in the Northeast (29.3, 23.0, 22.9, and 69.8%%, respectively). High proportions of Toxoplasma gondii viability in bioassay conducted on seropositive animals were seen for sheep (34/40 = 85%) and swine (12/15 = 80%). Toxoplasma gondii infections are widespread on Brazilian farms, and the summarized data allow the establishment of high-priority areas and/or species for the adoption of preventive strategies to control this parasite at different levels of the food chain.

Foodborne parasites in raw vegetables could cause parasitic infections in humans. An effective approach to the reduction of pathogenic microorganisms in vegetables involves identifying the main sources of contamination and the ecology of the involved microorganisms. This review aimed to evaluate the prevalence of foodborne parasites in raw vegetables in Iran. According to the reviewed studies, the prevalence rate of Ascaris spp., Giardia spp., Toxocara spp., Fasciola, Trichuris, Cryptosporidium, Dicrocoeliasis, Taenia spp., and Entamoeba histolytica was 6 % (95 % CI: 5-8 %), 6 % (95 % CI: 5-7 %), 6 % (95 % CI: 4-7 %), 2 % (95 % CI: 1-2 %), 1 % (95 % CI: 1-2 %), 10 % (95 % CI: 6-15 %), 2 % (95 % CI: 1-3 %), 5 % (95 % CI: 4-6 %), and 3 % (95 % CI: 2-4 %), respectively. According to the standard deviation map, Ilam province was one of the high-risk areas in terms of food-borne parasites in raw vegetables (3 SD < prevalence < 4 SD). Given the key role of raw vegetables in human parasitic contamination, governments must implement more stringent programs for effective wastewater treatment, preventing domestic and wild animals from entering farms, not using human and animal manure on farms, using ready-to-eat packaged vegetables, food safety training for households, implementation of GMP and HACCP in the factory vegetable packaging are required in this regard, especially in the high-risk areas of Iran, such as Ilam province.
BACKGROUND: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40201-021-00714-w.

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs), especially those with zoonotic potential, are a growing threat to global health, economy, and safety. The influence of global warming and geoclimatic variations on zoonotic disease epidemiology is evident by alterations in the host, vector, and pathogen dynamics and their interactions. The objective of this article is to review the current literature on the observed impacts of climate change on zoonoses and discuss future trends. We evaluated several climate models to assess the projections of various zoonoses driven by the predicted climate variations. Many climate projections revealed potential geographical expansion and the severity of vector-borne, waterborne, foodborne, rodent-borne, and airborne zoonoses. However, there are still some knowledge gaps, and further research needs to be conducted to fully understand the magnitude and consequences of some of these changes. Certainly, by understanding the impact of climate change on zoonosis emergence and distribution, we could better plan for climate mitigation and climate adaptation strategies.

Within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is stated that everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living, which ensures, as well as their family, health and well-being, and food, thereby ensuring adequate nutrition. One of the major threats to overcome this is to ensure food security, which becomes particularly challenging in developing countries due to the high incidence of parasitic diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO), considers it one of the main causes of morbidity, closely linked to poverty and related to inadequate personal hygiene, consumption of raw food, lack of sanitary services, limited access to drinking water and fecal contamination in the environment. It is estimated that more than a fifth of the world\'s population is infected by one or several intestinal parasites, and that in many countries of Central and South America the average percentage of infected people is 45%, being Taenia solium, Echinococcus granulosus, Toxoplasma gondii, Cryptosporidium spp, Entamoeba histolytica, Trichinella spiralis, Ascaris spp, Trypanosoma cruzi and Fasciola hepatica some of the most important ones in the neotropics. One of the main reasons why these diseases are diffi cult to control is t he ignorance of their lifecycles, as well as symptoms and current epidemiology of the disease, which contributes to a late or erroneous diagnosis. The present work aims to discuss and make public the current knowledge as well as the general characteristics of these diseases to the general audience.

Toxoplasma gondii is a globally distributed protozoan that mainly causes health issues in the fetuses of pregnant women who have never been exposed to this parasite and patients with deficient immune systems. Except in these vulnerable populations, the primary infection generally goes unnoticed in most healthy individuals. Apart from transplant/transfusion, congenital transmission, direct contact with infected cats or their feces, and environmental contamination (i.e., oocysts in food, water, and soil) pathways, humans can acquire the parasite through consumption of animal tissues infected by T. gondii. This meta-analysis estimated the risk of acquiring T. gondii by consuming raw or undercooked meat, regardless of which animal species are eaten. Using a random-effect model, crude and adjusted pooled measures of association (risk and odds ratio) were estimated according to study design (cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies). The meta-analysis included measures of heterogeneity as well as quality rating scales for each study design. Our results suggest that individuals who eat raw or undercooked meat have, respectively, 1.2-1.3 times the risk and 1.7-3.0 times the odds of T. gondii infection compared to those who thoroughly cook meat, regardless of the animal species they consume. These results align with the current understanding that adequately cooking meat inactivates the parasite and decreases the risk of transmission. Seroprevalence ranged from 1.3% to 88.6%, while the proportion of individuals eating raw or undercooked meat fluctuated from 0.7% to 98.3% across the studies in the meta-analysis. These numbers reflect various preferences with regard to eating meat (i.e., eating tartar, sausages, or salamis) as well as individual, cultural and religious food habits, and personal awareness.

The use of biosensors is considered a novel approach for the rapid detection of foodborne pathogens in food products. Biosensors, which can convert biological, chemical, or biochemical signals into measurable electrical signals, are systems containing a biological detection material combined with a chemical or physical transducer. The objective of this review was to present the effectiveness of various forms of sensing technologies for the detection of foodborne pathogens in food products, as well as the criteria for industrial use of this technology. In this article, the principle components and requirements for an ideal biosensor, types, and their applications in the food industry are summarized. This review also focuses in detail on the application of the most widely used biosensor types in food safety.