Hua Wang, who is helping oversee the study at Ohio University, says that manufacturers within the food industry will have to face up to the growing dangers posed by the spread of bacterial resistance in the food chain. "Data indicates that food could be an important avenue for antibiotic-resistant bacterial evolution and dissemination," she said, speaking at the 107th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) in Toronto this week. "The role of commensals [bacteria found normally in the gut], especially food-borne microbes, in transmitting resistance genes are becoming a concern to the scientific community," she added. The growth in antibiotic resistance has been blamed on a process known as horizontal gene transfer, in which bacteria strains within close proximity can share genetic information, says the ASM. This shared material has been found to include coding for antibiotic resistance. The ASM add that the process has already been identified with hospital environments, and is now being linked to food processing. According to studies conducted last year by Hua and her colleagues, ready to eat food products carried bacteria with some form of antibiotic-resistance. Though resistance was not linked to pathogens in processed cheese and yoghurt, it was found in a variety of products like seafood, meats, dairy and deli items. However, the findings that horizontal gene transfer can also occur within both commensal and beneficial strains of bacteria are of particular concern for food processors and formulators. While establishing that food processing may be aiding antibiotic resistance in bacteria, Hua suggests that it could be used to prevent further spreads. By working with her colleagues, she hopes to establish conditions that can minimize horizontal gene transfer within the fermentation of products. It is hoped that the research could lead to breakthroughs in other types of food production. "Given the proper investment of money, effort and time we can identify the steps that need to be taken at the processing level to minimize the emergence of antibiotic resistance genes in our food supply," says Hua.
