• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.796-801
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• 2001

A total of 277 mineral spring water samples in Kangwon province from 1999 to 2000 were analyzed for the presence of Yersinia spp. by the conventional Food and Drug Administration protocol, and presumptive strains were identified by morphological, cultural and biochemical tests according to Bergey’s manual. Also, the biotypes, serotypes, and susceptibility to 12 antibiotics were tested. Among the total 277 mineral spring water samples, 40 samples (14.4%) were found to be contaminated with Yersinia species. Among the 40 strains of Yersinia spp. isolates, 33 strains (82.5%) for Yersinia enterocolitica, 4 strains (10%) for Yersinia frederiksenii, 2 strains (5%) for Yersinia intermedia, and 1 strain (2.5%) for Yersinia sakazaki were identified, respectively. Of 40 Yersinia spp. isolates, Yersinia enterocolitica (82.5%) was the most predominant species in the mineral spring water samples compared to other Yersinia species. Compared to direct culture method after KOH treatment and KOH treatment method after cold enrichment for better isolation ratio of according to comparision of Yersinia species, the detection ration (18.5%) of KOH treatment method after cold enrichment was about 3 times better than that (6.1%) of direct culture method after KOH treatment. According to serotypes of Y. enterocolitica isolates, O : 5 (12.9%) was the most predominant and followed by O : 3 (9.7%), O : 8 (6.5%), and O : 9 (3.2%), and others. For biotypes of Y. enterocolitica isolates, 1A (71.0%) was the most predominantly abundant and followed by 3A (12.9%), 3B (9.7%), 1B (3.2%) and 5 (3.2%). Also, an antibiotic susceptibility test showed that Yersinia spp. isolates were very susceptible to the antibiotics tested, but they were very strongly resistant to ampicillin, cephalothin and carbenicillin.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1599-1608
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• 2024

Yersinia enterocolitica is a globally distributed food-borne gastrointestinal pathogen. The O-antigen variation-determined serotype is an important characteristic of Y. enterocolitica, allowing intraspecies classification for diagnosis and epidemiology purposes. Among the 11 serotypes associated with human yersiniosis, O:3, O:5,27, O:8, and O:9 are the most prevalent, and their O-antigen gene clusters have been well defined. In addition to the O-antigen, several virulence factors are involved in infection and pathogenesis of Y. enterocolitica strains, and these are closely related to their biotypes, reflecting pathogenic properties. In this study, we identified the O-AGC of a Y. enterocolitica strain WL-21 of serotype O:10, and confirmed its functionality in O-antigen synthesis. Furthermore, we analyzed in silico the putative O-AGCs of uncommon serotypes, and found that the O-AGCs of Y. enterocolitica were divided into two genetic patterns: (1) O-AGC within the hemH-gsk locus, possibly synthesizing the O-antigen via the Wzx/Wzy dependent pathway, and (2) O-AGC within the dcuC-galU-galF locus, very likely assembling the O-antigen via the ABC transporter dependent pathway. By screening the virulence genes against genomes from GenBank, we discovered that strains representing different serotypes were grouped according to different virulence gene profiles, indicating strong links between serotypes and virulence markers and implying an interaction between them and the synergistic effect in pathogenicity. Our study provides a framework for further research on the origin and evolution of O-AGCs from Y. enterocolitica, as well as on differences in virulent mechanisms among distinct serotypes.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.183-188
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• 1999

The incidence of Yersinia enterocolitica in raw meat was determined over 10 month period. Y. enterocolitica was isolated from 8.5% of beef, 17.0% of pork and 25.6% of chicken. Overall prevalence of Y. enterocolitica in raw meat was 17.5%. Seasonal difference was observed in isolation rate in which pork and chicken samples collected in the second half of the year twice was more than that of the first half of the year. Serotypes of Y. enterocolitica isolates were O:5 (17.3%), O:8 (8.6%), O:3 (6.2%), O:1,2 (1.2%), and others. The antibiotics susceptibility tests showed Y. enterocolitica isolates were resistant to carbenicillin, ampicillin, erythromycin, penicillin and bacitracin. In contrast it showed sensitivity to polymyxin B, kanamycin, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, nalidixic acid, and tetracycline. PCR with specific primers derived from ail gene of Y. enterocolitica was applied to detect and confirm pathogenic Y. enterocolitica. About 10% of the isolated Y. enterocolitica proved to be pathogenic and most of them were found in pork. However, proper cooking and meat process can kill and remove all Y. enterocolitica in meat, because the organism is very sensitive to heat.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.1336-1340
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• 2000

Overall prevalence of Y. enterocolitica in frozen foods was 5.6% (35 cases of 624 samples). Seasonal variation of contamination was observed. Isolation rate of Y. enterocolitica from samples collected in the second half of the year was six times higher than those of the first half of the year. Serotype of the isolated Y. enterocolitica was mainly serotype O:5 (9 cases). However, 25 cases of 35 isolates could not be serotyped with antiserum used in this study. The biotype test showed that all isolates were non-pathogenic type 1A. The polymerase chain reaction test with ail gene specific primers also confirmed that pathogenic strains were not found in frozen food isolates.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.697-702
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• 2010

Ten farrow-finish farms participated in this seromonitoring that was conducted to investigate the porcine brucellosis situation in Korea. In total, eight (80.0%) of the 10 farms and 139 (24.0%) of 578 pigs tested showed a positive response in the Rose Bengal test (RBT). Seroprevalence levels were determined using RBT according to age; 35 (14.6%) of 239 piglets, 36 (31.3%) of 115 growing pigs, and 68 (30.4%) of 224 finishing pigs and sows were positive, respectively. All positive samples in RBT were tested with the tube agglutination test (TAT) and competitive ELISA (C-ELISA), simultaneously. Although 48 samples came up positive in the TAT, all samples tested with C-ELISA were negative. Among 26 rectal swab samples from the TAT positive-pigs, Yersinia enterocolitica O:9 was isolated from seven samples (26.9%). Therefore, we speculated that the positive reaction of RBT and TAT in this study might be induced by the serologically cross-reacting bacteria with Brucella abortus.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.97-102
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• 2003

Raw and washed spinaches were tested to evaluate the incidences of Aeromonas hydrophila, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Plesiomonas shigelloides, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Yersinia enterocolitica, Bacillus cereus, Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium perfringens, Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus. Four pathogenic bacteria were isolated from spinach samples, and identified by morphological and biochemical methods, including API and ATB identification systems. Isolates from MacConkey, Cereus Selective, Clostridium Perfringens, and Baird-Parker agar media were in 99.9, 99.8, 99.9, and 97.8% agreements with A. hydrophila, B. cereus, C. perfringens, and S. aureus at the species level, respectively. SET-RPLA revealed, among the five strains of S. aureus isolates, two produced type A enterotoxin. All five strains of B. cereus isolates produced enterotoxin as revealed with CRET-RPLA.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.250-257
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to evaluate microbiological contamination of leafy vegetables. Total aerobic bacteria and coliforms were monitored to get the contamination levels and Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Listeria monocytogenes, Yersinia enterocolitica, Campylobacter jejuni to detect pathogens with risk of foodpoisoning from fresh vegetables. The colony count of total aerobes and coliforms was also performed to determine the efficacy of washing with tab water by common consumers. 124 samples which are divided into 8 kinds of vegetables - Sesame leaf, Dropwort, Chinese cabbage, Korean leek, Lettuce, Crown daisy, Pimpinella brachycarpa, Chicory were sampled in 2 wholesale markets in Incheon. Mean counts of total aerobic bacteria for individual vegetables ranged from $2.2\times10^6\;CFU/g\;to\;6.0\times10^7\;CFU/g$ and total coliforms were from $4.1\times10^5\;CFU/g\;to\;9.8\times10^6\;CFU/g$. Both show the peaks in summer on this study from March to September. Decrease rates after washing with tab water averaged 81.0% and 82.5% in total aerobic bacteria and coliform counts respectively. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated 8.1%, Bacillus cereus 14.5%, Clostridium perfringens 5.6%, Escherichia coli 18.5%. 11 samples showed overlapped bacterial contamination. For respective vegetables Staphylococcus aureus isolated from 0.0% to 22.2%, Bacillus cereus from 0.0% to 29.4%, Clostridium perfringens from 0.0% to 23.1 %, Escherichia. coli from 0.0% to 35.0%. Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Listeria monocytogenes, Yersinia enterocolitica, Campylobacter jejuni were not isolated. This study is expected to be available as the reference for the basal data of pathogens in fresh vegetables.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.203-208
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• 2013

This survey was conducted to evaluate the microbial contamination level of butcher's shops in Seoul, Korea. For microbial inspections, a total of 584 samples (146 cotton work gloves, 146 utensils and equipments, 154 beef samples, 138 pork samples) were collected from butcher's shops. E. coli and pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Yersinia enterocolitica, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., and E. coli O157:H7 were tested in the samples. As a result, the level of aerobic plate count (APC) ranged ${\leq}10^4\;CFU/cm^2$ from utensils and equipments, $10^1{\sim}10^9$ CFU/glove from cotton work gloves and ${\leq}10^6$ CFU/g from meat. The APC level of E. coli ranged ${\leq}10^1\;CFU/cm^2$ from utensils and equipments, ${\leq}10^5$ CFU/glove from cotton work gloves, and ${\leq}10^3$ CFU/g from meat, respectively. Staphylococcus aureus was detected in 2 beef samples, 1 pork sample, and 10 used cotton work gloves. Yersinia enterocolitica was detected in 3 beef samples, 1 pork sample, and 3 used cotton work gloves. Listeria monocytogenes was detected in 2 used cotton work gloves. In order to improve the sanitation status of butcher's shops, application of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) or SSOP (Sanitation Standard Operating Procedure), regular hygiene education, and continuous monitoring for microorganisms will be required.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.965-970
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• 2009

PCR technology has been widely used to detect and quantify microbial pathogens in foodstuffs, because the technique is rapid, sensitive, and selective. In this study, detection of contaminating pathogenic bacteria on shells of chicken eggs was performed using both a commercial multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kit and a viable count method employing a selective medium. The PCR kit was capable of detecting Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Listeria monocytogenes, Yersinia enterocolitica, Salmonella species, and Shigella species. Using the PCR method, five bacterial species were detected from 30 samples (33.3%) of 90 batches of eggs commercially available in a market. PCR products from B. cereus, S. aureus, L. monocytogenes, Y. enterocolitica, and E. coli O157:H7 were detected, and the numbers and frequencies of positive samples were 17 (18.8%), 12 (13.3%), 15 (16.6%), 16 (17.7%),and 4 (4.4%), respectively. None of any Salmonella species, C. jejuni, V. parahaemolyticus, or Shigella species was detected in this study. The results of PCR testing were confirmed using a typical viable count method employing a selective medium. We suggest that the multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR) assay is a rapid and reliable method for detection of pathogenic bacteria contaminating eggs.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.683-687
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• 2004

Raw beefs used fer Jangzorim production were evaluated fur contamination of pathogenic bacteria and microorganisms related to spoilage and food safety. Eleven groups of mesophilic, psychrotrophic, and anaerobic microorganisms, and total coliforms were selected to evaluate degree of food contamination. Nine strains including Bacillus cereus, Clostridium botulinum, C. perfringens, and Listeria monocytogenes were selected to evaluate incidences of pathogenic bacteria. Raw beefs harbored large populations of microorganisms, which decreased greatly after heat treatment. Psychrotrophic microorganisms were found to be more abundant than other microorganisms. B. cereus, C. perfringens, and L. monocytogenes were isolated from raw beefs, whereas C. botulinum, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, and Yersinia enterocolitica were not isolated. Isoiates from Cereus selective agar, clostridium Perfringens agar, and Oxford agar were in 99.8, 99.9 and 98.6% agreements with B. cereus, C. perfringens, and L. monocytogenes at species level, respectively. B. cereus produced enterotoxin with CRET-RPLA method, whereas C. perfringens did not produce enterotoxin with PET-RPLA method.