Microbial contamination is a significant concern for food safety and public health, contributing to a high incidence of global foodborne illnesses. It has the potential to occur at any point along the food production chain (Tropea, ).
Despite advancements in food safety measures and practices, more than half of foodborne illness outbreaks in the U.S. are still associated with restaurants and food service businesses (DeWaal and Glassman, ). This poses significant public health risks and exposes those businesses accountable for the outbreaks to potential legal, financial, and reputational damage (Food Safety Focus National Restaurant Association, ).
Unfortunately, in our daily interactions with food retail stores and food service establishments, whether browsing the aisles at the grocery store, dining out at a restaurant, or ordering takeout, we naturally assume that the food we purchase is safe for consumption. The food supply chain works tirelessly to sustain/meet this expectation; however, food safety issues continue to arise, leading to unsafe food and the need for food recalls (Nestle, ). While these problems commonly originate from the earlier stages of the supply chain, cases of contamination occur within retail establishments—both in grocery stores and food service settings (Linton, ; Lianou and Sofos, ; Moritz et al., ).
Furthermore, under this Research Topic, several scientific research studies have presented the findings regarding the prevalence and antibiotic resistance profile of bacteria, such as Staphylococcus spp, Listeria spp, E. coli, Salmonella, Vibrio alginolyticus and contamination of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in crayfish at food services and retail settings settings (Angamarca et al.; Punchihewage-Don et al.; Wu et al.; Sun et al.). Additionally, an aflatoxin B1-degrading strain from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was presented as potential microbial contamination (mold) at food services operations (Tang et al.). The primary aim of this Research Topic was to demonstrate how the microbial risk at retail and food service operations poses a public health concern and to increase knowledge about potential microbial contamination in these settings.
The prevalence of microbial contamination in retail and food service operations is due to a lack of a food safety management system, resulting in poor personal hygiene and not following good manufacturing practices (Moritz et al., ). Insufficient training and food safety knowledge of food handlers and other staff members and poor attitudes toward the seriousness of food safety could lead to practices that increase the risk of food contamination (Johnson et al., ).
Understanding the prevalence of microbes and antibiotic resistance is essential for adapting and promoting a food safety culture, implementing the best food safety practices, and ensuring adherence to personal hygiene standards in retail and food service establishments.
Therefore, this Research Topic presents the serious issue of microbial contamination in retail stores and food service establishments. It highlights that pathogenic microorganisms could contaminate food products at any point in the supply chain or production process, posing a consequential food safety risk to public health due to potential foodborne illnesses.
To conclude, good manufacturing practices (GMP), good personal hygiene, regular employee training, and food safety management are essential to prevent microbial contamination and mitigate foodborne illnesses at retail and food service establishments.
Statements
Author contributions
ZM: Conceptualization, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft. FA: Writing – review & editing.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as potential conflicts of interest.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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MoritzE. D.Ebrahim-ZadehS. D.WittryB.HolstM. M.DaiseB.ZernA.et al. (2023). Foodborne illness outbreaks at retail food establishments - National Environmental Assessment Reporting System, 25 state and local health departments, 2017–2019. MMWR Surveill Summ.72, 1–11. 10.15585/mmwr.ss7206a1
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Summary
Keywords
food services, bacterial contamination, public health, food safety, GMP
Citation
Mohammad ZH and Ahmad F (2024) Editorial: Microbial food safety in retail stores and restaurants. Front. Microbiol. 15:1518203. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1518203
Received
28 October 2024
Accepted
31 October 2024
Published
19 November 2024
Volume
15 - 2024
Edited and reviewed by
Aldo Corsetti, University of Teramo, Italy
Updates
Copyright
© 2024 Mohammad and Ahmad.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Zahra H. Mohammad zahrahm13@gmail.com
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.