Novel food trends and climate changes: Impact on emerging food-borne bacterial pathogens

Rates of infection with foodborne bacterial pathogens and their attendant economic burden remain high in industrialized and developing countries, despite persistent efforts to increase the safety of the food supply from farm to fork. New pathogens, like non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and Arcobacter butzleri have been isolated during outbreaks; others, like Helicobacter pullorum, are emerging as foodborne human pathogens. Large consumption of fresh produce in healthy diets, increasing worldwide trade in food products and raw materials and climate changes are all among the key factors contributing to shifts in the traditional association of foodborne pathogens from foods of animal origin to other commodities and to the emergence or re-emergence of known and new pathogens.