Method to introduce Salmonella into ground meat
Inventors
Loneragan, Guy • Edrington, Thomas • Malin, Katelyn
Assignees
Texas Tech University TTU • US Department of Agriculture USDA
Publication Number
US-9995735-B2
Publication Date
2018-06-12
Expiration Date
2036-09-09
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Abstract
The present invention includes a method of introducing a pathogenic infection into one or more peripheral lymph nodes of an animal for testing of meat, comprising: inoculating at one or more peripheral lymph node drainage areas the animal with a known amount of a known pathogen; harvesting one or more peripheral lymph nodes from the animal; grinding meat or meat trimmings and the one or more peripheral lymph nodes into ground meat; and determining a ratio of a number of peripheral lymph nodes infected to the weight of the meat or meat trimmings used to create the ground meat, wherein the infected ground meat can be used to test interventions against the known pathogen in a grinding process.
Core Innovation
The invention provides a novel method to introduce Salmonella and other pathogens into ground meat through the incorporation of peripheral lymph nodes infected via intradermal, subdermal, or transdermal inoculation methods. This method uses lymph nodes collected from animals challenged with a known pathogen, which are then ground with meat or meat trimmings to create infected ground meat. This model mimics how pathogens are distributed throughout ground meat during commercial production, providing a consistent and reproducible system for testing interventions against such pathogens during grinding processes.
The problem being addressed is that Salmonella and other pathogens can be harbored within the peripheral lymph nodes of food animals such as cattle, and such lymph nodes are incorporated into lean and fat trimmings used in ground meat. These pathogens are protected from current postharvest interventions employed in abattoirs, leading to contamination risks in retail ground beef. Prior to this invention, available challenge models, such as oral inoculation, resulted in inconsistent and unpredictable infection of peripheral lymph nodes, leaving a critical gap in effective testing and mitigation strategies.
This invention overcomes these limitations by establishing a predictable method to infect specific peripheral lymph nodes through targeted inoculations at lymph node drainage areas and subsequently incorporating these lymph nodes into ground meat. This approach enables quantification of infected nodes relative to meat weight and facilitates the development and testing of vaccines, therapeutic interventions, or other treatments designed to reduce or eliminate pathogen carriage within lymph nodes and consequently reduce contamination in ground meat products.
Claims Coverage
The patent includes three independent claims relating to novel methods of introducing pathogens into peripheral lymph nodes, testing therapies, and evaluating compounds for bacterial elimination.
Method of introducing pathogenic infection into peripheral lymph nodes for meat testing
A method that includes inoculating an animal at peripheral lymph node drainage areas with known pathogens, harvesting and separating individual peripheral lymph nodes from these sites, determining if these nodes are infected, grinding meat or trimmings from the same site into ground meat, and determining a ratio of infected lymph nodes to total nodes and meat weight. This infected ground meat is used to test interventions against pathogens during grinding.
Method of introducing indicator bacteria to determine efficacy of therapies
A method involving inoculating an animal at peripheral lymph node drainage areas with known indicator bacteria, treating the animal with therapies or exposures, harvesting inoculated lymph nodes, grinding them with sterile meat or trimmings into ground meat, and determining if the therapies were effective in eliminating or reducing the indicator bacteria in the ground meat.
Method of testing compounds for elimination of bacterial infections in lymph nodes
A method comprising inoculating an animal at peripheral lymph node drainage areas with bacteria, treating the animal with compounds, harvesting inoculated lymph nodes, grinding these lymph nodes with sterile meat or trimmings into ground meat, and determining if the compounds effectively reduced or eliminated the bacteria.
The claims collectively cover methods for deliberately infecting peripheral lymph nodes with pathogens or indicator bacteria through intradermal, subdermal, or transdermal inoculation, harvesting and processing these lymph nodes with meat, and utilizing the infected ground meat to test therapeutic or compound interventions aimed at reducing or eliminating bacterial contamination.
Stated Advantages
Provides a consistent and repeatable method to recover Salmonella from peripheral lymph nodes, enabling reliable testing.
Enables development and testing of interventions to mitigate Salmonella contamination occurring after current post-harvest interventions in abattoirs.
Allows evaluation of multiple pathogen serotypes within individual animals, reducing the number of animals needed for testing.
The transdermal and intradermal inoculation routes are well tolerated by animals and provide predictable regional infection specificity in lymph nodes.
Documented Applications
Testing interventions against Salmonella and other pathogens in ground meat during grinding processes.
Developing and evaluating vaccines and therapeutic compounds to reduce or eliminate bacterial carriage in peripheral lymph nodes of food animals.
Creating challenge models for research to study pathogen infection dynamics and efficacy of treatments within peripheral lymph nodes.
Providing a model system mimicking commercial ground meat contamination for microbiological risk assessment and food safety studies.
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