Food pathogens are mostly bacteria that typically comprise among others Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., and Shigella. Pathogens have long been recognized as one of the most important sources causing food poisoning worldwide. This and the fact that almost 98% of microbes found in food are non-pathogenic demands for the development of diagnostic tests that can specifically detect the target pathogen. Development of rapid methods for the detection and characterization of foodborne pathogens is vital not only to food industries but also to safeguard public health. Plasmonic Raman biosensors have the potential to shorten the time span between sample collection and results, by providing a relatively simple, low cost, and highly sensitive trace analytical tool for the analysis of bioactive agents. The work presented here uses Raman methods to provide rich structural information of microorganisms through their sharp and distinguishable vibrational fingerprint. The study will focus on L.casei as an anthropogenic microbe model and E. coli as a target pathogen. Testing of the validated metal/PDMS substrates as a surveying tool is reported. An analysis of the characteristic fingerprints for DNA (1578, and 781 cm-1), polysaccharides (1580, and 1290-1030 cm-1), lipids (1730, 1490-1470 cm-1), and proteins (1650-1600 cm-1) bands on labs scale standards and spiked parsley samples is presented. The Raman based methods and multi-variate analysis for the effective and routine detection of E. coli in fresh crops is discussed.

Raman probes as a rapid identification and detection tool for E.coli in fresh parsley

249th National Meeting (2015)

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