In the face of such threats as avian influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and weaponised anthrax, the topic of foodborne pathogens may seem insignificant by comparison. Yet, foodborne and diarrhoeal diseases have remained persistently high on the list of global challenges, each year accounting for billions of cases of illnesses and more than a million deaths. In developed countries where mortality and serious sequelae are relatively low, morbidity still continues to be exceedingly high, affecting both quality of life and bottom line costs. Although the total economic burden of foodborne disease is unknown, it is clearly a very large figure. Additionally, in the last few years there has been increasing concern about our vulnerability to large-scale foodborne contamination events, including foodborne bioterrorism. It is against this background that the new compendium Foodborne pathogens: microbiology and molecular biology has been published.
This book was written and edited by 37 authors representing government, academia, and private industry, and attempts to address wide-ranging topics in the field. As a whole, the chapters are well researched and written. The introductory chapters focus on various topics related to pathogen detection, characterisation, and modelling, with considerable attention given to molecular, biosensor, and subtyping technology. The editors have chosen interesting and timely topics, some of which are not often available in other texts. For example, readers are introduced to the arcane but important subjects of animal and cell culture study models, the viable but non-culturable state of bacteria in food environments, and pathogen growth and survival models. The middle two-thirds of the text are comprised of chapters on either individual foodborne pathogens or groups of pathogens. The book closes with a succinct look at foodborne bioterrorism from a public-health viewpoint and an interesting chapter on unusual foodborne diseases such as anisakidosis, gnathostomiasis, and intestinal spirochetosis.
Despite its general title, the book's dominant perspective is that of US regulatory agencies and academic food science departments, reflecting the affiliations of the editors and most of the chapter authors. Without a preface or broad discussion to tie the various topics together, the reader is left without context to understand the basic issues of food monitoring or to evaluate the various types of real-world food safety problems that technology can or cannot solve. Unlike some standard microbiology reference works, the chapters on individual pathogens in this text vary greatly in their content and focus. Each chapter has a different emphasis on molecular biology, clinical diagnosis, treatment, pathogenesis, and epidemiology. For some pathogens, methods are described for detection in food matrices, but not in clinical specimens, while for other pathogens only clinical detection methods are described.
This text is more of a collection of stand-alone essays than a comprehensive overview of the field. Nevertheless, it is a “one-stop shop” for a number of important topics, and would be a valuable addition to the reference library of any food scientist or specialist in foodborne disease. Medical professionals, scientists in basic research, policymakers, or those seeking a comprehensive reference on the microbiology and molecular biology of foodborne pathogens may find it lacking.