Foodborne pathogens and host predilection

During food manufacturing, the potential exists for contamination of products with pathogenic microorganisms. While the ingestion of a bacterial pathogen will typically result in illness in a susceptible host, it is not the case for each strain within a given species. Pathogenic bacteria display various levels of host specificity: some infect a wide range of hosts, while others have strict host selectivity and are obligate pathogens. Host specificity of bacterial pathogens is determined by multiple molecular interactions between both the pathogens and their hosts. Understanding these interactions in detail will allow risk-based decisions to be made on affected foods, informed by knowledge of specific strains or pathotypes. This has the potential to avoid costly and unnecessary recalls with classical pathogens that can be proved to have a low potential for causing illness