Matthias Fischer

The very low birth weight and the not fully developed immune system make preterm infants especially susceptible to infections. Therefore microbiological food safety of preterm nutrition is a particular challenge. This is also due to the fact that breastfeeding is often not possible in these infants. There are several obstacles to breastfeeding, such as intensive care conditions and individual nutritional requirements of the newborn. The chapter covers the microbiological aspects of preterm nutrition, including quality requirements for commercial infant formulas, breastmilk fortifiers and extracted breast milk. The main pathogens of concern (e.g. Cronobacter spp. Salmonella spp. and Clostridium botulinum) are discussed in detail, including related food safety indicators. An important part of the chapter is devoted to the hygienic aspects of preterm formula preparation techniques, storage conditions and microbiological risks linked to certain feeding techniques (e.g. tube feeding). The risks associated with microorganisms found in commercial infant formula and in the prepared environment, as well as the risk of biofilm formation, are described. Options and requirements for risk mitigation are discussed in detail.

The aim of this study was to gain an overview of the genetic diversity of Salmonella found in wildlife in Germany. We were particularly interested in exploring whether wildlife acts as a reservoir of certain serovars/subtypes or antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes. Moreover, we wanted to explore the potential of Salmonella in spreading from wildlife to livestock and humans. To answer these questions, we sequenced 260 Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica isolates sampled between 2002 and 2020 from wildlife across Germany, using short-read whole genome sequencing. We found, consistent with previous findings, that some Salmonella sequence types are associated with certain animal species, such as S. Choleraesuis ST145 with wild boar and S. Enteritidis ST183 with hedgehogs. Antibiotic resistance was detected in 14.2% of all isolates, with resistance against important WATCH group antibiotics present in a small number of isolates. We further found that wildlife isolates do not form separate phylogenetic clusters distant to isolates from domestic animals and foodstuff, thus indicating frequent transmission events between these reservoirs. Overall, our study shows that Salmonella in German wildlife are diverse, with a low AMR burden and close links to Salmonella populations of farm and food-production environments.