Slowing The Process For Salmonella enterica On Tomato Plant Tissues

By: Daniel Cuellar

Figure 1: Each column displays the population of Salmonella in the different plant tissues tested with combinations of relative humidity and temperature utilized to grow the plants. Figure taken from Deblais et al. 2019

Tomatoes are one of the most widely produced vegetables in the world; however, they are also known to be connected to Salmonella enterica (refered to as JSG626). This bacterium is commonly associated with food products once consumed. It accounts for millions of illnesses, hundreds of deaths, and foodborne cases in multiple countries. A study by Deblais and colleagues demonstrated that specific environmental conditions affect the dissemination and persistence of JSG626 in tomato plant tissues. Significant conditions that were analyzed showed a combination of increasing temperatures and low levels of relative humidity. On the other hand, humidity had little to no effect on subjects and could only reduce Salmonella from persisting at lower levels as opposed to high levels because of the bacterium's persistence to the conditions. Increased temperatures with low humidity showed a major reduction of Salmonella on tomato plants. Therefore, if tomatoes were grown under these altered conditions, the persistence of JSG626 would reduce in plant tissues. This study shows an importance on how the abiotic factors interact with Salmonella and may possibly enhance demonstrations of reducing the bacteria further. 

Original Article:
Deblais, L., Helmy, Y., Testen, A., Vrisman, C., Jimenez, M., Kathayat, D., . . . Rajashekara, G. (2019). Specific environmental temperature and relative humidity conditions and grafting affect the persistence and dissemination of salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serotype typhimurium in tomato plant tissues.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 85(11). doi: 10.1128/AEM.00403-19