Evaluation of the impact of buffered peptone water composition on the discrimination between Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli by Raman spectroscopy.

The detection of Salmonella spp. in food samples is regulated by the ISO 6579:2002 standard, which requires that precise procedures are followed to ensure the reliability of the detection process. This standard requires buffered peptone water as a rich medium for the enrichment of bacteria. However, the effects of different brands of buffered peptone water on the identification of microorganisms by Raman spectroscopy are unknown. In this regard, our study evaluated the discrimination between two bacterial species, Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli, inoculated and analyzed with six of the most commonly used buffered peptone water brands. The results showed that bacterial cells behaved differently according to the brand used in terms of biomass production and the spectral fingerprint. The identification accuracy of the analyzed strains was between 85% and 100% depending on the given brand. Several batches of two brands were studied to evaluate the classification rates between the analyzed bacterial species. The chemical analysis performed on these brands showed that the nutrient content was slightly different and probably explained the observed effects. On the basis of these results, Raman spectroscopy operators are encouraged to select an adequate culture medium and continue its use throughout the identification process to guarantee optimal recognition of the microorganism of interest.

Potential of Raman Spectroscopy To Monitor Arsenic Toxicity on Bacteria: Insights toward Multiparametric Bioassays.

In the field of toxicological bioassays, the latest progress in Raman spectroscopy opens new research perspectives on a fast method of observing metabolic responses against toxic agents. This technique offers a multiparametric approach, providing an overview of the physiological changes that are caused by pollutants. However, physiological spectral fingerprints require complex chemometric methods for proper analysis. In this study, particular attention has been given to the elaboration of an "aberrant spectra" detection strategy to highlight the effects of arsenic on the bacteria Escherichia coli. This strategy significantly improved spectra classification, consistent with a dose-response effect of the four tested concentrations of the metal. Indeed, the correct classification score of the spectra increased from 88 to more than 99%. The exposure time effect has also been investigated. The fine analysis of Raman spectroscopy fingerprints enabled the design of different "spectral signatures", highlighting early and late effects of arsenic on bacteria. The observed variations are in agreement with the expected toxicity and encourage the use of Raman spectroscopy for toxic element detection.

Raman spectroscopy applied to the horizontal methods ISO 6579:2002 to identify Salmonella spp. in the food industry.

Food safety is a major concern for suppliers in the food chain to ensure the safety of their products. The identification procedure requested by norms is tedious, and it often requires systematic controls and qualified staff to perform the necessary analyses. Raman spectroscopy offers new opportunities to rapidly and efficiently ascertain the presence of pathogens in samples. Nevertheless, this technique requires a standardized procedure to be applied in the industrial context. Our study shows that the variability between spectral fingerprints is related to the physiological state of the microbial species and the growth phase of the bacteria plays a crucial role in its identification by Raman spectroscopy. To improve the discrimination between closely related bacterial species, a procedure based on the selection of bacterial spectra in the exponential growth phase was proposed. Different ways to introduce Raman spectroscopy in the ISO 6579:2002 standards are also proposed from the entire process to a shorter protocol. In the latter case, the identification of bacterial colonies after the selective enrichment step was proposed with the advantages of this path in terms of simplicity and rapidity (analysis time is reduced up to 50 h from the 100 h required by the standard). The protocol validated using six food categories from industrial partners have presented a good correlation by confirmation with other laboratory classical methods. In the future, this procedure could be introduced to the control system of the food production chain with a reliable database for various microorganisms encountered in this field.

A multiway chemometric and kinetic study for evaluating the thermal stability of edible oils by ¹H NMR analysis: comparison of methods.

The degradation process of edible oils of different nature, submitted to heating at 170°C, 190°C and 210°C with aeration, was studied by means of (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). In this study, secondary products such as aldehydes were detected and monitored over time. Two complementary analytical approaches were adopted to characterize the kinetics of the appearance of aldehydes in the heated oils. This first was a classical kinetic approach based on the assumption that the overall degradation reaction to form aldehydes follows a rate law of order 1. This approach allowed us to calculate a thermal stability criterion for classifying the oils according to their heat stability. A second approach was to use the spectral fingerprint corresponding to aldehydes in a multivariate data analysis procedure in order to give the major trend in the studied phenomena, taking into account the multiway nature of recorded data. The application of different 3-way and 4-way Tucker3 models led to a better understanding of the chemical stability of the oils studied and was used to determine the order of stability of these oils. This multiway approach provides additional information that 2-way processing (PCA) does not provide clearly, such as the overall contribution of the heating time factor on the chemical evolution of oils. In conclusion, this work shows that a fully chemometric study of NMR spectra allows to order the oils according to their thermal stability and to achieve a result in good agreement with existing analytical and kinetic studies in the literature.