NTU Undergraduates' research April 2014 - Biosciences | Page 68

PCR detection of Yersinia enterocolitica in retail pork
Richard Hill

Abstract
Foodborne pathogens such as Yersinia enterocolitica have reached the public eye in recent years in
part due to food quality scandals such as the E. coli 0104:H4 outbreak in Germany in 2011 which
resulted in the deaths of 53 people. While Yersinia enterocolitica has never caused an outbreak of
this scale it is still an important foodborne pathogen especially amongst children. The aim of this
report was to investigate the link between Yersinia enterocolitica and retail pork by isolating and
identifying it using PCR and gel electrophoresis. This investigation failed to isolate Yersinia
enterocolitica after testing 20 retail pork products. This was in spite of control experiments which
proved the validity of the methods used. The conclusion of this report was that the abattoir process
responsible for butchering and cleaning the meat was effective at removing Yersinia enterocolitica
contaminants from the pork. The recommendation from this report is that further testing of a larger
sample of pork products would be required to validate the data of this report.
Keywords: Yersinia enterocolitica, PCR, Pork, Food quality, Contamination