ABSTRACT
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, food-borne illnesses are a common, costly, but preventable public health problem. Food-borne pathogens remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In the United States, food-borne diseases cause 9.4 million illnesses, 55,961 hospitalizations, and 1,351 deaths each year (Scallan et al., 2011). The chief reservoir of common causative agents of food-borne illnesses are farm animals. Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria, and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 (EHEC) are the most common bacterial pathogens responsible for food-borne illness (Harrison et al., 2013). The Economic Research Service (ERS, 2000) reported that food-borne illnesses accounted for about 1 of every 100 US hospitalizations and 1 of every 500 US deaths. The ERS also estimated that, each year in the United States, ve bacterial pathogensCampylobacter, Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, and Toxoplasma gondii-were the source of more than 50% of food-borne illness and were responsible for $6.9 billion in medical expenditures, decreased productivity, and premature deaths. These numbers excluded any hidden costs
16.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 305 16.2 Conventional Antimicrobials Used in Food Production .............................................................. 306
16.2.1 Antimicrobials Used in Farm Animal Production .......................................................... 306 16.2.2 Antimicrobials Used in Veterinary Medicine ................................................................. 307 16.2.3 Antimicrobials Used as Preservatives in Postharvest Levels .......................................... 309
16.3 Limitations of Conventional Antimicrobials Used in Food Production ...................................... 309 16.3.1 Antibiotic Resistance of Bacterial and Fungal Pathogens .............................................. 309 16.3.2 Antibiotic Residues in Food .............................................................................................310
16.4 Possible Options of Replacing Conventional Antibiotics with Organic and Natural Antimicrobials .................................................................................................................310 16.4.1 Products of Plant Origin ...................................................................................................310
