Simultaneous detection of mixed foodborne pathogens by multi-molecular infrared spectroscopy identification system

Foodborne pathogens are generally diverse in one food matrix, and different kinds of bacterial pathogens might cause similar infection symptoms and impair human health. A Multi-molecular infrared (MM-IR) spectroscopy identification system was established to simultaneously identify multiple pathogens and precisely target the source of infection. The system based on PCA and SIMCA was used for direct qualitative identification and quantitative analysis of pathogenic bacteria, using E. coli DH5 alpha, S. aureus SH10 and V. cholerae (different mixed ratios and different mixed types) as demonstrations. The results have shown that the recognition rate and rejection rate of different mixed types were 100%, the identification rate and rejection rate of different mixed ratios were >= 86% and 100%, respectively. Meanwhile, artificially contaminated fish has been used to verify the identification system and all the mixed bacteria in the fish substrate could be identified successfully. The MM-IR identification system was employed to simultaneously detect mixed pathogenic bacteria in foods for the first time, which has great potential for rapid detection of mixed pathogenic bacteria in practical.