Evaluation of GFP Reporter-labeled Control Strains for Shiga Toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) Assays

 

Growing concern over bacterial food contamination has led to increased examination of food testing protocols in today’s industry. Currently, the use of bacterial strains as positive controls in testing protocols is not widely practiced for fear of cross-contaminating samples. Due to ongoing scrutiny of food testing methodology and growing regulations under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act, it is imperative to have control strains with unique, easily detectable traits that distinguish positive control strains from actual food contaminants, diminishing the fear of cross-contamination and improving current practices. In this study, we developed GFP reporter-labeled Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli for use as controls in QC testing.