Abstract
The gastric stomach of humans is a barrier to food-borne pathogens, but Escherichia coli can survive at pH 2.0 if it is grown under mildly acidic conditions. Cattle are a natural reservoir for pathogenic E. coli, and cattle fed mostly grain had lower colonic pH and more acid-resistant E. coli than cattle fed only hay. On the basis of numbers and survival after acid shock, cattle that were fed grain had 105-fold more acid-resistant E. coli than cattle fed hay, but a brief period of hay feeding decreased the acid- resistant count substantially.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1666-1668 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Science |
Volume | 281 |
Issue number | 5383 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 11 1998 |
Externally published | Yes |