Elena Alexandra Oniciuc

• PhD
• PhD at "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati

Background Antimicrobials and heavy metals such as zinc oxide (ZnO) have been commonly used on Irish commercial pig farms for a 2-week period post-weaning to help prevent infection. In 2022, the prophylactic use of antimicrobials and ZnO was banned within the European Union due to concerns associated with the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (...

Microorganisms colonising processing environments can significantly impact food quality and safety. Here we describe a detailed longitudinal study assessing the impact of cave ripening on the microbial succession and quality markers across different producers of blue-veined cheese. Both the producer and cave in which cheeses were ripened significan...

Microorganisms colonising processing environments can significantly impact food quality and safety.Here we describe a detailed longitudinal study assessing the impact of cave ripening on the microbial succession and cheese metabolome across different producers of Cabrales blue-veined cheese. Both the producer and cave in which cheeses were ripened...

The microbiological characteristics of Greek Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) cheeses were determined and isolated bacteria were investigated. Six cheese types were examined: Anevato, Batzos, Feta, Galotyri, Kalathaki Limnou and Kopanisti. The highest levels of faecal indicator bacteria, presumptive Listeria spp. and presumptive Staphylococcus...

Background The microorganisms that inhabit food processing environments (FPE) can strongly influence the associated food quality and safety. In particular, the possibility that FPE may act as a reservoir of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, and a hotspot for the transmission of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) is a concern in meat processing p...

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most challenging threats in public health; thus, there is a growing demand for methods and technologies that enable rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). The conventional methods and technologies addressing AMR diagnostics and AST employed in clinical microbiology are tedious, with high turna...

Bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is considered to be very alarming following an upward trend and thus posing a primary threat to public health. AMR has tremendous adverse effects on humans, farm animals, healthcare, the environment, agriculture and, thus, on national economies. Several tools have been proposed and adopted by numerous countr...

The aim of this article is to review the fast and worldwide distribution of ESBL enzymes and to describe the role of the pork production chain as a reservoir and transmission route of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli and ESBLs in the European Union (EU). The use of β-lactam antibiotics in swine production and the prevalence of ESBL producing E. coli...

The study shows the potential of functional metagenomics analyses to uncover the diversity of functions in microbial communities prevailing in dairy products and their processing environments, evidencing that lactic acid bacteria (LAB) dominate the cheese microbiota, whereas Gram-negative microorganisms of animal or soil origin dominate the microbi...

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the major challenges the world faces. The emergence and spread of AMR has been attributed to the misuse or indiscriminate use of antibiotics as therapeutic or prophylactic drugs in human and animal health care or in veterinary husbandry. In addition, there is a growing concern over the possibility of AMR tra...

This chapter presents the ability of some pathogenic (Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Campylobacter jejuni, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and toxigenic bacteria (Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus) to form biofilms and contribute to the persistence of these microorganisms in the food industry. Particularities regarding...

To tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is of outmost importance for the general population to understand the severity and the relevance of different routes of transmission. Respondents of different age groups, educational and occupational backgrounds, area of living, diet and household composition participated in an online survey with questions c...

We report for the first time an oxacillin-susceptible mecA-positive Staphylococcus aureus (OS-MRSA) associated with a processed food product in Europe. One isolate (MRSA-ST5-type V SCCmec) was found in cheese among 600 food samples confiscated from air passengers from international flights in Vienna Airport (Austria). Type V SCCmec strains do not h...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the capacity of 49 methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from foods of animal origin (42 from dairy products and 7 from meat and meat products) to form biofilms. Overall, a higher biofilm biomass was observed for those MRSA strains harboring SCCmec type IV, while 8 MRSA strains (5 from dairy...

Farms and food industries rely to a large extent on the use of biocides as disinfectants and other antimicrobial agents and preservatives with antimicrobial properties in order to provide food of high microbiological quality and safe for consumers. However, in the last decades it has become apparent that long-term sub-lethal exposure to these antim...

Abstract Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) represents a major challenge for Public Health and the scientific community, and requires immediate and drastic solutions. Acquired resistance to certain antimicrobials is already widespread to such an extent that their efficacy in the treatment of certain life‐threatening infections is already compromised. T...

The authors wish to make the following changes to their paper [1]. Due to an undetected mistake in the references management, certain errors appeared in the reference list and a reference was duplicated in Table 1[...]

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance is a critical step within risk assessment schemes, as it is the basis for informing global strategies, monitoring the effectiveness of public health interventions, and detecting new trends and emerging threats linked to food. Surveillance of AMR is currently based on the isolation of indicator microorgani...

The aim of the study was to evaluate the potential role of the illegal entry of food in UE in the Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) spread. We studied the prevalence and characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA isolated from foods of animal origin confiscated from passengers on flights from 45 non-EU countries from 2012 to 2015 by the...

Background Antimicrobial resistance is one of the major challenges in medicine and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a particularly problematic nosocomial pathogen. Many recent studies document successful MRSA lineages in farm animals and derived foodstuffs, highlighting the need for adequate control and prevention programmes to...

Sixteen Staphylococcus aureus isolates originating from foods (eight from dairy products, five from fish and fish products and three from meat and meat products) were evaluated regarding their biofilms formation ability. Six strains (E2, E6, E8, E10, E16, and E23) distinguished as strong biofilm formers, either in standard Tryptic Soy Broth or in T...

S. aureus biofilm development. Biomass accumulation when using 0.4% glucose and 4% NaCl to the standard TSB (left). Biofilm formation overtime using TSBG (right). Bars represent the means of the OD value ± standard deviation (SD) evaluated in three independent measures obtained upon different treatments tested, as indicated. Values of negative cont...

Food illegally brought into the European Union, mainly in the personal luggage of travelers, represents a potential threat to consumers' health. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of five pathogens in food brought into the European Union by Moldavian citizens as personal goods and illegally sold in Romania in the vicinity of the...

Fresh cheese, a popular dairy product in Romania, is susceptible to post-thermal treatment contamination with Listeria monocytogenes and a favourable matrix for bacterial growth due to its pH value (~5.0) and high water activity (aw~0.98-0.99). Outbreaks associated with this pathogen have been often reported in cheese (Rudolf M. and Scherer S., 20...

Putative routes of Listeria monocytogenes contamination, based on the workflow of the employees, were studied in a meat processing facility by investigating 226 samples collected from food contact surfaces, non–food contact surfaces, raw materials, and ready-to-eat meat products on four occasions over a 1-year period. In total, 19.7% of non–food co...

• Fresh cheese, a popular dairy product in Romania, is susceptible to post-thermal treatment contamination with Listeria monocytogenes and a favourable matrix for bacterial growth due to its pH value (~5.0) and high water activity (aw~0.98-0.99). Outbreaks associated with this pathogen have been often reported in cheese (Rudolf M. and Scherer S., 2...

We compared the diagnostic performance of two chromogenic media, Brilliance MRSA 2 agar (Thermo Fisher Scientific) and ChromID MRSA agar (bioMérieux), for MRSA confirmation of 239 Staphylococcus aureus isolates from clinical, animal and food samples. Statistically significant differences were not observed between MRSA confirmation by mecA/mecC PCR,...

The illegal entrance of foods to EU through black markets at the EU borders can constitute a neglected route of dissemination of foodborne pathogens, and in particular of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). In this study, we have assessed the presence of MRSA in foods sold in a black market at an EU border (the southeast part of Rom...