Landscape, Water Quality, and Weather Factors Associated With an Increased Likelihood of Foodborne Pathogen Contamination of New York Streams Used to Source Water for Produce Production

There is a need for science-based tools to (i) help manage microbial produce safety hazards associated with preharvest surface water use, and (ii) facilitate comanagement of agroecosystems for competing stakeholder aims. To develop these tools an improved understanding of foodborne pathogen ecology in freshwater systems is needed. The purpose of this study was to identify (i) sources of potential food safety hazards, and (ii) combinations of factors associated with an increased likelihood of pathogen contamination of agricultural water. Sixty-eight streams were sampled between April and October 2018 (196 samples). At each sampling event separate 10-L grab samples (GS) were collected and tested for Listeria, Salmonella, and the stx and eaeA genes. A 1-L GS was also collected and used for E. coli enumeration and detection of four host-specific fecal source-tracking markers (FST). Regression analysis was used to identify individual factors that were significantly associated with pathogen detection. We found that eaeA-stx codetection [Odds Ratio (OR)=4.2; 95% Confidence Interval (CI)=1.3, 13.4] and Salmonella isolation (OR=1.8; CI=0.9, 3.5) were strongly associated with detection of ruminant and human FST markers, respectively, while Listeria spp. (excluding L. monocytogenes) was negatively associated with log10 E. coli levels (OR=0.50; CI=0.26, 0.96). L. monocytogenes isolation was not associated with detection of any fecal indicators. This observation supports the current understanding that, unlike enteric pathogens, Listeria is not fecally-associated and instead originates from other environmental sources. Separately, conditional inference trees were used to identify scenarios associated with an elevated or reduced risk of pathogen contamination. Interestingly, while likelihood of isolating L. monocytogenes appears to be driven by complex interactions between environmental factors, likelihood of Salmonella isolation and eaeA-stx codetection were driven by physiochemical water quality (e.g., dissolved oxygen) and temperature, respectively. Overall, these models identify environmental conditions associated with an enhanced risk of pathogen presence in agricultural water (e.g., rain events were associated with L. monocytogenes isolation from samples collected downstream of dairy farms; P=0.002). The information presented here will enable growers to comanage their operations to mitigate the produce safety risks associated with preharvest surface water use.