Giardia as a Foodborne Pathogen

Although widely recognized as an important waterborne pathogen, Giardia duodenalis can also be transmitted by contamination of food. The same properties of this protozoan parasite that mean that water is an excellent transmission vehicle are also important for foodborne transmission. These include the low infective dose, the high number of cysts that are excreted, and the robustness of these transmission stages. However, many more outbreaks of waterborne giardiasis have been reported than f...