Occurrence and antimicrobial resistance of enterococci in retail foods

This study aimed to show the vancomycin-resistant enterococci VRE contamination and antibiotic resistance profiles of Enterococcus spp. in different kinds of food acquired from various markets between January 2007 and June 2007. Two hundred samples were used in the research. They consisted of 50 sam...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Food control 2009-03, Vol.20 (3), p.281-283
Main Authors: Koluman, Ahmet, Akan, Lale Sariye, Çakiroğlu, Funda Pınar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
antibiotic resistance
Antimicrobials
bacterial contamination
cheeses
chicken meat
cream cheese
detection
Enterococci
Enterococcus
food contamination
food pathogens
food retailing
markets
Piper nigrum
prevalence
raw meat
ready-to-eat foods
Retail food
salads
spices
strains
surveys
urban areas
vancomycin
VRE
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Summary:This study aimed to show the vancomycin-resistant enterococci VRE contamination and antibiotic resistance profiles of Enterococcus spp. in different kinds of food acquired from various markets between January 2007 and June 2007. Two hundred samples were used in the research. They consisted of 50 samples of meat (20 chicken, 20 beef, 10 fish), 50 samples of cheese (20 cheddar, 20 Turkish white, 10 cream), 50 samples of RTE (10 burgers, 10 pizzas, 10 chicken nuggets, 10 milk deserts, 5 beef roast and 5 salads), 30 samples of spice (10 black pepper, 10 red pepper, 10 curry) and 20 samples of yogurt. The results of the study indicated high levels of contamination with Enterococcus spp. in 100 of all the samples (50 %). The highest resistance was recorded for a cream cheese sample, with resistance to 12 types of antibiotics. The lowest resistance was in a chicken sample, with resistance to 2 types of antibiotics. Only 4 strains were identified as vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE), four of which were E. faecalis and originated from chicken. The results of this study underline the public health implications of VRE and the urgency about the preventive measures that must be taken to control the antibiotic use at farm level.
ISSN:0956-7135
1873-7129
DOI:10.1016/j.foodcont.2008.05.007