Prevalence of Arcobacter and Campylobacter in beef meat samples and characterization of the recovered isolates

• Published in: Journal für Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 15 - 25
• Main Authors: Aydin, Fuat, Yağiz, Aydın, Abay, Seçil, Müştak, Hamit Kaan, Diker, Kadir Serdar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-03-2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abattoirs; Acid resistance; Agriculture; Amoxicillin; Arcobacter; Beef; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Campylobacter; Carcasses; Chemistry/Food Science; Clavulanic acid; Enrofloxacin; Fetuses; Food Science; Genetic diversity; Genotypes; Health risks; Heterogeneity; Hygiene; Life Sciences; Meat; Meat processing; Minced meat; Neomycin; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Polymerase chain reaction; Research Article; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Streptomycin; Antibacterial susceptibility; spp; Beef meat; ERIC-PCR
• ISSN: 1661-5751; 1661-5867
• DOI: 10.1007/s00003-019-01268-8

The present study aimed to isolate
Arcobacter
spp. and
Campylobacter
spp. from beef meat samples including cattle carcasses, cube meat and minced meat, and to determine the antibacterial susceptibility and genetic diversity of the recovered isolates. One hundred beef carcass surface samples from slaughterhouses and 100 beef meat samples (50 samples of cube meat and 50 minced meat) taken from different retail units were analysed. Of the examined samples, 17 (8.5%) and 43 (21.5%) were positive for
Arcobacter
spp. and
Campylobacter
spp. respectively. Twenty
Arcobacter
and 53
Campylobacter
isolates were obtained from positive samples. Both
Arcobacter
and
Campylobacter
were concurrently isolated from 7 (3.5%) of the 17 positive samples.
Arcobacter butzleri
(18 isolates) and
Campylobacter jejuni
(37 isolates) were the most commonly isolated species. The results of Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus Polymerase Chain Reaction revealed extensive genetic heterogeneity among both
Arcobacter
and
Campylobacter
isolates. Seventeen and 30 different genotypes were identified in 18
A. butzleri
and 37
C. jejuni
isolates, respectively. Each of
A. cryaerophilus
,
C. fetus
and
C. hyointestinalis
isolates had two genotypes. Three and seven genotypes were identified in five
C. lari
and in seven
C. coli
isolates, respectively. While 5% of 20
Arcobacter
isolates were resistant to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, 5% of the isolates were resistant to neomycin. Of the 53
Campylobacter
isolates, 9.43%, 22.64%, 7.54% and 3.77% were resistant to enrofloxacin, neomycin, tetracycline and streptomycin, respectively. Contaminated beef carcasses, cube meat and minced meat with various species and subspecies of arcobacters and campylobacters may pose a risk factor for human infections. Our study reveals the necessity of improving the hygiene quality in slaughterhouses and other meat processing units as there are different sources of contamination.