Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of competitive exclusion bacteria applied to newly hatched chickens

Competitive exclusion (CE) products are mixtures of obligate and facultative anaerobic bacteria applied to poultry hatchlings for prevention of Salmonella colonization. These mixtures have the potential to introduce bacteria with undesirable antimicrobial drug resistance traits into the human food supply. Antimicrobial drug susceptibilities of 27 obligate and facultative anaerobes isolated from a commercial CE product were evaluated with a microdilution minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay. Bacteroides distasonis and Bacteroides fragilis isolates were resistant to tetracycline and other antimicrobial drugs. An Escherichia coli isolate was resistant to four antimicrobial drugs: erythromycin, penicillin, vancomycin, and tylosin. Erythromycin-resistant enterococci and vancomycin-resistant Lactococcus lactis isolates in the CE product were detected. These findings suggest that more work needs to be done to assess the potential effects of CE product use in poultry on the food supply.