Hygienic quality and antibiotic resistance profile of sliced butchery

In order to investigate the microbiological quality of different meat products on the Greek market, 200 samples were collected from the following preparations: boiled turkey (n=50), boiled pork ham (n=50), smoked turkey (n=50) and smoked pork ham (n=50). In all cold meat preparations Clostridium perfringens vegetative and spore forms, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and other Clostridium sp lec(-), as well as Lactobacillus, Bacillus sp. and Salmonella sp. were recovered. For instance Bacillus cereus was present in 6% of the samples. L. monocytogenes, Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli were rarely present (1-4%) while Yersinia enterocolitica and Campylobacter lari were absent. Differences in the occurrence of S. aureus, Salmonella sp., E. coli and spore forms of C. perfringens in boiled and smoked samples, reflects either the differences in the processing of the foods or could be associated to the extensive handling by the personnel during the purchasing (storage, slicing, wrapping). Antibiotic resistance on specific antibiotics for each pathogen was also studied. A multiresistance antibiotic profile was effective for most bacterial strains, and pronounced resistance profiles were observed for the commonly used antibiotics as ampicillin, penicillin, cephalothin, streptomycin followed by ceftriaxone and gentamycin. Albeit this high observed resistance profile, the tested strains generally conserved their susceptibility to amikacin, aztreonam, chloramphenicol and tylosin conserved an almost absent resistance. Antibiotics commonly used for therapeutic purposes, as well as antibiotics added to feed stuff of animals for increasing animal flesh production should contribute to the extensive spreading of antibiotic resistance in food and the environment. Systematically monitoring of the microbiological quality of cold butchery preparations must be done, in order to preserve food quality, optimizing the processing and elaboration methods of the product and safeguard the public health.