AUTHOR=Colello Rocío , Ruiz María J. , Padín Valeria M. , Rogé Ariel D. , Leotta Gerardo , Padola Nora Lía , Etcheverría Analía I. 

TITLE=Detection and Characterization of Salmonella Serotypes in the Production Chain of Two Pig Farms in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01370

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2018.01370

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of <italic>Salmonella</italic> in the pork production chain and to characterize <italic>Salmonella</italic> isolates. From 764 samples, 35 (4.6%) were positive for <italic>Salmonella</italic> spp., as determined by biochemical tests and the presence of the <italic>invA</italic> gene. From these, 2.6, 2.0, 8.8, and 8.0% corresponded to samples collected from farms, slaughterhouses, boning rooms and retail markets, respectively. <italic>Salmonella</italic> strains were classified into five serotypes and distributed as follows: <italic>S.</italic> Typhimurium in the pork production chain, <italic>S</italic>. Kentucky in farms and slaughterhouses, <italic>S</italic>. Brandenburg in slaughterhouses<italic>, S</italic>. Livingstone in farms and <italic>S</italic>. Agona in boning rooms and retail markets. Interestingly, the antimicrobial susceptibility testing indicated that all 35 <italic>Salmonella</italic> spp.-positive isolates were resistant to at least one antimicrobial agent, and 30 were multidrug-resistant (MDR) and resistant to different classes of antibiotics. The enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-polymerase chain reaction (ERIC-PCR) analysis showed clonal relatedness among strains isolated from farms, boning rooms and retail markets. The presence of antibiotic-resistant <italic>Salmonella</italic> in food poses a potential health hazard to consumers.</p>