scholarly journals Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Listeria monocytogenes strains isolated from a meat processing plant

Author(s):  
Zbigniew Paluszak ◽  
Grzegorz Gryń ◽  
Justyna Bauza-Kaszewska ◽  
Karolina Skowron ◽  
Natalia Wiktorczyk- Kapischke ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liting Wu ◽  
Hongduo Bao ◽  
Zhengquan Yang ◽  
Tao He ◽  
Yuan Tian ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Listeria monocytogenes is one of the deadliest foodborne pathogens. The bacterium can tolerate severe environments through biofilm formation and antimicrobial resistance. This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial susceptibility, resistance genes, virulence, and molecular epidemiology about Listeria from meat processing environments. Methods This study evaluated the antibiotic resistance and virulence of Listeria isolates from slaughtering and processing plants. All isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing using a standard microbroth dilution method. The harboring of resistant genes was identified by polymerase chain reaction. The multilocus sequence typing was used to determine the subtyping of the isolates and characterize possible routes of contamination from meat processing environments. The virulence of different STs of L. monocytogenes isolates was evaluated using a Caco-2 cell invasion assay. Results A total of 59 Listeria isolates were identified from 320 samples, including 37 L. monocytogenes isolates (62.71%). This study evaluated the virulence of L. monocytogenes and the antibiotic resistance of Listeria isolates from slaughtering and processing plants. The susceptibility of these 59 isolates against 8 antibiotics was analyzed, and the resistance levels to ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin, and lincomycin were as high as 98.31% (L. m 37; L. innocua 7; L. welshimeri 14), 96.61% (L. m 36; L. innocua 7; L. welshimeri 14), and 93.22% (L. m 35; L. innocua 7; L. welshimeri 13), respectively. More than 90% of the isolates were resistant to three to six antibiotics, indicating that Listeria isolated from meat processing environments had high antimicrobial resistance. Up to 60% of the isolates harbored the tetracycline-resistance genes tetA and tetM. The frequency of ermA, ermB, ermC, and aac(6′)-Ib was 16.95, 13.56, 15.25, and 6.78%, respectively. Notably, the resistant phenotype and genotype did not match exactly, suggesting that the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance of these isolates were likely related to the processing environment. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) revealed that 59 Listeria isolates were grouped into 10 sequence types (STs). The dominant L. monocytogenes STs were ST5, ST9, and ST121 in the slaughtering and processing plant of Jiangsu province. Moreover, ST5 subtypes exhibited high invasion in Caco-2 cells compared with ST9 and ST121 cells. Conclusion The dominant L. monocytogenes ST5 persisted in the slaughtering and processing plant and had high antimicrobial resistance and invasion characteristics, illustrating a potential risk in food safety and human health.


2019 ◽  
Vol 82 (8) ◽  
pp. 1350-1356
Author(s):  
TEREZA GELBÍČOVÁ ◽  
MARTINA FLORIANOVÁ ◽  
ZUZANA TOMÁŠTÍKOVÁ ◽  
LUCIE POSPÍŠILOVÁ ◽  
IVANA KOLÁČKOVÁ ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT This study was focused on characterization of the genetic diversity of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from packed fresh rabbit meat obtained from one producer via retail outlets. The partial aim was to compare the characteristics of a suspect persistent strain with strains from human cases. The occurrence of L. monocytogenes in vacuum-packed rabbit meat was monitored during 2013 to 2016. All strains were characterized by serotyping, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Selected strains, which represented each year, were analyzed using the whole genome sequencing method. L. monocytogenes was detected in 21 (38%) of 56 originally packed rabbit meat samples from one food producer during the whole monitored period. All strains showed the identical serotype (1/2a), AscI/ApaI pulsotype (735/2), and sequence type (ST451). The clonal similarity of strains from rabbit meat was also confirmed on the basis of core genome MLST (on 1,701 loci). This fact suggests the occurrence of a suspect persistent strain in the meat processing plant. Results of core genome MLST enabled us to unambiguously exclude rabbit meat as a source of listeriosis in humans caused by the indistinguishable AscI/ApaI pulsotype and sequence type, although all strains carried all genes important for the virulence of L. monocytogenes. No specific genes that may be associated with its persistence in the food processing environment were detected among the tested strains of ST451. HIGHLIGHTS


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Palma ◽  
Frédérique Pasquali ◽  
Alex Lucchi ◽  
Alessandra De Cesare ◽  
Gerardo Manfreda

Listeria monocytogenes is a food-borne pathogen able to survive and grow in different environments including food processing plants where it can persist for month or years. In the present study the discriminatory power of Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS)-based analysis (cgMLST) was compared to that of molecular typing methods on 34 L. monocytogenes isolates collected over one year in the same rabbit meat processing plant and belonging to three genotypes (ST14, ST121, ST224). Each genotype included isolates indistinguishable by standard molecular typing methods. The virulence potential of all isolates was assessed by Multi Virulence-Locus Sequence Typing (MVLST) and the investigation of a representative database of virulence determinant genes. The whole genome of each isolate was sequenced on a MiSeq platform. The cgMLST, MVLST, and in silico identification of virulence genes were performed using publicly available tools. Draft genomes included a number of contigs ranging from 13 to 28 and N50 ranging from 456298 to 580604. The coverage ranged from 41 to 187X. The cgMLST showed a significantly superior discriminatory power only in comparison to ribotyping, nevertheless it allows the detection of two singletons belonging to ST14 that were not observed by other molecular methods. All ST14 isolates belonged to VT107, which 7-loci concatenated sequence differs for only 4 nucleotides to VT1 (Epidemic clone III). Analysis of virulence genes showed the presence of a fulllength inlA version in all ST14 isolates and of a mutated version including a premature stop codon (PMSC) associated to attenuated virulence in all ST121 isolates.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liting Wu ◽  
Hongduo Bao ◽  
Zhengquan Yang ◽  
Tao He ◽  
Yuan Tian ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Listeria monocytogenes is one of the deadliest foodborne pathogens, and the bacterium can tolerate severe environments through biofilm formation and antimicrobial resistance. The objective of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial susceptibility, resistance genes,virulence and molecular epidemiology about Listeria from meat processing environments. Methods: This study evaluated the antibiotic resistance and virulence of Listeria isolates from slaughtering and processing plants. All isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing by using a standard microbroth dilution method. The carrying of resistant genes were identified by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The multilocus sequence typing (MLST) was determined subtyping of the isolates and to characterize possible routes of contamination from meat processing environments. The virulence of different STs of L. monocytogenes isolates were evaluated by Caco-2 cells invasion assay. Results: A total of 59 Listeria isolates were identified from 320 samples, including 37 L. monocytogenes (62.71%). This study evaluated the virulence of L. monocytogenes and antibiotic resistance of Listeria isolates from slaughtering and processing plants. The susceptibility of these 59 isolates against eight antibiotics was analyzed, and the resistance levels to ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin, and lincomycin were as high as 98.31% (L. m 37; L. innocua 7; L. welshimeri 14), 96.61% (L. m 36; L. innocua 7; L. welshimeri 14), and 93.22% (L. m 35; L. innocua 7; L. welshimeri 13) respectively. Over 90% of the isolates were resistant to 3-6 antibiotics, indicating that Listeria isolated from meat processing environments has high antimicrobial resistance. Up to 60% of the isolates carried the tetracycline-resistance genes tetA and tetM. The frequencies of ermA, ermB, ermC, and aac(6’)-Ib were 16.95%, 13.56%, 15.25%, and 6.78%, respectively. Notably, the resistant phenotype and genotype did not match exactly, suggesting that the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance of these isolates were likely related to the processing environment. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) revealed that 59 Listeria isolates were grouped into 10 sequence types (STs). The dominant L. monocytogenes STs were ST5, ST9, and ST121 in the slaughtering and processing plant of Jiangsu province. Moreover, ST5 subtypes exhibited high invasion in Caco-2 cells compared with ST9 and ST121. Conclusions: The results of this study predict a prevalence of Listeria contamination in the slaughtering and processing plant , and resistance of the ST5 subtypes isolates to the antimicrobials may cause potential public health risks.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongzhi Zhang ◽  
Fengxia Que ◽  
Biyao Xu ◽  
Linjun Sun ◽  
Yanqi Zhu ◽  
...  

Listeria monocytogenes is the etiologic agent of listeriosis, which remains a significant public health concern in many countries due to its high case-fatality rate. The constant risk of L. monocytogenes transmission to consumers remains a central challenge in the food production industry. At present, there is very little known about L. monocytogenes contamination in ready-to-eat (RTE) processing plants in China. In this study, L. monocytogenes in an RTE meat processing plant in Shanghai municipality was characterized using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and whole genome sequencing (WGS). Furthermore, the biofilm formation ability of the pathogen was also tested. Results revealed that L. monocytogenes isolates were present in 12 samples out of the 48 samples investigated. Most of them (66.7%, 8/12) were identified from the processing facilities irrespective of observed hygiene levels of aerobic plate count (APC) and coliforms. Coliforms were present in only one processing area. ST5 (1/2b) isolates were predominant (83.3%, 10/12) and were identified in two dominant pulsotypes (PTs) (three in PT3 and seven in PT4, respectively). Results of the core-genome multi-locus sequence typing (cgMLST) showed that ST5 in three PTs (PT1, PT3, and PT4) had 0–8 alleles, which confirmed that clonal transmission occurred in the RTE meat processing facilities. In addition, the biofilm formation test confirmed that the isolates from the processing facilities could form biofilms, which helped them colonize and facilitate persistence in the environment. These results indicated that common sanitation procedures regularly applied in the processing environment were efficient but not sufficient to remove L. monocytogenes isolates, especially biofilm of L. monocytogenes. Furthermore, the ST5 isolates in this study exhibited 12 alleles with one ST5 clinical isolate, which contributes to the understanding of the potential pathogenic risk that L. monocytogenes in RTE meat processing equipment posed to consumers. Therefore, strong hygienic measures, especially sanitation procedures for biofilms eradication, should be implemented to ensure the safety of raw materials. Meanwhile, continuous surveillance might be vital for the prevention and control of listeriosis caused by L. monocytogenes.


2010 ◽  
Vol 73 (11) ◽  
pp. 2103-2109 ◽  
Author(s):  
AIVARS BĒRZIŅŠ ◽  
SANNA HELLSTRÖM ◽  
INDULIS SILIŅŠ ◽  
HANNU KORKEALA

Contamination patterns of Listeria monocytogenes were studied in a cold-smoked pork processing plant to identify the sources and possible reasons for the contamination. Environmental sampling combined with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) subtyping and serotyping were applied to investigate the genetic diversity of L. monocytogenes in the plant environment and ready-to-eat (RTE) cold-smoked pork products. A total of 183 samples were collected for contamination analyses, including samples of the product at different stages during manufacture (n = 136) and environmental samples (n = 47) in 2009. L. monocytogenes isolates, previously recovered from 73 RTE cold-smoked pork samples and collected from the same meat processing plant in 2004, were included in this study. The brining machine and personnel working with brining procedures were the most contaminated places with L. monocytogenes. The overall prevalence of L. monocytogenes in raw pork (18%) increased to 60% after the brining injections. The brining machine harbored six different PFGE types belonging to serotypes 1/2a, 1/2c, 4b, and 4d, which were found on the feeding teeth, smooth surfaces, and spaces of the machine, thus potentially facilitating dissemination of L. monocytogenes contamination. Two PFGE types (2 and 8) belonging to serotypes 1/2a and 1/2c were recovered from RTE cold-smoked pork collected in 2004, and from surfaces of the brining machine sampled in 2009, and may indicate the presence of persistent L. monocytogenes strains in the plant. Due to poor hygiene design, removal of the brining machine from the production of cold-smoked meat products should be considered to reduce L. monocytogenes contamination in the finished products.


2009 ◽  
Vol 72 (6) ◽  
pp. 1283-1287 ◽  
Author(s):  
AIVARS BĒRZIŅŠ ◽  
MARGARITA TERENTJEVA ◽  
HANNU KORKEALA

Nine groups of different retail ready-to-eat vacuum-packaged meat products from 10 Baltic meat processing plants were analyzed for presence and numbers of Listeria monocytogenes at the end of shelf life. A total of 38 (18%) of 211 samples tested positive for L. monocytogenes serotype 1/2a (88%) or 1/2c (12%). The prevalence of L. monocytogenes in cold-smoked, sliced, vacuum-packaged beef and pork products (42%) was significantly higher than in cooked, sliced, vacuum-packaged meat products (0.8%) (P < 0.001). Enumeration of L. monocytogenes showed that 84% of the positive samples contained <100 CFU/g upon expiry of product shelf life. The numbers of L. monocytogenes exceeded 100 CFU/g only in cold-smoked, sliced, vacuum-packaged beef products. Identical pulsed-field gel electrophoresis types were recovered from different production lots of cold-smoked vacuum-packaged beef and pork products produced by the same meat processing plant, demonstrating L. monocytogenes contamination as a recurrent problem within one meat processing plant.


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