Prevalence and antibiotic resistance pattern of Salmonella serovars in integrated crop-livestock farms and their products sold in local markets.

Major concern in the Mixed Crop-Livestock (MCL) farms, in which livestock and vegetables grown closely in the same facility, is cross-contamination of zoonotic bacterial pathogens especially Salmonella. To investigate the distribution of Salmonella serovars in MCL and their products, a total of 1287 pre-harvest samples from various farms and 1377 post-harvest samples from retail supermarkets in Maryland and Washington D.C. areas were collected and analysed. A total of 315 Salmonella isolates were recovered, with 17.44% and 5.88%, from MCL and conventional farms samples (P < 0.001). At post-harvest level, the prevalence of Salmonella was 30.95%, 19.83%, and 8.38% in chicken meat (P < 0.001) from farmers, organic, and conventional retail markets respectively, and 16.81% and 6.06% in produce products (P < 0.001) from farmers and organic retail markets, but none from conventional retail markets. From the isolated Salmonella, 34.50% was confirmed S. Typhimurium, followed by S. Heidelberg (10.86%) and S. Enteritidis (9.90%). The overall multi-antibiotic resistance in recovered Salmonella was 23.81% versus 4.55% in conventional and MCL farms (P = 0.004) and 66.67% versus 7.76% in conventional and farmers markets (P < 0.001). Overall the data reveals higher Salmonella risks in MCL farms' environment and their products sold in farmers markets and warrants taking necessary measures to limit Salmonella transmission.