Centre for Advanced Studies in Vaccinology and Biotechnology, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan; Department of Zoology, Sardar Bahadur Khan Women's University, Quetta, Pakistan.
Centre for Advanced Studies in Vaccinology and Biotechnology, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan.
Int J Infect Dis. 2021 May;106:123-127. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.03.062. Epub 2021 Mar 23.
Ready-to-eat (RTE) food sold in Quetta, Pakistan was assessed for microbial contamination.
Equal numbers of samples were collected from four categories of RTE food - burgers, shawarma, pizza and sandwiches - from January 2018 to December 2018. Microbial contamination of individual food samples was assessed by quantifying the total aerobic count obtained from plating samples on bacterial growth medium. Salmonella spp. serovars were identified using polymerase chain reaction.
Approximately 38% (121/320) of RTE food samples were not fit for human consumption. The most contaminated type of RTE food was shawarma (49%). Microbial contamination of food samples was higher in summer compared with the other seasons. Approximately 40% (49/121) of food samples that were not fit for human consumption were contamined with Salmonella spp. Salmonella enteritidis (69%) and Salmonella typhimurium (31%) were the only serovars among the samples testing positive for Salmonella spp. Of the 49 samples with high microbial counts, S. enteritidis was present in 34 samples and S. typhimurium was present in 15 samples. The antibiotic sensitivity results demonstrated that both S. enteritidis and S. typhimurium were resistant to amoxicillin. In addition, S. enteritidis was resistant to chloramphenicol and erythromycin, and S. typhimurium presented high resistance to erythromycin. Both S. typhimurium and S. enteritidis were highly sensitive to kanamycin.
RTE food sold by street vendors in Quetta was found to be contaminated with Salmonella spp. and poses a great health risk to consumers. As such, consumption should be avoided, and the health authorities should take stringent action to ensure the quality of street food in order to reduce the healthcare burden.
评估巴基斯坦奎达市市售即食（RTE）食品的微生物污染情况。
2018 年 1 月至 2018 年 12 月，从 RTE 食品的四个类别（汉堡、沙威玛、披萨和三明治）中采集等量的样本。通过将样品接种于细菌生长培养基并对平板上获得的总需氧菌计数来评估单个食品样品的微生物污染情况。使用聚合酶链反应鉴定沙门氏菌血清型。
约 38%（121/320）的 RTE 食品样品不适宜人类食用。受污染最严重的 RTE 食品是沙威玛（49%）。与其他季节相比，夏季食品样品的微生物污染更高。约 40%（49/121）不适宜人类食用的食品样品被沙门氏菌污染。沙门氏菌污染的食品样品中，肠炎沙门氏菌（69%）和鼠伤寒沙门氏菌（31%）是唯一检测到的血清型。在微生物计数较高的 49 个样本中，34 个样本中存在肠炎沙门氏菌，15 个样本中存在鼠伤寒沙门氏菌。抗生素敏感性结果表明，肠炎沙门氏菌和鼠伤寒沙门氏菌均对阿莫西林耐药。此外，肠炎沙门氏菌对氯霉素和红霉素耐药，鼠伤寒沙门氏菌对红霉素高度耐药。两者均对卡那霉素高度敏感。
在奎达街头小贩销售的即食食品中发现了沙门氏菌污染，对消费者的健康构成了巨大威胁。因此，应避免食用此类食品，卫生当局应采取严格措施，确保街头食品的质量，以减轻医疗负担。
