Papoula-Pereira Rita, Abdulla Khalid, Silver Georgia, Kellett Abigail, Antic Dragan
Department of Livestock and One Health, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Neston, United Kingdom.
Front Microbiol. 2025 Jul 16;16:1613058. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1613058. eCollection 2025.
Twenty years since the monitoring of foodborne diseases started in the EU and United Kingdom, infection is still the most reported zoonosis. One of the crucial reasons for this is thought to be an increase in virulent strains in the chicken meat as a consequence of insufficient and/or inadequate controls on farm and during chicken slaughter and processing. This study aimed to investigate the impact of abattoir processing on the levels of spp. and on broiler carcasses, including the effect of hot water carcass immersion and ultrasound intervention, the abattoir's compliance with process hygiene criteria (PHC) and antimicrobial resistance in spp. strains.
Neck skin samples ( = 270) were taken from seven broiler batches over seven sampling days in one abattoir, immediately after defeathering, evisceration, hot water immersion/ultrasound intervention and air-chilling (40 samples per day/batch). Quantification of spp. and was performed based on ISO methods following spp. confirmation on the MALDI-TOFF and PCR. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of spp. was performed via disc diffusion method using EUCAST guidelines.
was confirmed in 93.7%, in 1.1% and spp. in 1.9% of samples. Abattoir processing significantly reduced final carcass microbial load, with an overall reduction in and levels of 1.14 log and 1.43 log, respectively. Hot water immersion and ultrasound intervention substantially decreased levels by 0.85 log and levels by 0.82 log. The abattoir was found unsatisfactory regarding compliance with PHC for levels within the sampling window, but satisfactory when the new proposed PHC for levels was applied. Antimicrobial resistance was found in isolates from all seven chicken batches, and 48.7% of isolates showed resistance to at least one antibiotic. Most isolates exhibited resistance to tetracycline (45%), nalidixic acid (41%), and ciprofloxacin (39%). Multidrug resistance was found in 2.7% of isolates, with combined resistance to ciprofloxacin, erythromycin and tetracycline in 1.6% of isolates.
This study confirmed significant reduction of microbial load on chicken carcasses during abattoir processing, with an emphasis on the importance of using interventions in meat industry. The prevalence of resistance to ciprofloxacin and tetracycline is not declining in spp. on chicken meat, despite antimicrobial stewardship initiatives, and the presence of multidrug resistant strains may be of public health concern.
自欧盟和英国开始监测食源性疾病以来的二十年里，感染仍是报告最多的人畜共患病。造成这种情况的关键原因之一被认为是由于农场以及鸡肉屠宰和加工过程中的控制不足和/或不充分，导致鸡肉中出现了毒性更强的菌株。本研究旨在调查屠宰场加工对肉鸡胴体上的 spp. 和 水平的影响，包括热水浸烫胴体和超声干预的效果、屠宰场对加工卫生标准（PHC）的遵守情况以及 spp. 菌株中的抗菌药物耐药性。
在一个屠宰场，于七个采样日从七批肉鸡中采集颈部皮肤样本（ = 270），分别在脱毛、去内脏、热水浸烫/超声干预和空气冷却后立即采集（每天/批 40 个样本）。在 MALDI - TOFF 和 PCR 确认 spp. 之后，根据 ISO 方法对 spp. 和 进行定量。通过使用 EUCAST 指南的纸片扩散法对 spp. 进行抗菌药物敏感性测试。
在 93.7%的样本中确认有 ，在 1.1%的样本中确认有 ，在 1.9%的样本中确认有 spp.。屠宰场加工显著降低了最终胴体的微生物负荷， 和 的水平总体分别降低了 1.14 对数和 1.43 对数。热水浸烫和超声干预使 水平大幅降低了 0.85 对数， 水平降低了 0.82 对数。发现屠宰场在采样窗口内对 水平的 PHC 遵守情况不令人满意，但在应用新提议的 水平的 PHC 时令人满意。在所有七批鸡肉的分离株中均发现了抗菌药物耐药性，48.7%的分离株对至少一种抗生素表现出耐药性。大多数分离株对四环素（45%）、萘啶酸（41%）和环丙沙星（39%）表现出耐药性。在 2.7%的 分离株中发现了多重耐药性，1.6%的分离株对环丙沙星、红霉素和四环素具有联合耐药性。
本研究证实了屠宰场加工过程中鸡肉胴体微生物负荷的显著降低，强调了在肉类行业中使用干预措施的重要性。尽管采取了抗菌药物管理措施，但鸡肉上的 spp. 对环丙沙星和四环素的耐药率并未下降，多重耐药菌株的存在可能会引起公共卫生关注。
