Antibiotic resistant coliform bacilli, isolated from freshly slaughtered poultry and from chilled poultry at retail outlets.

Antibiotic resistance in coliforms isolated from poultry was investigated. Poultry carcases were examined immediately after slaughter or at retail outlets; the carcases were from the same processing plant and 100 were examined from each source. Approximately 85% of the total of 13,858 isolates examined were found to be resistant to at least one antibiotic. Highly significant differences were found in the levels of antibiotic resistance from the 2 sources; ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and sulphonamide resistance was found more frequently in isolates from poultry at retail, while resistance against streptomycin and neomycin occurred more frequently in isolates from poultry examined at slaughter. The data were insufficient to explain these changes. Transfer of resistance occurred less frequently in isolates from poultry at retail; in particular the transfer of resistance from coliforms other than Escherichia coli was found to be greatly reduced.