PREVALENCE OF ENTEROCOCCUS SPECIES IN CHICKEN MEAT IN SHARKIA GOVERNORATE

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PREVALENCE OF ENTEROCOCCUS SPECIES IN CHICKEN MEAT IN SHARKIA GOVERNORATE

Rasha M.EL-Bayomi¹ ;Heba Ahmed Abdallah¹;

RehamRagab Abo Elazam¹

andElsaid A. Eldaly¹

Food Control Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,

Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt.

Key Words: Enterococci, Chicken meat, Chicken liver, Enterococcus faecalis, Chicken thigh

ABSTRACT

A total of 175 samples of fresh chicken breast, chicken thigh, chicken liver, chicken gizzard, chicken heart, cloacal skin and neck skin (25for each) were randomly collected from different markets and poultry shops at variable sanitation levels in Zagazig city. All collected samples were immediately transferred in an icebox container, aseptically handled and moved promptly to postgraduate student laboratory, Food Control department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt. The bacteriological examination was applied for enumeration and isolation Enterococcus species.The enterococci detected in chicken samples within different percentages ranged from 15/25(60%) in chicken heart to 25/25(100%) in cloacal skin. The descending prevalence arranged cloacal skin > neck skin > gizzard > liver > thigh > breast > heart. The counts of enterococci ranged from 2.12 to 5.15, 3.19 to 5.64, 3.54 to 5.95, 3.68 to 6.32, 3.11 to 6.26, 4.82 to 6.3 and 3.24 to 6.7 with mean values 3.04 ±0.37, 3.47 ±0.48, 4.05 ±0.38, 4.15 ±0.41, 3.72 ±0.54, 5.03 ±0.13 and 4.8 ±0.25log ₁₀ CFU/gin examined chicken breast, thigh, liver, gizzard, heart, cloacal skin and neck skin, respectively.

1.INTRODUCTION

Poultry meat products constitute an excellent source of high quality, easily prepared, cooked and digested animal protein, which contains all essential aminoacids besides many vitamins and minerals which are required for human development, hence it represents an important food article in most countries and has a considerable share in Egyptian’s diet for its competitive price with that of other meats (Hussein et al.,2018). Chicken meat is characterized by a lower caloric value as it contains less fat, which is rich in unsaturated fattyacids, so it can be used for feeding young children and some patients. Also they are low in price with a comparison to beef and mutton.

The consumption of poultry meat is increasing every year and consumers want asafe and a good quality product without the presence of pathogenic microorganisms.Enterococci are Gram-positive, oval cocci, facultative anaerobic bacteria and belong to the group of lactic acid bacteria. Most species are resilient and versatile, being able to survive at 6.5% NaCl, at pH 9.6 and at a wide range of temperatures (10 to 45ºC), with the optimum growth at 35-37ºC (Ludwig et al., 2009). Initially, Enterococcus spp. were considered as harmless commensal inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tract of humans, widely used in the food industry as probiotic or starter cultures (Moreno et al., 2006). However, for the last two decades, enterococci became one of the most common pathogens to be associated with healthcare-associated infections. Enterococci is the dominant commensal in the chicken gut microbiome and an expected contaminant of postharvest or retail chicken (Jackson et al., 2015). The study conducted to evaluate the rate of chicken and giblets contamination with enterococcus species.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1- Samples Collection:

A total of 225 samples of fresh chicken breast, chicken thigh, chicken liver, chicken gizzard, chicken heart, cloacal skin and neck skin (25for each) were randomly collected from different markets and poultry shops at variable sanitation levels in Zagazig city. All collected samples were immediately transferred in an icebox container, aseptically handled and moved promptly to postgraduate student laboratory, Food Control department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt. The bacteriological examination was applied for enumeration and isolation Enterococcus species.

2.2- Preparation of samples and serial dilution according to  ISO 6887-2:(2003) :

Twenty five grams of each sample was homogenized aseptically for 1 min with 225 ml of 0.1 % peptone water in a stomacher (Colworth, 400) then serially dilutedto 10-fold in the same diluent.

2.3- Enterococci count: according to ISO 7899-2 (2000)

Enumeration of Enterococci was carried out on a bile esculin ager (BEA) Himedia (M340). The agar was inoculated by spreading 0.1 ml of the decimal dilution onto the surface. The agar plates were incubated for 24 hrs at 37 ± 0.5°C aerobically.  typical black colonies on the underlying black agar with colony diameters of 1 mm were enumerated as total Enterococci. The Identification of Enterococcus species carried according to Cruickshank et al.(1975)

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

Even though it is known that enterococci are ubiquitous organism in the gut, it is one of the emerging organism causing nosocomial infections in humans. Recent studies confirmed enterococci contamination in a wide range of foods including cheese, sausages, meat, milk, and cereals due to improper handling (Koluman et al., 2009). Studies conducted by Olsen et al. (2012) have provided strong evidence that enterococci originating from foods of animal origin had a remarkable degree of similarity in virulence characteristics with human isolates implicating animal meat as an important source for virulent enterococci strains for human colonization.

Table (1) Prevalence of Enterococcus in examined chicken samples(n = 25 of each).

Prevalence of Enterococci in chicken samples:

The data in table 1 and figure 1declared that enterococci detected in chicken samples within different percentages ranged from 15/25(60%) in chicken heart to 25/25(100%) in cloacal skin. The descending prevalence arranged cloacal skin > neck skin > gizzard > liver > thigh > breast > heart. The high prevalence in chicken samples attributed to presence of enterococci in the digestive tract of chicken supports a presumption of meat contamination during the slaughter process in poultry processing plant (Farı´aset al., 1999). The resistance of enterococci to pasteurization temperatures (they belong to the most thermo tolerant microorganisms among non-sporulating bacteria) may tolerate the scalding water temperature (Moreno et al., 2006).

Enterococci previously detected from raw food samples 97% in pork and 100 ground beef (Hayes et al., 2003), frozen chicken 45.2% (Tansuphasiriet al., 2006),retail chicken 95.0%, ground turkey 94.4% , ground beef 92.7%, and pork 85.8% (Tyson et al., 2018). Commensal bacteria, including Enterococcus spp. in commercial livestock and poultry, could contaminate the food chain during processing or find their way into the environment (Diarra et al., 2007). Because of their relative abundance and their resistance to environmental adversity, enterococci have been proposed as indicator indicators for the hygienic quality of food and water (Pierson et al. 2007).

Table (2) Statistical results of Enterococcus count log ₁₀ CFU/g  of examined chicken samples(n = 25 of each).

Means of the same columns carrying different superscript letters are significantly different (P< 0.05).

SE: Standard Error.

The data in table 2 showed that the counts of enterococci ranged from 2.12 to 5.15, 3.19 to 5.64, 3.54 to 5.95, 3.68 to 6.32, 3.11 to 6.26, 4.82 to 6.3 and 3.24 to 6.7 with mean values 3.04 ±0.37, 3.47 ±0.48, 4.05 ±0.38, 4.15 ±0.41, 3.72 ±0.54, 5.03 ±0.13 and 4.8 ±0.25log ₁₀ CFU/gin examined chicken breast, thigh, liver, gizzard, heart, cloacal skin and neck skin, respectively. Enterococci were counted in different food of animal origin 0.5 x 10¹ and 7.1 x10² CFU/g of minced meat (Klein et al., 1998), 1.2 × 10³ – 6.2 × 10⁴ CFU/g and from 0–10⁴ CFU/g in chilled and frozen meat (Šustáčková et al.,  2004), (3.18 log CFU/g)  in organic chicken meat, (2.06 log CFU/g) conventional chicken meat and (1.23 log CFU/g) conventional turkey meat (Miranda et al., 2007).

Cloacal skin significantly higher (p< 0.05) than other examined samples, which attributed to the contamination with the fecal and cecal content during evisceration these results, supported by the finding of Diarra et al., (2010)whom recorded that enterococcus counts were 6.82 ± 0.27 and 5.53± 0.31 log CFU/g of fecal and cecal samples, respectively. Moreover, Enterococci are found in the gastrointestinal tracts of animals, birds, and humans, as well as in soil and water (Hancock and Gilmore 2006). In the human intestine, the density of enterococci ranges from 5 to 8 log CFU/g of intestinal content (Tannock and Cook 2002).

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مدى تواجد أجناس المکورات السبحیة فى لحوم الدجاج بمحافظة الشرقیة

رشا محمد البیومى¹ ، هبة أحمد عبدالله²،ریهام رجب أبوالعزم¹ و السعید أبوزید الدالى¹

1 قسم مراقبة الأغذیة ، کلیة الطب البیطرى ، الزقازیق مصر.

2 قسم الامراض المشترکة، کلیة الطب البیطرى ، جامعة الزقازیق

تم جمع ما مجموعه 175 عینة من صدور الدجاج الطازج ، فخذ الدجاج ، کبد الدجاج ، قانصة الدجاج ، قلب الدجاج ، وجلد المزرق وجلد العنق (25 لکل منهما) بشکل عشوائی من الأسواق المختلفة ومحلات الدواجن فی مستویات صحیة مختلفة  فی مدینة الزقازیق. تم نقل جمیع العینات التی تم جمعها ونقلها مبردة ، وتم التعامل معها بطریقة معقمة ونقلها على الفور إلى مختبر طلاب الدراسات العلیا ، قسم مراقبة الأغذیة ، کلیة الطب البیطری ، جامعة الزقازیق ، مصر.  تراوحت المکورات المعویة التى تم تحدیدها فی عینات الدجاج ضمن بنسب مختلفة من 15/25 (60٪) فی قلب الدجاج إلى 25/25 (100٪) فی جلد المزرق. وکان الترتیب التنازلی جلد المزرق> جلد العنق> القانصة> الکبد> الفخذ> الصدور> القلب. تراوحت أعداد المکورات المعویة من 2.12 إلى 5.15 ومن 3.19 إلى 5.64 ومن 3.54 إلى 5.95 ومن 3.68 إلى 6.32 ومن 3.11 إلى 6.26 ومن 4.82 إلى 6.3 ومن 3.24 إلى 6.7 مع متوسط القیم 3.04 ± 0.37 و 3.47 ± 0.48 و 4.05 ± 0.38 و 4.15 ± 0.41 ، 3.72 ± 0.54 ، 5.03 ± 0.13 و 4.8 ± 0.25 وحدة لوغاریتمیة/جرام  فی صدر الدجاج الذی تم فحصه ، الفخذ ، الکبد ، القانصة ، القلب ، جلد المزرق وجلد العنق ، على التوالی. وتم تصنیفها عن طریق الأختبارات الکیمیائیة لأنواع المکورات المعویة أنه تم اکتشاف E. faecalis و E.faecium و E. durans و E. avium و E. hirae فی 69 (48.9 ٪) و 50 (35.5 ٪) و 16 (11.4 ٪) و 3 ( 2.1 ٪) و 3 (2.1 ٪) ، على التوالی.