The Determination of Presence of Listeria monocytogenes in Ground Meat Sold in Istanbul

Abstract

Listeria monocytogenes that the most common human listeriosis agent is one of 21 species of the Listeria genera. In fact, the mortality rate of listeriosis is higher than that of the more common foodborne pathogens such as Vibrio species or Salmonella Enteritidis. This study was aimed to determine the L. monocytogenes contamination in different minced meat samples. In this study, 100 minced meat samples purchased from different butchers in 11 districts of Istanbul between December 2018 and November 2019 were examined for the presence of L. monocytogenes. Isolates were molecularly confirmed for the presence of the iap and hlyA gene regions. It was determined that 21 biochemically defined isolates were susceptible to tetracycline and ampicillin, while resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, penicillin, cefaclor, and vancomycin. In addition, it was determined that only 16 of these 21 isolates were L. monocytogenes in terms of iap and hlyA gene regions. L. monocytogenes incidence in minced meat sold in Istanbul is low (17%), we believe that these contamination rates indicate a significant risk to public health due to cross-contamination and raw consumption of minced meat.

Keywords

• Listeria monocytogenes
• Minced meat
• hlyA 16S rRNA
• Antibiotic susceptibility

References

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