Isolation of Yersinia from raw meat (pork and chicken) and precooked meat (porcine tongues and sausages) collected from commercial establishments in Mexico City.
A total of 160 meat product samples were collected from commercial outlets in Mexico City to investigate the presence of different species of Yersinia by the 4 degrees C enrichment method after 1, 3, 5, and 7 days of incubation using alkaline treatment and isolating in cefsulodin-Irgasan-novobiocin and MacConkey agars with Tween 80. Overall, Yersinia spp. were isolated from 27% of the samples analyzed, whereas 40% of the raw and only 13% of the precooked samples were contaminated. Although 2,970 colonies showed Yersinia characteristics, only 706 (24%) actually corresponded to this genus: 49% were Yersinia enterocolitica, 25% Yersinia kristensenii, 15% Yersinia intermedia, 9% Yersinia frederiksenii, and 2% Yersinia aldovae; 10% corresponded to biotype 2, 2% to biotype 3, and 4% to biotype 4. The presence of Yersinia in raw and cooked meat products represents a health risk for consumers in Mexico, where further clinical studies are needed to assess the epidemiological importance of this pathogen.
Ramírez
E I
EI
Departamento de Microbiología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Carpio y Plan de Ayala S/N Col. Santo Tomás, Mexico. cvs@xanum.uam.mx
Vázquez-Salinas
C
C
Rodas-Suárez
O R
OR
Pedroche
F F
FF
D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D005516:Food Microbiology / Q000592:standards; D008461:Meat Products / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000592:standards; D008800:Mexico; D013552:Swine; D015007:Yersinia / Q000302:isolation & purification*