Prevalence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella in traditional meats derived from game animals in Nunavik.
BACKGROUND
The objectives of this project were two-fold, to: (1) implement rapid, simple, and inexpensive test methods enabling the detection of the foodborne pathogens Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella in foods and related samples, for the purpose of establishing basic on-site food microbiology testing capability at the Nunavik Research Centre (NRC) in Kuujjuaq, with the provision of hands-on training in the operation of methods; and (2) use this new capability to conduct a survey of the eastern Canadian Arctic in order to ascertain the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella in traditional meats derived from arctic food animals.


METHODS
To verify the effectiveness of training provided to NRC staff, proficiency test samples consisting of ground beef inoculated with salmonellae and E. coli O157:H7 were prepared by the Proficiency Testing Unit of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and shipped to the NRC for analysis. The NRC laboratory demonstrated 100% accuracy in the identification of the target pathogens in all samples, demonstrating the successful implementation of on-site test capability. For the prevalence study, a total of 129 samples from arctic mammals, fowl, fish and environmental swabs from community freezers were analyzed at both the NRC and CFIA laboratories.


RESULTS
No E. coli O157- or Salmonella-positives were identified for any of the samples examined.


CONCLUSIONS
These results represent a first step towards the creation for future reference of a database on the prevalence of the pathogens E. coli O157 and Salmonella.
Gauthier
Martine
M
Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Ottawa Laboratory (Carling), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. martine.gauthier@inspection.gc.ca
Simard
Manon
M
Blais
Burton W
BW
D000818:Animals; D001110:Arctic Regions / Q000453:epidemiology; D002170:Canada; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D004930:Inuit; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012423:Rural Health; D012475:Salmonella / Q000302:isolation & purification*