Concentration and prevalence of Escherichia coli O157 and Salmonella serotypes in sheep during slaughter at two Australian abattoirs.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to determine the presence and concentration of Escherichia coli O157 and Salmonella spp. on fleece, faeces and carcases of sheep during slaughter.


METHODS
Faeces, fleece and pre-chill carcase samples were collected from 164 sheep slaughtered at two Australian abattoirs. The presence of E. coli O157 and Salmonella spp. were determined by use of automated immunomagnetic separation (AIMS) with enumeration by use of the 'most probable number' (MPN) method.


RESULTS
Escherichia coli O157 was isolated from 5% of faeces, 3% of fleeces and 0.6% of pre-chill carcases. The mean log(10) count of E. coli O157 positive faecal samples was 2.32 MPN/g, but counts on fleeces and carcases were below the countable limit (-1 log(10)  MPN/cm(2) ). Salmonella spp. were isolated from 20% of faeces, 13% of fleeces and 1.3% of pre-chill carcases. The mean log(10) count of Salmonella spp. in faeces was 1.43 MPN/g and on fleece was -0.24 MPN/cm(2) , but counts on carcases were below the countable limit (-1 log(10) MPN/cm(2) ).


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence and concentration of pathogens were low in the sheep tested in this study, indicating a low risk of human infection from products derived from these animals.
Duffy
L L
LL
CSIRO Food & Nutritional Sciences, Cnr Creek and Wynnum Roads, Cannon Hill, Queensland 4170, Australia. Lesley.Duffy@csiro.au
Small
A
A
Fegan
N
N
D000003:Abattoirs; D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial / Q000662:veterinary*; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012475:Salmonella / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012756:Sheep / Q000382:microbiology*; D014935:Wool / Q000382:microbiology