title: Occurrence, Characterization, and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Salmonella enterica in Slaughtered Pigs in Sardinia.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine Salmonella occurrence in slaughtered finishing pigs and piglets and in slaughterhouse environment in order to characterize the isolates with phenotypical (antimicrobial testing) and molecular (PFGE, MLVA) methods. Nine slaughterhouses located in Sardinia were visited. Six hundred and eight samples collected from 106 pigs and 108 environmental samples were collected and analyzed. Salmonella was isolated in 65 of 504 (12.9%) samples from finishing pigs, with an occurrence of 15.1% in colon content, 12.7% in lymph nodes and liver, and 11.1% in carcass surface samples. Salmonella was never detected in piglets. The combined results of serotyping and PFGE showed a possible self-contamination in 71.5% of Salmonella positive carcasses of lymph nodes and/or colon content carriers, pointing out the role of healthy pigs for carcass contamination. A significantly higher (P < 0.05) occurrence was detected in finishing pigs of EC countries origin (23%) than in pigs of local farms (8%). Salmonella was also detected in 3.7% of environmental samples. The most prevalent serovar was S. Anatum, followed by S. Rissen, S. Derby, and monophasic S. Typhimurium. Resistance to at least 3 antimicrobial was observed in 97.1% of strains and 7 different patterns of multiple resistance were identified. The most common resistance was detected against sulphonamide compounds. A strict slaughterhouse application of hygiene standards is essential to control the risk of Salmonella contamination.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Veterinary Medicine, Univ. of Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fois
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Veterinary Medicine, Univ. of Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Piras
authors.affiliation: Statens Serum Inst., DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Torpdahl
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Veterinary Medicine, Univ. of Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mazza
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Veterinary Medicine, Univ. of Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Simonetta G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Consolati
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Veterinary Medicine, Univ. of Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spanu
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Veterinary Medicine, Univ. of Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scarano
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Veterinary Medicine, Univ. of Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Enrico P L
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: De Santis
mesh_terms: D000003:Abattoirs; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D005516:Food Microbiology; D007558:Italy; D000069466:Red Meat / Q000382:microbiology*; D019779:Salmonella enterica / Q000187:drug effects*; D013552:Swine; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
keywords: MLVA; PFGE; Salmonella; antimicrobial resistance; slaughtered pig