No abstract

To assess bacteriological safety of mussels Perna perna, harvested in Itaipu, Niter oi, RJ and purchased at São Pedro fishmarket at the same city, fecal coliform counts and detection of Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp. and Vibrio spp. was performed in 27 mussel and 9 seawater samples collected between March 2012 and April of 2013. The pathogens isolated were submitted to antimicrobial susceptibility test.The majority (74%) of the mussel samples were unfit for human consumption and 89% of the seawater samples had unsatisfactorily high levels of contamination according to Brazilian laws. From the 77 E. coli and 51 Vibrio spp. isolated, 13% and 68.6% showed multiresistance and 15.6% and 72.5% showed multidrug resistant, respectively. The only Salmonella strain isolated was susceptible to all antimicrobial tested. Serotypes of Salmonella spp. and V. cholerae were not detected from the enrichment broths. Water pollution and food manipulation, throughout the food production chain, were factors which influenced the contamination of mussels. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSThis is the first report studying microbial quality of mussels along their process before arriving at the market; including characteristics of virulence genes and antimicrobial resistance of pathogens. Our study demonstrated that after collection, the manipulation realized by mussel's pickers is an important source of contamination, warning to the necessity of a better monitoring in the commercialization of this seafood.