BackgroundThe significant role of retail poultry meat as an important exposure pathway for the acquisition and transmission of extended spectrum β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-EC) into the human population warrants understanding concerning those operational practices associated with dissemination of ESBL-EC in poultry meat retailing. Hence, the objective of this study was to determine the prevalence, spatial distribution and potential risk factors associated with the dissemination of ESBL-EC in poultry meat retail at wet-markets in Selangor, Malaysia.MethodsPoultry meat (breast, wing, thigh, and keel) as well as the contact surfaces of weighing scales and cutting boards were sampled to detect ESBL-EC by using culture and disk combination methods and polymerase chain reaction assays. Besides, questionnaire was used to obtain data and information pertaining to those operational practices that may possibly explain the occurrence of ESBL-EC. The data were analysed using logistic regression analysis at 95 % CI.ResultsThe overall prevalence of ESBL-EC was 48.8 % (95 % CI, 42 – 55 %). Among the risk factors that were explored, type of countertop, sanitation of the stall environment, source of cleaning water, and type of cutting board were found to be significantly associated with the presence of ESBL-EC.ConclusionsThus, in order to prevent or reduce the presence of ESBL-EC and other contaminants at the retail-outlet, there is a need to design a process control system based on the current prevailing practices in order to reduce cross contamination, as well as to improve food safety and consumer health.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3377-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Salmonella is a very important foodborne pathogen causing illness in humans. The emergence of drug-resistant strains also constitutes a serious worry to global health and livestock productivity. This study investigated Salmonella isolates from chicken and chicken meat products using the phenotypic antimicrobial screening as well as the molecular characteristics of Salmonella isolates. Upon serotyping of the isolates, the antimicrobial susceptibility profiling using a panel of 9 commonly used antimicrobials was done. Subsequently, the molecular profiles of all the isolates were further determined using Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) and the Whole Genome Multi-Locus Sequence Type (wgMLST) analysis in order to obtain the sequence types. Results The PFGE data was input into FPQuest software, and the dendrogram generated was studied for possible genetic relatedness among the isolates. All the isolates were found to belong to the Salmonella Enteritidis serotype with notable resistance to tetracycline, gentamycin, streptomycin, and sulfadimidine. The S. Enteritidis isolates tested predominantly subtyped into the ST11 and ST1925, which was found to be a single cell variant of ST11. The STs were found to occur in chicken meats, foods, and live chicken cloacal swabs, which may indicate the persistence of the bacteria in multiple foci. Conclusion The data demonstrate the presence of S. Enteritidis among chickens, indicating its preference and reservoir status for enteric Salmonella pathogens.

The present study was conducted to assess the effects of dietary supplementation of Zingiber officinale and Zingiber zerumbet and to heat-stressed broiler chickens on heat shock protein (HSP) 70 density, plasma corticosterone concentration (CORT), heterophil to lymphocyte ratio (HLR) and body temperature. Beginning from day 28, chicks were divided into five dietary groups: (i) basal diet (control), (ii) basal diet +1%Z. zerumbet powder (ZZ1%), (iii) basal diet +2%Z. zerumbet powder (ZZ2%), (iv) basal diet +1%Z. officinale powder (ZO1%) and (v) basal diet +2%Z. officinale powder (ZO2%). From day 35-42, heat stress was induced by exposing birds to 38±1°C and 80% RH for 2 h/day. Irrespective of diet, heat challenge elevated HSP70 expression, CORT and HLR on day 42. On day 42, following heat challenge, the ZZ1% birds showed lower body temperatures than those of control, ZO1% and ZO2%. Neither CORT nor HLR was significantly affected by diet. The ZO2% and ZZ2% diets enhanced HSP70 expression when compared to the control groups. We concluded that dietary supplementation of Z. officinale and Z. zerumbet powder may induce HSP70 reaction in broiler chickens exposed to heat stress.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of shackling and halal slaughter with head-only electrical stunning (ES) using water bath or no stunning (NS) on plasma levels of adrenaline (AD), noradrenaline (NAD) and corticosterone (CORT) levels of broiler chickens. Male and female broiler chickens (Cobb 500) 38 days old from a commercial farm in Johore, Malaysia, were placed in plastic crates (0.80 × 0.60 × 0.31 m) at 10 birds per crate, and transported for 2.5 hours in an open truck. The ambient temperature during transportation was 25 to 27 °C. Upon arrival at a commercial processing plant, a total of 50 male broiler chickens (2.2-2.5 kg) were randomly selected from the flocks that were delivered, transferred to different five crates (10 birds per crate) and held in a lairage for 2 to 3 h. Blood samples were collected at various points, namely after lairaging (P1) (first sampling point for both ES and NS chickens, regarded as basal values), shackling (P2) (second sampling point for both ES and NS chickens), stunning (P3) (third sampling point for ES chickens), and ventral neck incision in stunned (P4) (fourth sampling point for ES chickens) and no stun (P5) (third sampling point for NS chickens). Ten birds were sampled at each sampling point (50 birds in total). Both stunned and no stun birds were shackled. Results show that shackling (P2) did not significantly affect the AD, NAD and CORT levels. However, electrical stunning elevated both the AD and CORT levels significantly, but not NAD. Neck cut had negligible effect on the AD and NAD in NS and ES broilers, but significantly increased CORT compared with the basal CORT value. In conclusion, the study demonstrated that head-only electrical stunning using a water bath might elevate AD and CORT. The study concluded that, as measured by AD and NAD, slaughter with or without stunning may not induce a physiological stress response in broilers.

Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Enteritidis is one of the major foodborne zoonotic pathogens globally. It has significantly impacted human health and global trade. In this investigation, whole-genome sequencing was employed to determine the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) pattern of a collection of Salmonella Enteritidis isolated from humans, poultry, and food sources. The study also investigated the virulence genes profile of the isolates as well as the phylogenetic relationships among strains. Illumina NextSeq technology was used to sequence the genome of 82 Salmonella Enteritidis strains isolated over 3 years (2016–2018) in Peninsular Malaysia. The pattern of resistance showed that tetracycline had the highest frequency (37/82, 45.12%), and isolates from food samples showed the highest rate of 9/18 (50.00%), followed by human 17/35 (48.57%) and then poultry 11/29 (37.93%). The second drug with the highest resistance rate is ampicillin with 5/29 (17.24%) for poultry, 4/35 (11.43%) for human, and 0/18 (0.00%) for food isolates respectively. Similarly, a total of 19 antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes corresponding to the nine drugs used in the disc diffusion assay were evaluated from the whole genome sequence data. The aminoglycoside resistance gene aac(6′)-ly was detected in 79 of the 82 isolates (96.34%). While the phylogenetic analysis revealed distinct lineages isolated, the three sources indicating possible cross-contamination. In conclusion, the results showed that the genomic profile of Salmonella Enteritidis isolated from humans, poultry, and food samples share genetic traits, hence the need to institute measures at controlling the continuous spread of these resistant pathogens.