Incidence rate and antibiotic resistance profile of Cronobacter sakazakii isolated from various food products

Abstract

Cronobacter sakazakii (C. sakazakii) is a foodborne pathogen which has been linked to various food outbreaks. The current study was aimed to isolate and identify this pathogen from different kind of food products and herbs as well as to reveal its antibacterial resistant profiling. A total of 235 samples were collected, including 130 Powdered Infant Formula (PIF), 55 spices and herbs and 50 samples from Bouillon Flavoured Powder (BFP). These samples were obtained from local markets in Duhok city of Iraq from February to August 2019. The collected items were checked for the presence of C. sakazakii by using conventional biochemical tests and confirmed through molecular techniques. The findings showed that 3.1% of PIF, 24% of BFP and 78.2% of spices and herbs were positive for C. sakazakii. This bacterium expressed a complete susceptibility to each of ampicillin, tetracycline, gentamycin and chloramphenicol and showed high to mild resistance to the rest of the examined antibiotics Microbiological evaluation of imported food is crucial for safeguarding public health. The high contamination rate and high drug-resistant C. sakazakii in the examined food products declared prospective hazards to endangered people.

Global and regional prevalence of Cronobacter sakazakii in powdered milk and flour

“…Cronobacter species is an emerging food-and environmental borne pathogen 4 . It is notably linked with powdered infant formula (PIF), milk and dairy products, drinking water, vegetables, meat, cereals, herbs, and spices [5][6][7][8][9][10] . The pathogen has been isolated from a variety of food and environmental matrices including tap water, underground water, river water 6 , aquatic products 11 , flours 12 , meat products 13 , cereal products 14,15 , read-to-eat foods 14,15 , food animals' offal 16 , and other matrices.…”