Outbreaks ofSalmonellainfections attributed to beef – United States, 1973–2011

Abstract

Summary Nontyphoidal salmonella is estimated to be the most common bacterial cause of foodborne illness in the United States, causing an estimated one million domestically-acquired foodborne illnesses annually. Recent, large outbreaks have highlighted the importance of ground beef as an important source of multidrug resistant salmonella. We analysed the epidemiology of salmonellosis outbreaks that were attributed to beef in the United States reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 1973 through 2011. During 1973–2011, of the 1965 outbreaks of salmonella where a food vehicle was implicated, 96 were attributed to beef, accounting for 3684 illnesses. We observed a shift in the type of beef implicated in salmonellosis outbreaks, from roast to ground beef. Delicatessen-style roast beef cooked in commercial processing establishments was the predominant type during the 1970s and early 1980s; regulations on cooking and processing essentially eliminated this problem by 1987. Ground beef emerged as an important vehicle in the 2000s; it was implicated in 17 (45%) of the 38 beef-attributed outbreaks reported during 2002–2011. Although this emergence was likely due in part to increased participation in CDC’s PulseNet, which was established in 1996, and proactive decisions by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, stronger measures are needed to decrease contamination of ground beef with salmonella.

Phenotypic and genotypic profile of clinical and animal multidrug-resistantSalmonella entericaisolates from Mexico

“…In the current study, Salmonella Typhimurium was the most frequent serotype (17·7%) (Table ), this result agrees with previous publications where this serotype it is one of the main agents of several outbreaks and in some cases, MDR isolates have been implicated (Laufer et al . ; Andino and Hanning ). The dissemination of this serotype could be explained by the complex repertoire of genes involved in the colonization of their host and some of them are essential for infection across different food‐producing animals, followed by colonization of human gut and finally develop the fitness of particular strains which allow them to be predominant in a geographical zone, for example the emerging of Salmonella Typhimurium genotype ST213 in Mexico (Chaudhuri et al .…”

Antimicrobial usage and resistance in beef production

“…infections often require antimicrobial therapy. Cattle are infected/colonized by many Salmonella species, and ground beef is a vehicle of Salmonell a transmission, implicated in 45% of outbreaks linked to beef [136]. In cattle, susceptible adults develop enteritis, and calves may also develop septicemia.…”

“…Worse still, the prevalence of ceftriaxone resistance (3 rd generation cephalosporin) in bovine-origin serotype Dublin increased from 0 to 86% between 1996 and 2013 [137]. As this is a major risk to human health, adoption and adherence to good practices during beef processing and proper cooking are critical to prevent transmission [136, 139, 140]. …”

Isolation and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Enteritidis in Fecal Samples from Animals

“…Non-typhoid salmonellosis in humans are mainly caused by contamination of foods from animal origin [8,10,11]. Human infections with S. Enteritidis originate mainly from eggs and egg products when consumed raw or undercooked, while S. Typhimurium infections originate mainly from pigs, cattle and chicken as well as environmental contamination from household pets or contaminated birds [1,11].…”

“…In the United States, during the years 1973-2011, 5% of outbreaks of salmonellosis were due to consumption of meat products [10].…”