Enterobacteriaceae Antibiotic Resistance in Ready-to-Eat Foods Collected from Hospital and Community Canteens: Analysis of Prevalence

Abstract

Foodborne diseases and antibiotic resistance are serious widespread health problems in the contemporary world. In this study, we compared the microbiological quality of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods found in community canteens versus hospital canteens in Rome, Italy, focusing on detection and quantification of Enterobacteriaceae and the antibiotic resistance of these bacteria. Our findings show a remarkable difference in Enterobacteriaceae contamination between RTE foods distributed in community canteens (33.5% of samples) and those distributed in hospital canteens (5.3% of samples). This result highlights greater attention to good manufacturing practices and good hygiene practices by the food operators in hospitals compared with food operators in community canteens. As expected, a higher percentage of cold food samples (70.9%) than of hot food samples (10.8%) were positive for these bacteria. Excluding the intrinsic resistance of each bacterial strain, 92.3% of the isolated strains were resistant to at least one antibiotic, and about half of the isolated strains were classified as multidrug resistant. The prevalence of multidrug-resistant strains was 50% in the community samples and 33.3% in hospital canteens. Our results indicate that approximately 38% of RTE foods provided in community canteens is not compliant with microbiological food safety criteria and could be a special risk for consumers through spread of antibiotic-resistant strains. Hygienic processing and handling of foods is necessary for both hospital and community canteens.

Antimicrobial-Resistant Pathogens in Food Handlers Serving in Mass Catering Centers

“…Similar ndings have been reported by a study conducted in Italy. In their study, approximately 38% of RTE foods were contaminated with AMR bacteria due to poor hygienic processing and handling of foods (27). Our ndings are also consistent with the study conducted in Nepal, where a high prevalence of MDR foodborne bacteria was associated with non-gloved food handlers and unsanitized food utensils (28).…”

Effectiveness of a Phage Cocktail as a Potential Biocontrol Agent against Saprophytic Bacteria in Ready-To-Eat Plant-Based Food

“…Antibiotic resistance phenotypic analysis showed that 96.1% of the 77 selected isolates were MDR, while resistance to aminoglycosides (94.8%), chloramphenicol (85.7%) and tetracyclines (53.2%) was the most common. Vincenti et al [ 70 ] determined antibiotic resistance in ready-to-eat food collected from hospital and community canteens in Rome. Studies have shown that approximately 38% of RTE food supplied in municipal canteens does not meet the microbiological criteria for food safety and may pose a particular threat to consumers due to the spread of antibiotic-resistant strains.…”

Tetracycline resistance in enterococci and Escherichia coli isolated from fresh produce and why it matters

“…Although previous studies reported high levels of TE-resistance in enterococci (Cauwerts et al, 2007) and E. coli (Al-Bahry et al, 2013) from animal sources, DNA is partially degraded by heat, and thus, consumption of raw fresh produce is more likely to deliver a higher concentration of ARG into the gastrointestinal tract IJFS October 2021 Volume 10 pages 359-370 (Hoelzel et al, 2018). Multidrug-resistant bacteria were previously isolated from various readyto-eat foods (Vincenti et al, 2018), including fresh produce that contained multidrug-resistant enterococci (Johnston & Jaykus, 2004) and E. coli (Al-Kharousi et al, 2016). Thus, these food commodities, which usually receive no or minimal heat treatment before consumption, may act as a vehicle for transfer of multidrug-resistant enterococci or E. coli to humans (Johnston & Jaykus, 2004).…”