Prevalence of Foodborne Pathogens in Grilled Chicken from Street Vendors and Retail Outlets in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico

Abstract

We analyzed a total of 70 grilled chicken samples bought randomly from street vendors and retail outlets in the city of Reynosa, Mexico, to determine the prevalence of Escherichia coli (Shiga toxin producing and enterotoxin producing), Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria spp., and Campylobacter spp. using microbiological methods and PCR detection of bacterial sequences. Of the 70 samples, 27 (38.5%) were from retail outlets and 43 (61.4%) from street vendors. All specimens were negative by both microbiological and molecular methods for Listeria monocytogenes, Shiga toxin 2 of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, lt of enterotoxin-producing E. coli, and st enterotoxin, and all were negative for Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter jejuni by PCR. Of the samples studied, 49 (70%) had undetectable levels of the foodborne pathogens studied with the methods used. In the remaining 21 (30%) specimens, at least one pathogen was isolated or detected, with E. coli being the pathogen most frequently isolated and with two samples bearing the hlyA gene. We found no statistical difference in bacterial prevalence between retail and street vendor samples. The presence of pathogens in grilled chicken is an important public health risk because of the great demand for and daily consumption of this product in this region.

Multiplex PCR for simultaneous identification of E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp. and L. monocytogenes in food

“…The inv A gene of S. enterica selected in the study has already been proven to be an important diagnostic tool for detection, as it contains a sequence unique to this genus (Rahn et al 1992 ; Shanmugasamy et al 2011 ). While the hly A gene codes for the action of listeriolysin protein ( hly A), which was mainly the potential of virulence pathogenic of L. monocytogenes , this was considered as the target gene for PCR detection (Dharmendra et al 2013 ; Kaur et al 2007 ). In addition, all selected primers were tested to examine the possible cross-reactions of primers by homology searches, using the basic local alignment searching tool (BLAST) program, to find the best combination for developing multiplex PCR.…”

Development and evaluation of a multiplex PCR for simultaneous detection of five foodborne pathogens

“…Rapid and accurate methods for simultaneous identification of foodborne pathogens are becoming more and more important (Díaz‐López et al. 2011).…”

Multiplex PCR assay and lyophilization for detection of Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus in pork products

“…Various methods have been developed to detect foodborne pathogens including the culturing and characterization of micro-organisms [8]. However, this is both timeconsuming and laborious.…”