Prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes in Poultry Meat, Poultry Meat Products and Other Related Inanimates at Faisalabad

Abstract

Present study was performed on three hundred and twenty samples of poultry meat and poultry meat products, 40 samples each from fresh poultry meat, fresh chicken boneless, frozen poultry meat, frozen chicken nuggets, frozen chicken burgers, chopping boards, mincing machines and cleaning cloths collected from different poultry meat sale centers, supermarkets and shops at Faisalabad. Listeria species could be isolated from all the examined samples at different percentages ranging from 10 to 37.5%. Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) was differentially identified from other Listeria species by colony characteristics, `beta haemolysis`, `cold enrichment procedure`, `Anton test`, `aesculin test`, characteristic `tumbling motility`, sugar fermentation tests and serotyping. L. monocytogenes could be isolated at variable percentages ranging from 2.5 to 17.5% of the examined samples from poultry meat and poultry meat products. From the 31 isolates of L. monocytogenes isolated from examined samples, 23 strains belonged to type 1 and 8 strains belonged to type 4. Study revealed that the incidence of L. monocytogenes was much higher in frozen poultry meat products and other related inanimates as compared to fresh poultry meat samples. The public health hazards as well as suggestive measures to reduce human Listeriosis have been discussed.