Abstract
In Brazil and in other countries of the world, studies have been conducted to identify Listeria monocytogenes in cattle meat that is preferably consumed undercooked and, when marketed without meeting strict phytosanitary requirements, may cause outbreaks of listeriosis. In the such, foodborne outbreaks, the methods used for the detection of the pathogen and the efficiency associated with them are crucial for the proper assessment. In this study, we used the techniques biochemical and molecular for identification of the L. monocytogenes isolated from 30 samples of the fresh beef, marketed in ten butchers' shop of the free-fair from a municipality from the Bahia, Brazil. The results obtained from biochemical tests (catalase, motility, β-hemolysis and carbohydrate fermentation), as well as PCR analysis for the hly gene (hemolysin production is an important factor in the pathogenesis of listeriosis) revealed that 50% of butchers shops presented bovine meat contaminated with bacteria of the Listeria sp. and confirmed that 54.16% of the analyzed meat samples were positive for L. monocytogenes. This study highlights the importance of microbiological surveillance in free-fair to minimize the exposure of consumers to this foodborne pathogen.
Highlights
Listeria monocytogenes a foodborne pathogen regarded as a serious public health concern, is associated with severe infections such as septicemia, encephalitis, meningitis and abortion
Hemolysin production was verified by the hemolysis B test, which allows characterizing the samples as probable species: L. monocytogenes, L. seeligeri and L. ivanovii, as described by Ryser & Donnelly 2001, Holt et al 1994
PCR assays with 24 isolates of Listeria sp. they were conducted with amplification of the hly gene that allowed the obtaining of amplicons that were sequenced and aligned with species of the type of Listeria monocytogenes (ATCC 15313 and NCTC10357), both deposited in the GenBank (Table II)
Summary
Listeria monocytogenes a foodborne pathogen regarded as a serious public health concern, is associated with severe infections such as septicemia, encephalitis, meningitis and abortion. These infections predominantly affect vulnerable populations such as elderly people, pregnant women, newborns, immunocompromised individuals, etc., and are associated with high hospital admission rates and mortality (Mead et al 1999, Liu et al 2007, Parihar et al 2008, Fox et al 2011). Mode of transmission for listeriosis are varied and include ingestion of contaminated food and water, as well as direct transmission between humans and animals (Liu et al 2007, Law et al 2015). Insofar as of the contamination of bovine meat by L. monocytogenes is concerned, free markets (free-fair) are regarded as very important as large
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