Chicken and turkey meat: Consumer exposure to multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae including mcr-carriers, uropathogenic E. coli and high-risk lineages such as ST131

Abstract

For the first time, this study evaluates consumer exposure via poultry meat to Enterobacteriaceae with capacity to develop severe extraintestinal infections by either bacterial virulence and/or antibiotic resistance traits. The characterization of 256 isolates and the assessment of five parameters, showed that 96 of 100 poultry meat samples from supermarkets of northwest Spain posed ≥ one potential risk: i) 96% carried Enterobacteriaceae resistant to antimicrobials of categories A (64% to monobactams) or B (95% to cephalosporins 3rd and 4rd- generation, quinolones and/or polymixins) of the new categorization of EMA. ii) More than one extended-spectrum-β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae species were recovered from 28% of poultry meat. iii) High-risk lineages of E. coli, including multidrug-resistant ST131-H22, were present in 62% of samples. iv) E. coli recovered from 25% of samples conformed the ExPEC status. v) E. coli from 17% of samples satisfied the UPEC status. Of note, the recovery from different samples of two E. coli CC10-A (CH11-54) carrying mcr-1.1-bearing IncX4 plasmids, and four E. coli CC10-A (eae-beta1) of the hybrid pathotype aEPEC/ExPEC. (ESBL)-producing K. pneumoniae were isolated from 27% of samples. In summary, poultry meat microbiota is a source of genetically diverse Enterobacteriaceae, resistant to relevant antimicrobials and potentially pathogenic for consumers.

Keywords: ESBL; Escherichia coli; Food safety; Hybrid pathotype; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Poultry meat; ST131; mcr.