Bacterial assessment, thermal resilience and antibiotic resistance profiles of bacterial contaminants in retail fish and meat

Abstract

This research investigated bacterial contamination in various type of meat and working personnel samples from Nushki, Balochistan, Pakistan. Out of 150 samples comprising of beef, fish, mutton, equipment and working personnel, 40 (26.66%) detected positive for bacterial pathogens. The bacterial species including Bacillus cereus, Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli, Lactobacillus divergens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas alcaligenes, Salmonella enteritidis, Shigella dysenteriae and Stenotrophomonas maltophillia were identified from the samples. Beef samples showed the significantly higher (p < 0.05) bacterial prevalence than fish and mutton. Meat from Masjid Road and Eidgah Road exhibited elevated contamination, whereas, equipment had the lowest rates. Beef samples from meat market contained the highest bacterial load (1.65 × 10³ log 10 CFU/ml). Cooking temperatures ranged 37–45 °C for 10–60 min did not affect the bacterial growth significantly (p > 0.05). However, Salmonella enteritidis, Lactobacillus divergens and Bacillus cereus were able to survive when exposed to 100 °C for 10 min. The antibiogram investigation revealed that the isolated bacterial species were sensitive to colistin and cefixime, yet resistant to amoxicillin, neomycin and piperacillin. The results highlight the significant issues with bacterial contamination across different types of meat and indicate antibiotic resistance in the isolated species.