Occurrence and Characterization of Listeria Species Isolated from Processed Meat in Qena, Egypt

The aims of this work were isolation, elucidation the antimicrobial susceptibility and molecular characterization of Listeria spp from meat products distributed in Qena Governorate, Egypt during years 2017 -2018.  A total of 120 samples of raw meat products were collected from different retail outlets in Qena Governorate, Egypt and examined for the contamination with Listeria spp. The examined meat products were minced meat, kofta, sausage, burger, luncheon and pasterma and the prevalence of listeria monocytogenes was 15%, 20%, 10%, 15%, 10%, 5%, respectively. Moreover, other Listeria species were isolated and identified in a total percentage from the above mentioned meat products; Listeria ivanovii (10.8%), L. welshimeri (6.6%), L. innocua (10.8%), L. seeligeri (4.1%) and L. grayi (1.6%). Antibiogram assay detected multi-dug resistances among L. monocytogenes. All the isolates were resistant to neomycin and streptomycin, meanwhile, most of the isolates showed sensitivity against ampicillin. Furthermore, L. monocytogenes was molecularly characterized by multiplex PCR for detection of iap, hylA and actA virulence genes. The iap gene was detected in all L. monocytogenes. It could be concluded that processed meat products purchased in Qena Governorate harbored L. monocytogenes and other Listeria species. This in turn constitute a risk of transmission of infection to human consumer with the antibiotic resistant listeria spp. That gives rise to failure of treatment programs. High contamination level of meat substantiates enforcing Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) program during processing, handling and storage of meat products.