Prevalence and critical antibiotic-resistance traits of Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus isolated from raw and ready-to-eat meat products

Keywords The study aimed to compare Bacillus cereus ( B. cereus ) and Staphylococcus aureus (S . aureus ) prevalence and antimicrobial resistance profiles in raw and ready-to-eat meat products (RTEM). One hundred samples of raw hamburger, sausage, RTEM hawawshi, and kofta were tested using standard culture and automated VITEK2 methods. PCR was used to detect resistance genetic components. The overall prevalence of S. aureus and B. cereus was 20%, and 14%, respectively. Staphylococcus aureus and B. cereus were isolated at similarly high rates (60.0% and 73.7%, respectively) from raw meat products. Five percent (1/20) of the B . cereus isolates detected in raw burger samples were multidrug-resistant (MDR), whereas 25 % of S . aureus were MDR, with three resistance patterns. Neither the mcr 1 nor the van A genes were found in the B . cereus . While nor A was found in four isolates, both bla TEM and bla CTX were found in three. The bla SHV was found only in three raw-derived isolates, two of which also shared bla TEM , bla CTX , and nor A or bla TEM and nor A. The data revealed that all of the MDR S . aureus isolates tested positive for mec A but not van A genes. Such pathogens in RTE meat with genes confer resistance to key antibiotics, endangering public health and hastening the emergence of superbugs.