Presence of Escherichia coli in poultry meat: A potential food safety threat

Escherichia coli is an important pollution indicator and its pathogenic strains is a serious public health concern. A study was conducted to investigate the presence of E. coli and its pathogenic strain O157 in raw poultry meat and its antimicrobial sensitivity pattern to common antibiotics. Total number (n = 152) of samples were studied, out of which 25% (38/152) were found contaminated with E. coli. The prevalence of pathogenic strain O157 was 2% (3/152). In the antibiogram study, 92% (35/38) isolates showed resistance to ampicillin and tetracycline. The resistance against kanamycin were 15.8% (6/38), whereas 23.7% (9/38) against streptomycin. Several E. coli isolates were found resistant to multiple antibiotics. One E. coli isolate showed resistance to seven antibiotics (ampicillin, tetracycline, sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, gentamicin, chloramphenicol, nalidixic acid and kanamycin) out of nine antibiotics used in the study. The antibiotic resistance of E. coli to common commercial antibiotic is a potential threat to food safety and public health.