Quality assessment and detection of multiple drug-resistant food-borne aerobic bacteria in frozen quail in Luxor and Aswan city

Quail meat is a delicate white game meat with extremely low skin fat and low cholesterol value. It is rich in micronutrients and vitamins including vitamin B6, niacin, thiamin, pantothenic acid and riboflavin, folate and vitamin E and K. It is therefore recommended for people with high cholesterol levels. Fifty random samples were collected from different restaurants in Luxor and Aswan cities, Egypt to evaluate the quality of frozen wild quail meat. The investigation revealed that (8%), (8%), and (12 %) of the examined samples were contaminated with E.coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella spp., respectively as well as the mean values of APC, Coliform, and S. aureus counts were 4.4×104 ±0.074, 2.2×103 ±0.094 and 1.2×10±1.1 respectively. Serotyping revealed that the investigated E. coli isolates belonged to 3 different O-serogroups comprising O125 (50%), O55 (25%), and O86a (25%) while the examined Salmonella isolates including Salmonella Othmarschen (16.6%), Salmonella Livingstone (16.6%), Salmonella Kentucky (16.6%), Salmonella Tado (16.6%) and Salmonella enterica Subspecies Salamae (33.3%). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing for E. coli isolates revealed that they were sensitive to Colistin sulfate, Nalidixic acid, and Ceftriaxone while they were resistant to Gentamycin, Streptomycin. S. aureus isolates were sensitive to Ampicillin and Vancomycin while resistant to Erythromycin, Chloramphenicol, and Tetracycline. In addition, Salmonella isolates were sensitive to Amoxicillin and Streptomycin while resistant to Colistin sulfate. Moreover, the mean values of pH, total basic nitrogen (TVB-N mg/100gm), and Thiobarbituric acid (TBA mg/Kg) were 5.9±0.01, and 12.1±0.2 and 0.72±0.03, respectively.