Sanitary quality and bacteriological antibiotic-resistance pattern of frozen raw chicken meat sold in retail market in Benin

To cover the meat needs of its population, Benin imports large quantities of raw frozen chicken meat from the European Union, United States and Brazil. Consumers can purchase this meat either in open markets (OM) or in frozen meat retail stores (FMRS). The present study aimed to assess the safety of imported raw chicken sold in Benin and the antibiotics susceptibility of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas spp. isolates retrieved from these foodstuffs. Seventy-two samples of imported raw chicken (36 from OM and 36 from FMRS) were randomly purchased from different retail outlets in May 2021 and May 2023 and analyzed using standard microbiological methods. Fifty-two, 36 and 58 isolates of E. coli, S. aureus and Pseudomonas spp., respectively, were tested for their susceptibility to antimicrobials. Aerobic mesophilic bacteria (AMB) and Pseudomonas spp. were the most frequent and dominant flora with density reaching 9.4 and 7.5 Log10 CFU/g, respectively. The highest microbial load recorded for E. coli, S. aureus, Bacillus cereus, Campylobacter spp. and Listeria monocytogenes were 7.0, 4.6, 3.7, 2.4 and 1.4 Log10 CFU/g, respectively, while 73.6, 55.5, 33.3, 2.8 and 1.4 % of the samples tested positive for these bacteria, respectively. None of the samples contained Salmonella spp. Samples collected in OM had concentrations of AMB, Pseudomonas spp., S. aureus and E. coli significantly higher (p