Occurrence of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Salmonella spp. in beef and cow milk from central Kerala

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a clinically important opportunistic pathogen and Salmonella spp. is a major food-borne pathogen causing gastroenteritis worldwide. The present study was conducted to determine the occurrence of K. pneumoniae and Salmonella spp. in beef and cow milk collected from central Kerala. The study was conducted in a span of 10 months from, January 2022 to October 2022. A total of 400 samples, comprising of 200 raw cow milk samples and 200 beef samples, were collected from different milk societies and retail shops of Thrissur and Palakkad districts. The K. pneumoniae and Salmonella spp. were isolated by conventional culture techniques on MacConkey agar and Xylose lysine deoxycholate agar, respectively. When conventional culture technique was used, 57.50 per cent and 10.25 per cent samples were positive for K. pneumoniae and Salmonella spp., respectively. The molecular confirmation of K. pneumoniae was carried out by PCR targeting genus specific gyrA followed by species specific rpoB gene. Salmonella spp. was confirmed on PCR by amplifying species specific invA gene and spvC gene was targeted to evaluate the virulent nature of the isolates. Out of the 400 milk and beef samples analysed 50.75 per cent were positive for K. pneumoniae and 10.25 per cent were positive for Salmonella spp. Implementation of standard hygiene practices during production, distribution chain are required to avoid the contamination of milk and beef samples indented for human consumption.