Determination of the prevalence of Salmonella spp. and S. aureus in meat products by Real-Time PCR and testing their antibiotic susceptibility

From a public health point of view meat products contain high pathogenic risk factors. This is because they can be contaminated with Salmonella spp. and Staphylococcus aureus microorganisms, and, more importantly, antibiotic resistance has been reported in these microorganisms at an increasing frequency. To examine the presence of Salmonella spp. and Staphylococcus aureus in samples of raw and semi-cooked (chicken doner, meat doner, chicken, beef, and lamb products) meat from markets of Izmir and Balikesir, Turkey were analysed. The presence of microorganisms in the samples was determined by Real-Time PCR method using Salmonella spp. and S. aureus specific primers. Following Real-Time PCR, microorganisms were isolated by selective culture methods and biochemical tests from the positive meat samples and tested for their antibiotic susceptibility using the Kirby-Bauer Disk Diffusion Method. The antibiotic disc diffusion method showed that S. aureus was resistant to penicillin G, oxytetracycline, sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, erythromycin, and ampicillin, whereas Salmonella spp. was resistant to penicillin G, sulfamethoxazole, erythromycin, and ampicillin. As these products are consumed frequently, their contamination with S. aureus (>= 5 x 10(3) cfu/g) and Salmonella spp. can be a risk factor for food poisoning. The contamination of meat products' with S. aureus and Salmonella spp. can be a risk factor for public health and the antibiotics to be preferred in illness treatment are of critical importance.