Prevalence of some foodborne pathogens in meat products in Romania

An updated data analysis in the changing foodborne pathogens evolution in Romania and improvements in food chain traceability is provided for comparison with trends in the context of global food trade. This report represents a monitoring plan from 2013-2014, that was used to assess the prevalence of some foodborne pathogens from different meat (bovine, sheep, goat, pork, chicken, turkey carcasses, raw and ground meats) belonging to the intensive animal breeding farms, slaughterhouses and retail markets. A number of 41190 meat samples were collected from four different areas of Romania and examined. The foodborne pathogens Salmonella sp., Escherichia coli Biotype I, Escherichia coli serotype O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, coagulase-positive Staphylococcus sp. were studied. Salmonella sp. isolates proved to be resistant to 7 out of the tested 17 antibiotics. The prevalence of E. coli Biotype I was the highest in the investigated samples (1.14%), while for L. monocytogenes was 0.38%, and none of the tested products was positive for Escherichia coli VTEC O157:H7 and coagulase-positive Staphylococcus sp.