Lymph nodes and ground beef as public health importance reservoirs of Salmonella spp.

This study aimed to determine the frequency of contamination, serovar diversity, and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of Salmonella enterica (SE) in lymph nodes and ground beef. A total of 1,545 samples from 400 beef carcasses were analyzed. Samples included peripheral (PLN) and deep lymph nodes (DLN), lean and fatty ground beef obtained in warm (April-July) and cold (September-December) seasons during 2017 and 2018. The pure isolates were subjected to complete genome sequencing. With these data, the in silico prediction of serovars and the MLST profile was performed. In total, 78 SE isolates were obtained (5 % of the total analyzed samples). The frequency of contamination was associated with the type of sample (chi(2)=23.7, P<0.0001) and the time of year (chi(2)=20.3, P<0.0001), being higher in PLN (9.7%) and during the warm season (7.0%). The predominant serovars were Anatum and Reading (each one with n= 23), Typhimurium (n= 11), and London (n= 9). The MLST profile of strains of the Typhimurium (ST 19 and 34) and Kentucky (ST 198) serovars has been previously reported in isolates involved in clinical cases. It was concluded that lymph nodes and ground beef are reservoirs of SE of public health importance, especially during the warm months of the year. Therefore, it is necessary to establish measures to prevent dissemination throughout the production chain of strains associated with apparently healthy animals.