Prevalence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Bacterial Pathogens in Ready-to-Eat Foods Retailed in Osaka Prefecture, Japan

• Published in: Journal of food protection Vol. 81; no. 9; pp. 1450 - 1458
• Main Authors: Harada, Tetsuya, Taguchi, Masumi, Kawahara, Ryuji, Kanki, Masashi, Kawatsu, Kentaro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Limited 01.09.2018
• Subjects: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Anti-Infective Agents; Antibiotics; Antiinfectives and antibacterials; Antimicrobial agents; Bacteria; Cephalosporins; Citrobacter; Desserts; Drug resistance; E coli; Enterobacter cloacae; Enterobacteriaceae; Fast Foods - microbiology; Fish; Food; Food contamination; Food contamination & poisoning; Food Contamination - analysis; Food Microbiology; Food processing industry; Food safety; Fosfomycin; Genes; Health risks; Hospitals; Humans; Hygiene; Japan; Klebsiella; Laboratories; Methicillin; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus - isolation & purification; Nosocomial infection; Nosocomial infections; Opportunist infection; Pathogens; Prevalence; Salmonella; Seafood; Staphylococcus infections; Vegetables; Japan; United States > US; China; Ready-to-eat foods; Japan; Staphylococcus aureus; Enterobacteriaceae
• ISSN: 0362-028X; 1944-9097
• DOI: 10.4315/0362-028x.jfp-18-035

The potential human health risk of Japanese ready-to-eat (RTE) foods was investigated by determining the contamination by foodborne bacterial pathogens, the prevalence of opportunistic and nosocomial pathogens, and the antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates recovered from 96 samples of lightly pickled vegetables, 88 samples of Western-style desserts, and 98 samples of RTE fish and seafood products sold at retail in Osaka, Japan. Staphylococcus aureus, including isolates producing staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE), were isolated from six lightly pickled vegetable products, seven Western-style dessert products, and three RTE fish and seafood products. Of these isolates, one SEC-producing isolate from a cake was identified as community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus, which was multilocus sequence type 8 and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec type IV. Enterobacteriaceae species, including Escherichia coli, Klebsiella oxytoca, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Serratia marcescens, Citrobacter freundii-Citrobacter braakii, and/or the Enterobacter cloacae complex, were isolated from 92 (95.8%) of the lightly pickled vegetable products, 39 (44.3%) of the Western-style dessert products, and 74 (75.5%) of the RTE fish and seafood products. On the basis of the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of the opportunistic and nosocomial Enterobacteriaceae pathogens, the third-generation cephalosporin, fosfomycin, and quinolone resistance determinants were investigated. We detected AmpC products of the CIT group and a qnrB9 product in 5 and 1 C. freundii-C. braakii isolates, respectively, and fosA gene products in 15 E. cloacae complex isolates. Because RTE foods are consumed without a heating process, the spread of bacterial pathogens from contaminated food to human consumers is possible. RTE foods must be handled using hygienic procedures from the processing steps to the table to reduce the prevalence of potentially pathogenic or pathogenic bacteria and to prevent bacterial growth.