Isolamento de Salmonella sp. em ruminantes abatidos em frigorífico de Pelotas, RS e avaliação da suscetibilidade dos isolados a antimicrobianos

Abstract

Brazil has one of the largest commercial heard of the world and it is a great beef exporter. Meanwhile, for the consolidation of Brazilian exportation of meat in natura and its derivatives it is necessary that the products have food safety. Among the microorganisms used as indicators of food security, Salmonella has a special attention because it causes severe diseases to animals and humans. This study was developed with the objective to isolate Salmonella during the cattle slaughter in a state inspection slaughterhouse located in the city of Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul. A hundred and fifty samples were collected from three different points of slaughter: leather of the animal after bleeding (P1), the carcass after evisceration (P2) and cecum contents (P3). The isolates were tested for their antimicrobial susceptibility in vitro using amoxicillin, ampicillin and ciprofloxacin. As results, two (1,33%) strains were isolated from bovines and classified as Salmonella. No strain was isolated from buffalos. The two isolates were susceptible to amoxicillin and ciprofloxacin. Besides the investigation of the presence of Salmonella in the cattle flowchart, a review about Salmonella pathogenicity islands (SPI) was performed. According to the results, we conclude that there is the risk of incorporating the bacteria at the slaughter time by the ruminants, contaminating the carcasses. The implementation and maintenance of means to control the quality in the market facilities are important to prevent or reduce the health risk to employees and consumers.