Molecular detection of some virulence genes in multidrug resistant Salmonella species isolated from chicken meat products and raw milk

Salmonella still has a serious foodborne outbreak with public health risk. Chicken meat, chicken meat products, and raw milk are important reservoir for Salmonella. In the current study, a total of 120 samples of chicken meat and chicken meat products (breast, thigh, giblets, frozen thigh, nuggets, burger, shish and luncheon, 15 of each) and 50 raw cow milk samples were tested for prevalence, serotyping, virulence genes, and antibiotic resistance profiles of Salmonella spp.. The prevalence of Salmonella spp. was 11.67% in chicken meat samples with the following incidence on each sample group; 13.33, 20, 26.67, 0, 6.67, 6.67, 13.33 and 6.67%, respectively. Raw milk samples overall occurrence of Salmonella spp. was 6%. Serological identification of the isolated Salmonella revealed presence of five different serotypes including S. kentukay, S. entritides, S. typhimurium, S. lindenberg and S. bassa. All isolated Salmonella spp. har-bored stn gene; while S. kentukay, S. entritides and S. typhimurium harbored mgtC gene but invA was found in S. entritides, S. typhimurium, S. lindenberg and S. bassa. Also, sopB was detected in S. kentukay, S. entritides, S. typhimurium and S. lindenberg. The isolated Salmonella spp. was resistant to sulphamethoxazol trimethoprim, chloramphenicol, and penicillin (100%). Meanwhile, the sensitivity was 70.6% % to ampicillin, enrofloxacin and amoxycillin clavulanic. The results confirm the importance of application of strict hygienic measures in food industry and proper use of antibiotics for meat and milk producing animals.