Contamination and susceptibility patterns of Enterobacteriaceae in uncooked chicken and beef from supermarkets in Kampala Central Division

Abstract

Background: Enterobacteriaceae contaminants such as Escherichia, Salmonella, Shigella, and Klebsiella, are some of the causative agents of gastrointestinal infections. The extent of Enterobacteriaceae contamination of raw chicken and beef in supermarkets of Kampala’s central division and its antibiotic susceptibility pattern still remains largely unknown. Objectives: The study aimed at determining the prevalence of Enterobacteriaceae contamination and its antibiotic susceptibility pattern in raw chicken and beef in Kampala city central division supermarkets. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with a total of 48 samples from Six random supermarkets. Samples were tested for contamination status and reported as Colony forming units per gram (CFU/g). A panel of ten antibiotics was used for susceptibility testing of the isolated contaminants. Results: The general prevalence of Enterobacteriaceae was shown to be 83.33% (40/48) with Escherichia coli at 38% (35/92), klebsiella at 32% (30/92) and Citrobacter at 34% (32/92) being the predominant Enterobacteriaceae. Chicken (100%) was found to be more contaminated as compared to beef (66.67%) with a statistically significant difference among them (p value 0.002). There was no significant difference in the contamination of these foods across supermarkets and parishes (p value 0.549 and 0.441 respectively). The antibiotic susceptibility of Enterobacteriaceae from beef and chicken was generally good with all the organisms being susceptible to most antibiotics used except Ampicillin and ceftriaxone. Escherichia coli showed a 60% and 57.1% resistance to Ampicillin and ceftriaxone respectively while klebsiella showed a 56.7 % resistance to Ampicillin. No statistically significant difference was observed in the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of organisms isolated among chicken and beef (p value 0.00575). Conclusion: This study reveals a high prevalence of Enterobacteriaceae contamination in chicken especially as compared to beef and a low resistance burden to the antibiotics tested with the exception of Ampicillin and Ceftriaxone.