Identification and characterisation of antimicrobial resistance of Enterococcus spp. isolated from pork and poultry meat

There is a great concern on the presence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in meat, since they can cause adverse effects in the consumers' health. The purpose of this work was to identify and characterise the antimicrobial resistance of Enterococcus spp. isolated from meat. A total of 209 meat samples (forty pork, fifty chicken, fifty-one turkey, thirty-one duck, and thirty-seven quail) were collected at retail level. E. faecalis was the dominant enterococci isolated from all the types of meat evaluated, followed by E. faecium, E. gallinarum, and E. hirae, among others which were also isolated. Of the 317 strains evaluated for antimicrobial resistance 48 (15.14%) were multi-resistant. Most of the multi-resistant strains were E. faecium and E. faecalis, and in lesser extent E. gallinarum and E. hirae. Multi-resistant strains were isolated from all the types of meat studied, mainly from turkey (sixteen strains), chicken (fifteen strains), and quail (fourteen strains). Two multi-resistant strains showed resistance to vancomycin (E. faecium isolated from turkey meat, and E. faecalis isolated from quail meat). Resistance to tigecycline, teicoplanin, linezolid and quinolones was found among enterococci isolates. Special measures should be taken to avoid faecal contamination of carcasses in order to reduce enterococci prevalence in meat.