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ARS Home » Plains Area » Clay Center, Nebraska » U.S. Meat Animal Research Center » Meat Safety and Quality » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #401331
Research Project: Identification, Genomic Characterization, and Metabolic Modeling of Foodborne Pathogens in the Meat Production Continuum

Location: Meat Safety and Quality

Title: Incidence of multiserovar Salmonella populations in postharvest meat and poultry products

Author
item SICELOFF, AMY - University Of Georgia
item SMITH, RENEE - University Of Georgia
item Harhay, Dayna
item SHARIAT, NIKKI - University Of Georgia

Submitted to: International Association for Food Protection Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2023
Publication Date: 7/16/2023
Citation: Siceloff, A.T., Smith, R., Harhay, D.M., Shariat, N.W. 2023. Incidence of multiserovar Salmonella populations in postharvest meat and poultry products. [Abstract]. International Association for Food Protection Proceedings. T8-06.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Introduction: Despite significant reduction of Salmonella incidence during processing, meat and poultry products remain a considerable source of foodborne salmonellosis. Conventional Salmonella monitoring often relies on the identification of a single serovar from a sample, which causes some serovars to remain undetected. Purpose: This study was designed to determine the incidence of multiserovar Salmonella populations in meat and poultry following antimicrobial processing interventions Methods: Deep serotyping with CRISPR-SeroSeq is a next-generation sequencing approach that quantifies the relative abundance of serovars within a mixed population. We applied CRISPR-SeroSeq to analyze 93 surveillance samples collected at slaughter facilities across the United States (pork: n=40; chicken: n=39; beef: n=9; turkey: n=5). Concurrently, up to two colonies were isolated and serotyped using molecular methods. A subset of isolates (~20%) were selected for confirmatory testing using traditional antibody agglutination methods. Results: CRISPR-SeroSeq identified 33 serovars, including 8/10 most frequently found by the CDC. There was an average of 1.4 serovars per sample, with a maximum of five serovars detected within a single sample, and 25.8% (24/93) of samples contained multiple serovars. Alternatively, conventional isolation and serotyping methods found 29 serovars (average of 1.1 serovars per sample) and 7.53% (7/93) of samples contained multiple serovars. Serovar profiles differed between commodity types, with Eko, Kentucky I, Montevideo I, and Hadar most often found in pork (25.0%; 10/40), chicken (43.6%; 17/39), beef (44.4%; 4/9), and turkey (40.0%; 2/5) samples, respectively. In 89/93 instances, serovars matched between serotyping and CRISPR-SeroSeq. Significance: Population analyses by CRISPR-SeroSeq revealed a quarter of post-harvest, post-intervention samples contain multiple serovars, demonstrating the complexity of Salmonella populations and the limitations of conventional methods. In six instances CRISPR-SeroSeq identified Salmonella serotypes Enteritidis, Typhimurium, or Newport, that were undetected by traditional culture methods. This study highlights the importance of comprehensive pathogen surveillance monitoring in food production systems.