Prevalence, antibiotic resistance and frequency of virulence factors in Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from raw and frozen meat

Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains are considered as the main causes of food spoilage and occasionally foodborne diseases. The present study was performed to evaluate the pattern of antibiotic resistance and frequency of virulence factors in Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from meat. A total of 120 samples of raw and frozen meat were collected. Samples were evaluated for the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa using conventional microbial culture. The pattern of antibiotic resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates was evaluated using the disk diffusion method. Genomic DNA was extracted from Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates and the frequency of virulence factors was assessed using the polymerase chain reaction. Eleven out of 120 meat samples (9.16%) were contaminated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The prevalence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in raw and curled meat samples was 5.00 and 13.33%, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in the prevalence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa between raw and frozen meat samples (P <0.05). Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates had the highest rate of antibiotic resistance against ampicillin (100%), penicillin (90.90%) and tetracycline (81.81%). The prevalence of resistance to imipenem (9.09%) and trimethoprim (18.18%) antibiotics was lower than other cases. ExoU (54.54%) and exoT (18.18%) genes were the most frequent virulence factors detected. The simultaneous presence of virulence factors and antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from raw and frozen meat increases the need for further studies to confirm the role of this bacterium as an important food-spoilage bacterium.