Antimicrobial susceptibility of Salmonella serovars isolated from edible offal and carcasses of slaughtered poultry in the state of Tocantins, Brazil

Resumo

The aim of this study was to evaluate the profile of antibiotic resistance in Salmonella isolated from the carcasses, livers and hearts of chickens slaughtered in the state of Tocantins, Brazil, as recommended by the Normative Instruction 70 of 2003 of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply and the National Monitoring Program Prevalence and Bacterial Resistance in Chicken. Carcasses, livers and hearts from chicken with or without pericarditis/perihepatitis were studied in 60 lots of poultry slaughtered under the Federal Inspection System in the state of Tocantins, Brazil between August 2010 and June 2011. Twenty-six indicative Salmonella sp. were isolated in 11 lots (18.33%). Different strains of Salmonella were isolated more than a kind of sample/lot. The most frequent serovar was Enteriditis (38.46%, 10/26), while the second was Mbandaka (19.23%, 5/26), both isolated from hearts, livers and carcasses. Regarding antimicrobial resistance, of 12 tested principal pharmacological agents, the samples appeared to be most sensitive to tetracyclines, but showed 100% resistance to one or more active principal agents, especially sulfamethoxazole (30 mcg) and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (30 mcg). Although Salmonella sp. was isolated from normal carcasses, the results are within permitted levels for unfrozen products according to Brazilian legislation. However, one should always be aware of the hygienic and sanitary conditions of production processes and food processing, especially regarding good manufacturing practices.