Multi-drug resistant bacteria found in 40% of supermarket meat samples in Spain

Multidrug-resistant E. coli was found in 40% of supermarket meat samples tested in a Spanish study. E. coli strains capable of causing serious human infections were also highly prevalent, according to this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Antibiotic resistance is reaching dangerously high levels worldwide. With drug-resistant infections killing an estimated 700,000 people worldwide each year and projected to kill 10 million by 2050 if no action is taken, the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified antimicrobial resistance as one of the greatest public health threats facing humanity. Multi-drug resistant bacteria can spread from animals to humans through the food chain, but due to commercial sensitivities, data on the levels of antibiotic resistant bacteria in food is not widely available. To find out more, Dr Azucena Mora Gutiérrez and Dr Vanesa García Menéndez from the University of Santiago de Compostela-Lugo, Lugo, Spain, together with colleagues from other research centres, designed a series of experiments to assess the levels of multidrug-resistant and extraintestinal pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae (Klebsiella pneumoniae, E. coli and other bacteria that can cause multidrug-resistant infections such as sepsis or urinary tract infections) in meat sold in Spanish supermarkets. They analysed 100 meat products (25 each of chicken, turkey, beef and pork) randomly selected from supermarkets in Oviedo in 2020. The majority (73%) of the meat products contained levels of E. coli that were within food safety limits. However, almost half (49%) contained multi-resistant and/or potentially pathogenic E. coli. Of these, 82 E. coli isolates were recovered and characterised. In addition, 12 K. pneumoniae isolates were recovered from 10 of the 100 meat products (7 chicken, 2 turkey and 1 pork). Forty of the 100 meat products contained multidrug-resistant E. coli (56 of the 82 E. coli characterised). These included E. coli that produced extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs), enzymes that confer resistance to most beta-lactam antibiotics, including penicillins, cephalosporins and the monobactam aztreonam. The authors of the study call for regular assessment of the levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including ExPEC E. coli, in meat products.