E-Posters

The emergence of antibiotic-resistant foodborne bacteria calls for concerted efforts to replace the administration of antibiotics with the application of probiotics. Food by nature is biological culture media. It can support the growth of microorganisms that are potential sources of foodborne diseases. The use of Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains constitutes a promising tool due to their ability to produce bacteriocins in addition to lactic acid and other antimicrobial agents, that affect the quality and safety of meat and ready-to-eat (RTE) meat product small peptides produced by LAB are considered a potential resolution to the growing problem of resistance to antibiotics

To assess the bacterial contamination of RTE meat products , determine the antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates, determine invitro antagonistic effect of a probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) against isolates

The samples were collected in sterile stomacher bags, homogenized and serially diluted. The isolation and identification of pathogenic bacteria were done via standard microbiological methods. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were done by disc diffusion method. The results were compared with the inhibitory effect of L. plantarum done by well diffusion and overlay methods.

The total rate of bacterial contamination of collected samples were 72/90 (80%) while the contamination rate from Good Sanitation state (GS) outlets and Poor Sanitation state (PS) outlets were 27/37 (72.9%）and 45/53（84.9%), respectively. The most commonly isolated organism was Escherichia coli (E. coli) (29%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus (21%). L. plantarum showed inhibitory effect against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative isolates. Its activity was maximum against E. coli and least for Klebsiella spp. in both well diffusion and overlay methods.

The presence of pathogenic bacteria in RTE products is of great public health concern, also this study supports the tempting use of the tested L. plantarum and its products as antimicrobial agents against foodborne bacteria.

Fung F, Wang HS, Menon S. Food safety in the 21st century. Biomed. J 2018; 41: 88-95.‏ Ahmad V, Khan MS, Jamal QMS, et al. Antimicrobial potential of bacteriocins: in therapy, agriculture and food preservation. Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents 2017; 49: 1-11.