Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella in chicken carcasses at retail in 15 Brazilian cities.

Objective: To describe the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella spp. in frozen chicken carcasses at retail from 15 Brazilian cities.

Methods: A descriptive study of data from the Brazilian National Program for Monitoring the Prevalence of Bacterial Resistance in Chicken (PREBAF) was conducted from September 2004 to July 2006. The program collected chicken carcasses in 15 state capitals of Brazil in the five geographic regions of the country. Standardized methodologies were used to isolate Salmonella-spp. and identify serotypes. The minimal inhibitory concentration method was used to test resistance to 18 antimicrobials.

Results: In 2 679 carcasses examined, the prevalence of Salmonella spp. was 2.7% (range 0.0%-8.9%). São Paulo State produced 50.6% of positive samples. Eighteen serotypes were identified. The most frequently occurring were Salmonella Enteritidis (48.8%), Salmonella Infantis (7.6%), Salmonella Typhimurium (7.2%), and Salmonella Heidelberg (6.4%). All 250 strains tested were resistant to one or more antibiotics, and 133 (53.2%) were multidrug resistant (≥ 3 classes). S. Heidelberg was resistant to ceftriaxone (75.0%) and to ceftiofur(43.8%).

Conclusions: The prevalence of Salmonella spp. found in this study was relatively low. However, there were a high proportion of multidrug-resistant strains, including third-generation cephalosporins used to treat invasive salmonellosis. The results confirm the relevance of the PREBAF program. It is recommended that PREBAF be improved, including a timely data analysis. A review of permitted limits for Salmonella spp. in retail chicken in Brazil is also needed.