Distribution and Persistence of in a Heavily Contaminated Poultry Processing Facility.

We studied the colonization and distribution of in a heavily contaminated poultry processing plant over a 1-year period. A total of 180 nonfood contact surfaces, 70 food contact surfaces, 29 personnel, and 40 food samples were analyzed. isolates were subtyped by PCR serotyping, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and multilocus sequence typing. was detected in samples collected at every visit to the plant, and 43.8% (visit 4) to 65.6% (visit 7) of samples were positive, for an overall prevalence of 55.2%. The deboning area had the highest prevalence of positive samples (83.3%), and the processing area had the highest diversity of PFGE types. Ninety percent of the final products were positive for . Most of the isolates belonged to well-known persistent sequence types (ST9 and ST121). This study illustrates a well-established contamination problem in a poultry processing plant associated with a generalized failure of the food safety system as a whole. These findings reflect the potential for contamination when the food safety and quality management system is unsatisfactory, as described in the present study. It is essential to revise food safety and quality management systems to eliminate from food processing facilities, to control the entrance of sporadic sequence types, and to prevent spread within such facilities, especially in those premises with higher prevalence in the environment and final food products.