Prevalence, antibiotic resistance patterns, and biofilm formation ability of recovered from food of animal origin in Egypt.

Background And Aim: The majority of animal-derived food safety studies have focused on foodborne zoonotic agents; however, members of the opportunistic (Ops) family are increasingly implicated in foodborne and public health crises due to their robust evolution of acquiring antimicrobial resistance and biofilms, consequently require thorough characterization, particularly in the Egyptian food sector. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the distribution and prevalence of family members in animal-derived foods, as well as their resistance to important antimicrobials and biofilm-forming potential.

Materials And Methods: A total of 274 beef, rabbit meat, chicken meat, egg, butter, and milk samples were investigated for the presence of . All isolated strains were first recognized using traditional microbiological techniques. Following that, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry was used to validate the identity. The isolated enterobacteria strains were tested on disk diffusion and crystal violet quantitative microtiter plates to determine their antibiotic resistance and capacity to form biofilms.

Results: There have been thirty isolates of from seven different species and four genera. Out of the three food types, had the highest prevalence rate (4.1%). With three species, genera had the second-highest prevalence (3.28%) across five different food categories. In four different food types, the genera had the second-highest distribution and third-highest incidence (2.55%). Almost all isolates, except three , showed prominent levels of resistance, particularly to beta-lactam antibiotics. Except for two and three isolates, all isolates were classified as multidrug-resistant (MDR) orextensively multidrug-resistant (XDR). The multiple antibiotic resistance index (MARI) of the majority of isolates dropped between 0.273 and 0.727. The highest MARI was conferred by , at 0.727. Overall, 83.33% of the isolates had strong biofilm capacity, while only 16.67% exhibited moderate capacity.

Conclusion: The MDR, XDR, and strong biofilm indicators confirmed in 83.33% of the currently tested from animal-derived foods suggest that, if not addressed, there may be rising risks to Egypt's economy and public health.