Salmonella in imported Brazilian poultry does not cause many diseases in UK consumers, a study shows.
Salmonella types after these serotypes increased in two Brazilian poultry from long-term surveillance data collected in the UK.
Scientists from the University of East Anglia’s Quadram Institute, UK Health Safety Authority (UKHSA), Animal and Plant Health Authority (APHA) UK and the University of Sao Paulo have tracked how changes in chicken farming in Brazil are affecting the poultry industry An overview of the spread of Salmonella.
Brazil produces nearly 14 million tons of chicken annually and is the largest exporter. Previous research has shown the presence of Salmonella in meat imported into the UK and EU. Scientists wondered if the Brazilian Salmonella strain was causing food poisoning in the countries where these products were imported.
Focusing on two Salmonella types
The researchers compared the collected The 183 Salmonella genomes from 2012 to 2018 were the genomes of Brazilian chickens and 357 genomes of humans, poultry and imported Brazilian poultry from the UK. They also studied more than 1,200 genomes of two major Salmonella species found in Brazil. The findings were published in the journal PLOS Genetics.
A survey of Brazilian poultry found dozens of different types of salmonella, with Heidelberg and Minnesota predominant. Of the 318 meat samples sent to the UK, 91% were either Heidelberg or Minnesota, with the majority being the former.
The team looked at the types of Salmonella behind the infection in samples from 15 years ago. About 1 in 200 people are attributable to Heidelberg or Minnesota, some of which may be related to recent foreign travel.
There are no official data on Salmonella infection in Brazil to assess the magnitude of the impact of these serotypes
by comparing the Brazilian Heidelberg and Minnesota genomes with other genomes collected around the world Comparing them, it is clear that they form a distinct subgroup distinct from human cases. A collaboration with the Department of Animal and Plant Health has shown that no Salmonella linked to Brazil has been found in UK chickens.
Role of vaccine and antibiotic use
Introduction of Salmonella vaccine and increase The amount of antibiotics used by Brazilian farmers has led to an increase in strains that are more resistant to antibiotics but less likely to cause human disease.
Intensive farming techniques used in Brazil to produce large quantities of chicken involve the use of antimicrobial agents. Salmonella Heidelberg and Salmonella Minnesota have a combination of genes that are resistant to different classes of antimicrobials: sulfonamides, tetracyclines, and beta-lactams. This could give them a competitive advantage in the Brazilian poultry production environment.
The research team found that two major Salmonella types were developed in Brazil around 2006, years after the introduction of the Salmonella Enteritidis vaccine in Brazil. Despite the increase, these antibiotic-resistant bacteria are causing very few cases of salmonella in the UK and have not spread to domestic chickens.
Alison Mather of the Quadram Institute said they looked at how changes in chicken farming in Brazil affected the status of Salmonella in the poultry sector.
“While this poses no immediate health risk to importing countries such as the UK, the bacteria are resistant to antimicrobials, highlighting the importance of taking a healthy approach that The links between the health of people, animals and the environment can be seen, especially when assessing global food supply chains,” Mather said.
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