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Occurrence, Virulence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profiles of Cronobacter spp. from Ready-to-Eat Foods

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Abstract

Cronobacter spp. can cause foodborne diseases in infants, but Cronobacter infections in healthy adults and vulnerable people have also been reported. These bacteria have ubiquitous nature and can contaminate various foods. Therefore, we assessed the presence of Cronobacter spp. in popularly consumed ready-to-eat (RTE) food products. In the present study, 51 (15%) of the 340 RTE food samples were contaminated with Cronobacter spp The highest contamination rates were found in spices (46.7%), meat-free cig koftes (44.4%), desserts (23.3%), cereals (23.1%), doners (12.2%), and ice cream (11.1%). Phenotypic and molecular methods, including 16S rRNA, gluA, rpoB, cgcA genes, and fusA allele sequencing were tested to identify Cronobacter species. Of the 51 contaminated samples, 54 isolates were identified as C. sakazakii (n = 43), C. malonaticus (n = 7), C. muytjensii (n = 3) and C. turicensis (n = 1) using fusA analysis. These isolates were assigned to 15 different fusA alleles, two of which (191 and 192) were new alleles. Putative virulence factors such as the ompA and zpx gene, biofilms, and siderophores were detected in most of the Cronobacter isolates (> 85%). Cronobacter isolates were resistant to cephalothin (85.2%), cefoxitin (33.3%), cefotaxime (14.8%), ampicillin (11.1%), cefepime (5.6%), aztreonam (5.6%), and piperacillin (1.9%). The multidrug resistance (against three or more classes of antimicrobial agents) was 7.4%. The results indicated presence of Cronobacter spp. in RTE foods, which may be a risk to human health. It is important to adopt rigorous hygiene and sanitization practices to ensure the microbiological safety of these foods consuming without any processing.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Stephen J. Forsythe for kindly reviewing the manuscript and providing valuable scientific advice.

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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or nonprofit sectors.

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  1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, Gölköy, 14030, Bolu, Turkey

    Seza Arslan & Hafize Gizem Ertürk

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  1. Seza Arslan
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  2. Hafize Gizem Ertürk
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SA conceived and designed the experiments. SA and HGE performed data acquisition and the laboratory analyses. SA and HGE contributed to interpretation of data and preparation of article draft. SA revised and edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Seza Arslan.

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Arslan, S., Ertürk, H.G. Occurrence, Virulence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profiles of Cronobacter spp. from Ready-to-Eat Foods. Curr Microbiol 78, 3403–3416 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-021-02585-8

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