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Prevalence and Antibiogram Profiling Of Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase (ESBL) Producing Escherichia Coli in Raw Vegetables, In Malaysia
* 1 , * 2, 3 , 4, 5 , 4, 5
1  Food Safety and Food Intergrity, Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security, Universiti Putra Malaysia,43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
2  Department of Food Service and Management, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia,43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
3  Food Safety and Food Integrity, Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security, Universiti Putra Malaysia,43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
4  Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia,43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
5  Food Safety and Food Integrity, Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security, Universiti Putra Malaysia,43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Academic Editor: Christopher J. Smith

Abstract:

The widespread of antimicrobial resistance has drawn the public’s attention worldwide. The presence of ESBL E. coli in fresh produce and other food represents a growing problem involving food safety and has become a global food safety issue. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of ESBL producing E. coli in raw vegetables (lettuce and bean sprouts) from hypermarkets and wet markets and to establish the antibiogram of the isolates. In this study, a total of 179 samples (95 samples of lettuce and 84 samples of bean sprouts) were collected from hypermarkets and wet markets. The most-probable-number analysis and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (MPN-mPCR) was used to detect and quantify the ESBL producing E. coli in raw vegetable samples. The prevalence rate of ESBL producing E. coli in lettuce and bean sprouts were 62.11% (59/95) and 64.29% (54/84), respectively, with a microbial load range of <3 to >1100 MPN/g. The predominant ESBL gene detected in this study was blaSHV. A total of 15 isolates of ESBL producing E. coli recovered from the samples were tested with antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) with different antibiotic classes. All isolates were found susceptible to cefepime, piperacillin/tazobactam, and meropenem. A total of nine ESBL producing E. coli strains showed multidrug resistance. In conclusion, the high prevalence rate of ESBL producing E. coli in raw vegetables showed that raw vegetables could act as a potential vehicle to transmit ESBL producing E. coli to the human population.

Keywords: Raw vegetables; ESBL producing E. coli; most probable number-polymerase chain reaction (MPN-PCR); antibiogram
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