Mutton, chicken have Escherichia coli too

Bacteria were also found in the mutton and chicken meat samples collected from various parts of the city. The bacterial load was higher in chicken and mutton than shrimp and fish meat. The resistance of E. coli in the mutton sample was higher than the remaining samples. Chicken stood next followed by fresh water fish and shrimp.

The study, Escherichia coli — occurrence in the meat of shrimp, fish, chicken and mutton and its antibiotic resistance, by the researchers of the Department of Marine Living Resources was published in an international journal the European Journal of Experimental Biology recently.

The MPN values of mutton and chicken have been found to be high when compared to freshwater fish, shrimp, and marine fish. The values of freshwater fish and shrimp are found to be between those of other meat foods.

Marine fish can be considered to be much safer for consumption than the other meat foods in view of low MPN values. The antibiotic sensitivity of E. coli has shown resistance to a wide range of antibiotics and at the same time, it has also shown intermediate resistance and sensitivity to certain antibiotics.

As far resistance of E. coli is concerned chicken stands in the second position followed by fresh water fish and shrimp. The E. coli isolated from the mutton sample has shown high antibiotic resistance. In shrimp E. coli showed 100pc resistance towards penicillin and tetracycline; 50pc resistance to gentamicin, nitrofurantoin, and ampicillin and was sensitive to the remaining antibiotics.

The percentage of antibiotic resistance of E. coli in freshwater fish meat was 100 per cent towards penicillin, tetracycline, and ampicillin; 50 per cent resistance to nitrofurantoin and was sensitive to the remaining antibiotics.

It was 100pc in marine fish towards penicillin and ampicillin, 50pc resistance towards tetracycline, gentamicin, nitrofurantoin and chloramphenicol and was sensitive to the remaining antibiotics.

InfoGraphics: Shrimp and fish samples were collected from Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour. Chicken and mutton from the slaughter house near Town Kotha Road.

The samples were brought to the lab and analyzed immediately. The total coliforms, fecal coliforms, and E. coli were analyzed by the Most Probable Number (MPN) methods. E. coli was confirmed by Gram staining and biochemical tests.

The MPN values for presumptive total coliforms, was 140+ per gram in all samples studied.

Seafood exports from Vizag had hit an all-time high of 1.15 lakh tonnes valued at Rs 7, 578 crs which is 22 percent of the all India exports of Rs 33,441crs worth in 2014-15.