A preliminary study on prevalence of Yersinia enterocolitica in beef, lamb and poultry at retails of Shahrekord

Yersinia enterocolitica is a pathogenic organism that has recently emerged world-wide and its incidence is increasing. Human infection with Y.enterocolitica could cause diarrhea, abdominal pains, appendicitis like syndrome, vomiting, fever and septicemia. The main sources of human illness include pork, beef, milk vegetables, water and wild and domestic animals. This study was carried out on 300 meat samples including 100 beef, 100 lamb and 100 poultry samples at retail of Shahre-kord. The samples were transferred to PBS containing sorbitol. After 21 days of incubation at 40C, samples were cultured on CIN agar supplemented with CIN antibiotics. Putative colonies were confirmed by biochemical tests. Results showed that, 42 (14%) of samples including 4(4%) beef, 4(4%) lamb and 34(34%) poultry samples were contaminated with Y.enterocolitica. According to results of this study, intensive hygienic measures should be considered during slaughtering, storage and distribution of different kinds of meat