Isolation, Identification and Drug Resistance Profile of salmonella from Apparently Healthy Cattle Slaughtered at Wolaita Sodo Municipality Abattoir, Ethiopia

The muscle (meat) of a healthy animal is sterile. Contamination may be due to infection within the animal or external contamination during slaughter and handling processes. High bacterial load on carcasses may pose potential risk of meat contamination with Foodborne pathogens. A cross-sectional observational study was undertaken in Wolaita Sodo municipal abattoir from November, 2015 to April, 2016 for isolation, identification and drug susceptibility of salmonella from cattle. Methods followed in the Study were ISO 6579: 2002 procedures for Salmonella isolation which included pre-enrichment, Selective enrichment, plating out and confirmatory tests. Accordingly, the overall 16/300 (5.3%) prevalence of Salmonella was revealed at abattoir. A total of 100 healthy slaughtered cattle’s were systematically collected and examined for the presence of Salmonella following the standard techniques and procedures. Out of the total of 300 samples, 16 (5.3%) were positive to Salmonella. Of all isolates, 13 (81.25%) were multiple antimicrobial resistant and highest level of resistance was observed for ampicillin (56.25%), cefoxitin (43.75%), chlorophenicol (37.5), kanamycin (35.5). Keywords:Abattoir, Antimicrobial resistance, Cattle, identification, Isolation, Salmonell