Detection of pathogenic Escherichia coli in homemade processed pork sold in selected wet markets in Dasmariñas, Cavite

Being one of the most consumed products in the Philippines, meat bashed dishes are a common sight in the table for many Filipinos. Processed meat in particular, takes a huge percentage of consumed meat products due to it’s easy to cook nature and affordability in the market. This study aims to determine and identify the presence of Escherichia coli in processed meat products found in the common place where Filipinos buy their food, in the wet markets. Data was gathered through the three selected wet markets that the researchers determined to be fit in their criteria of accessibility for the people. After homogenization and enrichment of the meat products it was serial dilated and plated in agar dishes. Through the use of colonial characterization and biochemical process, a series of growths amongst the plated samples were observed upon a 48 hr incubation. These growth spurs already showed signs of having e-coli in the colonies due to their morphological features alone, but to assure that it is indeed an e-coli strain, a verification using a VITEK-2 machine was needed to confirm the findings. After the verification, it was then determined that 1 out of 9 homemade processed pork longganisa samples roughly (11.11%) of the study, tested positive for E. coli colonies however, it was not only the typical E. coli strain that was identified, but also a highly pathogenic E.coli strain called E.coli 0157. The other identified bacteria colonies were also pathogenic such as the Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Sphingomonas paucimobilis which is also a nosocomial bacterium. This is an important finding, because not only does it confirm the dangers of the processed meat gathered from the three wet markets, but also provides valuable information in order to alert city officials about the presence of these harmful agents to the society, and thus aid in health promotion. Recommendations to expand the research further by using molecular typing by means of 16S rRNA gene hemology and with detection of possible virulence genes as rfbO157 or other pathogenic E.coli genes such as stx, haea, etc. It is also important to consider various external factors in terms of the meat’s condition before proceeding into the study