Food Protection Trends - January/February 2015 - 54

resistant to all the antibiotics tested, except trimethoprimsulphamethoxasole, which is in agreement with the report
of Qureshi et al. (27). However, a contrary observation
was reported by Rostoff et al. (30) in a patient who died
of pacemaker endocarditis caused by Stenotrophomonas
maltophilia. The source of the isolates may be the reason for
the difference in observations. The resistance of the organism
to β-lactams, aminoglycosides, and ciprofloxacin is in
accordance with the observations of Micozzi et al. (24), who
reported a hematology patient with S. maltophilia bacteremia.
The antibiotic resistance exhibited by the coliform isolates
in this study poses a serious public health threat, as these
findings could lead to complications in the treatment of
clinical infections caused by the organisms.
CONCLUSIONS
The isolation of various genera of Enterobacteriaceae from
both raw and RTE products (polonies) in the present study
suggests a lack of strict hygiene control measures in the food
chain, considering the fact that members of this bacterial
family are commonly found in the environment and in the
intestinal tracts of animals. Although a few of the organisms
isolated are associated with nosocomial infections, many of
them are capable of causing serious and even life-threatening
illnesses. This is compounded by the resistance to multiple
antibiotics expressed by the majority of the isolates, which
poses a serious public health threat. Of particular significance
is the isolation of multidrug-resistant Stenotrophomonas
maltophilia from chicken polony (RTE), the report of which
is the first report on isolation of the organism from food
in the NWP of South Africa. Polonies, which are cooked
sausages that have been finely blended to the consistency of
a fine paste, are prepared by adding ready mixed ingredients
to a specified amount of minced meat. The mixture is later

stuffed in the desired casing, hung for one hour at room
temperature, and then smoked at 60 - 70oC, after which they
are cooled by being dipped in cold water and finally placed
in a refrigerator. The procedure, if effectively carried out,
is expected to rid the product of bacterial contamination,
thus qualifying it as an RTE. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia
sometimes resides as flora on the intact skin and in the nasal
passages of humans and farm animals (1, 30). Thus, its
isolation from polony in the current study suggests product
contamination along the food chain.
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is emerging as an important nosocomial pathogen, particularly in immunocompromised persons. Although infections caused by
S. maltophilia in healthy individuals are uncommon, its
phenotypic display of antibiotic resistance, including new
generation antibiotics, makes it a high risk organism (1,
12). The organism has the potential to transfer antibiotic
resistance genes to other members of the Enterobacteriaceae family, some of which could then cause more serious
infections (3). The results of this study indicate that the
consumption of raw and RTE (usually consumed without
further preparation) poultry products may contribute to the
spread of antibiotic resistant organisms. This finding calls
for establishment of good hygienic practices in the food
production chain and adequate processing of raw products
and RTE foods, by such means as following the guidelines
provided by the Codex Alimentarius commission (9). These
measures may help to curtail the dissemination of antibiotic
resistance genes in the community.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank the management of the North West
University, South Africa for providing the financial and
material resources for this work.

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Food Protection Trends

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