Carriage, Risk Factors, and Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns of Salmonella Isolates from Raw Beef in Jimma, Southwestern Ethiopia

PURPOSE: Consumption of raw beef infected with multidrug-resistant Salmonella is pertinent to the world public health risk of antimicrobial resistance. Henceforth, this study aimed to investigate the carriage, antimicrobial resistance (AR) patterns, and the revealing risk factors of Salmonella-contaminating beef in abattoirs and butcher shops in Jimma town. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the carriage and AR patterns and to reveal the risk factors of beef contaminated by Salmonella spp. Three hundred and forty-eight swab samples were collected from abattoirs (n=210) and butcher shops (n=138) and the conventional cultural methods were employed for identification of Salmonella. Isolates were subjected to 12 antimicrobials using the Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion method for AR patterns. RESULTS: The occurrence of Salmonella isolates from the abattoir samples was 11.4%, whereas about 6.52% of isolates were recovered from butcher shops. Educational status (abattoir: odds ratio (OR)=8.40, confidence interval (CI)=1.186–59.493; butcher shops: OR=9.17, CI=1.15–73.239), job related training (abattoir: OR=5.50, CI=1.065–28.416), contamination risk perception (abattoir: OR=5.31, CI=1.256–22.489), neatness of knives (abattoir: OR=7.6, CI=0.892–65.376), source of contamination (abattoir: OR=8.44, CI=1.682–42.39), wearing of protective cloth (butcher shops: OR=8.44, CI=1.682–42.39), manner of hand washing (butcher shops: OR=7.25, CI=1.210–43.442), and money handling (butcher shops: OR= 9.69, CI=1.578–59.474) were among the potential risk factors significantly associated with Salmonella carcass contamination in the abattoir and butcher shops. Of the 33 Salmonella isolates, 14 (58.3%) and six (66.7%) of the abattoir and butcher shops isolates, correspondingly, were resistant to two or more antibiotics. CONCLUSION: The finding of this investigation exhibited extensive multidrug-resistant Salmonella isolates in the study setting. Hence, establishing standard meat safety requirements and provision of training for meat handlers and prudent use of antimicrobials are recommended.