Occurrence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella isolated from retail meats in Anhui, China

Salmonella is considered one of the major foodborne pathogens associated with severe infections. Little attempt has been focused on the distribution of Salmonella in retail meats and the analysis of its phenotypic characteristics in Anhui Province. The aim of this study was to characterize the prevalence of Salmonella serovars, antimicrobial susceptibility, antimicrobial resistance genes, and virulence genes in Salmonella recovered from retail meats in Anhui, China. Out of the 120 samples collected from supermarket chains and open‐air markets, 16 samples (13.3%) were positive for Salmonella, of which Salmonella enterica serovars Enteritidis and Typhimurium were the common serotypes. Significant differences in incidence were found between supermarket chains and open‐air markets (p < 0.05). Overall, all 16 isolates were resistant to at least two tested antimicrobials, while 12 isolates showed multiple antimicrobial resistant phenotypes. High resistance was observed for ampicillin (87.5%), doxycycline (75.0%), and tetracycline (62.5%). The sul2 was detected in all isolates, and the aac(6′)‐Ib‐cr (93.8%) and the tetA (81.3%) were predominant in 10 resistance genes conferring five classes of antimicrobials. In addition, the correlation between resistance phenotypes and genes of tetracyclines and aminoglycosides was more than 80%. Interestingly, all the Salmonella isolates contained the genes mogA, mgtC, sopB, and spvB, whereas the siiE was variably represented. The findings in this study showed high prevalence, antimicrobial resistance, and the existence of virulence genes, suggesting that effective measures are required to ensure microbial safety from retail meats.