Abstract:
This cross-sectional study determined the prevalence, characteristics, and risk factors for
contamination of chicken with Salmonella at four operating broiler processing plants in Trinidad.
Standard methods were used to isolate and characterize the Salmonella isolates. The overall prevalence
of Salmonella at the four processing plants was 27.0% (107/396). The whole carcass enrichment (WCE)
method yielded a statistically significantly (p = 0.0014) higher frequency of isolation (53.9%; 97/180)
than the whole carcass rinse (35.0%; 63/180) and neck skin methods (42.2%; 38/90). S. enterica
serotypes Enteritidis, Javiana, and Infantis were the predominant serotypes isolated accounting
for 20.8%, 16.7% and 12.5%, respectively, of the serotyped isolates. Risk factors included the use
of over 100 contract farmers (OR 4.4), pre-chiller (OR 2.3), addition of chlorine to chiller (OR 3.2),
slaughtering sick broilers (OR 4.4), and flocks with >50% mortality. Multi-drug resistance was
detected in 12.3% (14/114) of the isolates of Salmonella. Resistance was high to kanamycin (85.7%)
and doxycycline (74.6%) but low to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (2.4%) and sulphamethoxazoletrimethoprim
(0.8%). The occurrence of resistant Salmonella in chickens processed at commercial
broiler processing plants has implications for salmonellosis and therapeutic failure in consumers of
improperly cooked contaminated chickens from these plants in the country.