Molecular Characterization of Microbial Quality of Ready-to-eat Salads using Multi-locus Sequence Typing

Uncertainty persists concerning the role of ready-to-eat (RTE) salad as a bacterial reservoir. The attention paid to food safety by international agencies and regulations has not improved despite technological advancements, RTE salad’s microbiological quality still seems challenging. present study’s objective was detect any microorganism in salads sold supermarkets Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, interpret susceptibility pattern isolated bacteria set antimicrobials. Phenotypic methods biochemical analysis were used identify bacterium from each sample. Antibiograms determined VITEK system 2. Multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) performed for 15 Escherichia coli isolates investigating evolutionary relationship genetic analysis. culture-based technique showed that major species identified samples Aeromonas spp., Acinetobacter E. coli, Roultella ornithinolytica, Citrobacter koseri, Luciferciaadec arboxylata, Klebsiella oxytoca, Aerococcus viridians. Remarkably, spp. highest antibiotic resistance erythromycin, nitrofurantoin co-trimoxazole. ST 1887 most common one traced 3 isolates, when total 12 STs (sequence types) specified isolates. A three clonal complexes (CC); CC-12, CC-14 & CC-23 reported this study. Implementing an accurate, rapid, easy method could be valuable providing higher products. Based on obtained results, dedicated regular monitoring is recommended, hand hygiene should maintained while handling packaging RTE.