Salmonella is considered one of the most important foodborne pathogens and is commonly
associated with the consumption of pork and other animal products. Multidrug resistant (MDR)
Salmonella strains are highly adaptive and have been responsible for foodborne disease outbreaks.
We investigated Salmonella prevalence and antimicrobial resistance in pork obtained from open
markets in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. From October 2016 to September 2017, a total of
155 Salmonella isolates were recovered from 324 pork samples in different open markets,
representing 35.5% of the samples tested. All of the Salmonella isolates were characterized using
serotyping, antimicrobial resistance detection, and multilocus ... More
Salmonella is considered one of the most important foodborne pathogens and is commonly
associated with the consumption of pork and other animal products. Multidrug resistant (MDR)
Salmonella strains are highly adaptive and have been responsible for foodborne disease outbreaks.
We investigated Salmonella prevalence and antimicrobial resistance in pork obtained from open
markets in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. From October 2016 to September 2017, a total of
155 Salmonella isolates were recovered from 324 pork samples in different open markets,
representing 35.5% of the samples tested. All of the Salmonella isolates were characterized using
serotyping, antimicrobial resistance detection, and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Thirteen
serotypes were identified among the 155 Salmonella enterica isolates. S. Derby (28.7%) was th
most prevalent serotype, but others, such as S. Enteritidis (18.3%), S. Meleagridis (15.7%), and S.
Typhimurium (13.0%), were also widespread. MLST analysis showed that 14 sequence type (ST) patterns were identified and ST40 occupied an absolute superiority among these isolates. Tests of
susceptibility to 16 antimicrobial agents using a disk diffusion assay showed that 97.4% of the
isolates were resistant to at least one compound, and 66.1% exhibited multidrug resistance, as they
were resistant to at least four antimicrobials. The presence of most of the antimicrobial resistance genes was consistent with the resistance phenotypes. Of the antimicrobial resistance genes
examined in this study, parC, gyrA, aadA1, sul1, floR, and tetA were the most prevalent resistance
genes in the MDR isolates. Our findings show the prevalence of Salmonella in pork in the open
markets of Xuzhou, China. Additionally, many Salmonella isolates were resistant to multiple
antimicrobial agents, which may aid the optimization of hazard analysis in pork sold in open markets.