The aim of the present study was to determine whether Clostridium difficile was present in uncooked retail ground beef and ground pork products sold in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Using an alcohol treatment protocol and inoculation of cultures on C difficile Moxalactam Norfloxacin (CDMN), toxigenic C difficile was found in 6.3% of 48 meat samples. The C difficile isolates belonged to different pulsotypes, all of which had been previously isolated from the stool of Manitoba patients with C difficile disease. Because cooking of meat will not eradicate C difficile spores, this raises a concern regarding potential foodborne transmissibility of this organism.
The aim of the present study was to determine whether Clostridium difficile was present in uncooked retail ground beef and ground pork products sold in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Using an alcohol treatment protocol and inoculation of cultures on C difficile Moxalactam Norfloxacin (CDMN), toxigenic C difficile was found in 6.3% of 48 meat samples. The C difficile isolates belonged to different pulsotypes, all of which had been previously isolated from the stool of Manitoba patients with C difficile disease. Because cooking of meat will not eradicate C difficile spores, this raises a concern regarding potential foodborne transmissibility of this organism.
La présente étude visait à déterminer si on décelait du Clostridium difficile dans les produits de viande hachée et de porc haché non cuits vendus au détail à Winnipeg, au Manitoba. Au moyen d’un protocole de traitement par l’alcool et d’inoculation de cultures sur la C difficile Moxalactam Norfloxacin (CDMN), les chercheurs ont trouvé du C difficile toxicogénique dans 6,3 % des 48 échantillons de viande. Les isolats de C difficile appartenaient à divers pulsotypes, tous déjà isolés dans les selles de patients manitobains atteints d’une maladie à C difficile. Puisque la cuisson de la viande n’éradique pas les spores C difficile, ce phénomène soulève de l’inquiétude au sujet de la transmissibilité potentielle de cet organisme par voie alimentaire.
Keywords: C difficile; Food-borne disease; Zoonotic disease.