Isolation and characterisation of Arcobacter butzleri from meat

A survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of Arcobacter in ground chicken, pork, beef and lamb meats. Meat samples were enriched in Arcobacter broth (AB) containing cefoperazone, amphotericin and teicoplanin (CAT) supplement. Samples were screened for the presence of Arcobacter spp. using a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by isolation on blood and selective agar. Arcobacter butzleri was the only species of Arcobacter isolated from 35% of 88 samples of ground meats. A. butzleri was more frequently isolated from poultry (73%) than pork (29%), beef (22%) or lamb (15%) samples. No significant differences were found in the isolation rates and from the different regions sampled. Isolates were characterised by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) using SacII, EagI and SmaI restriction endonucleases. A number of isolates with indistinguishable PFGE fingerprints were found to be epidemiologically related, which may indicate cross-contamination of common types of Arcobacter from different meat species or between meat species. The public health significance of Arcobacter in ground meat needs to be determined.