Arcobacter is considered an emergent foodborne and waterborne enteropathogen. However, its prevalence in foods of animal origin is only partially known, because most studies have been concentrated on poultry, pork and beef, and methods applied do not allow identification of all currently accepted Arcobacter species.

The group from Reus investigated the prevalence of Arcobacter in 203 food samples – 119 samples of seven different types of meats and 84 samples of four types of shellfish.

Isolates were identified in parallel by using a published multiplex PCR method and a recently described 16S rDNA restriction fragment length polymorphism method that allows all currently accepted Arcobacter species to be characterised.

The global prevalence of Arcobacter was 32 per cent. It was highest in clams (five of five samples, 100 per cent) and chicken (nine of 14 samples, 64.3 per cent) followed by pork (nine of 17 samples, 53.0 per cent), mussels (23 of 56 samples, 41.1 per cent), and duck meat (two of five samples, 40.0 per cent).

Turkey meat and beef had a similar recovery rate (ten of 30 samples, 33.3 per cent; five of 16 samples, 31.3 per cent; respectively), and rabbit meat had the lowest rate (one of 10 samples, 10.0 per cent).

No Arcobacter were found in oysters, frozen shrimps, or sausages.

This food survey is the first in which five of the seven accepted Arcobacter species have been isolated. A. butzleri was the most prevalent species (63.0 per cent of isolates) followed by A. cryaerophilus (26.6 per cent), A. mytili (4.7 per cent), A. skirrowii (3.1 per cent), and A. nitrofigilis (3.1 per cent). Three (4.7 per cent) of the isolates were classified as belonging to three potentially new phylogenetic lines.

The results indicated that Arcobacter species are widely distributed in the food products studied.

Reference

Collado, L., J. Guarro and M.J. Figueras. 2009. Prevalence of Arcobacter in meat and shellfish. Journal of Food Protection, 72 (5), 1102-1106.