Abstract
Background: Foodborne diseases are one of the fundamental problems in the world. Salmonella
is one of the most important foodborne bacteria, which is responsible for the prevalence of
foodborne diseases in humans.
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of Salmonella in distributed
chicken meat in Mahabad city, Iran.
Materials and Methods: In this study, 100 samples of chicken meat were selected from Mahabad
city and investigated for the presence of Salmonella. Each sample was cultured in selenite
cystine medium and incubated at 37°C for 24 hours. Then the obtained colonies were cultured
in MacConkey agar and Salmonella-Shigella agar. Finally, biochemical and antibiogram tests
were performed on isolated Salmonella samples.
Results: Totally, 7 chicken samples (7%) were found to be contaminated with Salmonella. All
of the isolated Salmonella samples were identified as Salmonella enteritidis. All of S. enteritidis
isolates (100%) showed the highest resistance to erythromycin and ampicillin antibiotics. All of
the tested isolates (100%) showed sensitivity to gentamicin.
Conclusion: Our study showed high prevalence of Salmonella in distributed chicken meat in
Mahabad city. Therefore, the improvement of health conditions in food preparation centers is
highly recommended.