The Prevalence and Antibiogram of Salmonella and Shigella Isolated from abattoir, Jimma town, South West Ethiopia.

A disease due to Contamination of food by Salmonella and Shigella are among the major challenges worldwide. Evaluation of the existing safety status of foods, including meat and meat products, is a pro-active measure to reduce the possible risk due to associated foodborne pathogens. To this effect, the study was done over a 5-month period between December 2009 and May 2010. In total 180 animal samples composed from cattle, goat, and sheep, meat and feces were analyzed for microbial load determination using conventional culture method. The aerobic mesophilic counts varied from 3.0 to 9.0 log10 CFU/g. Coliforms were encountered in most samples. Enterobacteriacea were present at 2-4 log10 CFU/g in 19 %( 45) meat, and 21% (22) faeces samples. Salmonella species were present in 4.4 % (8.0) of all the samples. Among the samples only Goat faeces sample was not contaminated with Salmonella whereas Shigella was not isolated from any samples. The prevalent Salmonella species were further characterized using API 20E kit. Isolated Salmonella strain was displayed multidrug resistance to several antibiotics including ampicillin, Naldixic Acid, Streptomycin; Tetracycline, and Chloramphenicol. The present study revealed that despite low contamination rate, foodstuffs particularly beef, chevon and mutton parts could be a potential vehicle for foodborne infections and implementation of preventive measures and consumer food safety education efforts are needed.