Prevalence and Characterization of Salmonella Isolated from Beef in Namibia

Aim: The purpose of this research was to determine the prevalence of Salmonella in raw beef produced from selected commercial abbatoirs in Namibia.

Methodology: A total of 9508 of beef samples from three different types of samples; meat cuts, carcass swabs and meat fluid were collected from the three local abattoirs over a period of two years starting from January 2008 to December 2009. Pre-enrichment for isolation of Salmonella was done in Buffered peptone water followed by enrichment in the Rappaport-Vassiliadis and selenite cystine broth. The isolation of Salmonella was done on Xylose Lysine Desoxycholate and Brilliant Green agar followed by biochemical confirmation and serotyping according to Kauffman-White scheme.

Results: The overall prevalence of Salmonella was 0.85% for beef samples derived from meat cuts, meat fluid and carcass swabs. The prevalence of Salmonella in carcass swabs (2.67%) was significantly different (P= 0.05) from that of meat cuts (0.50%) and meat fluid (0.43%). No significant difference (P = 0.05) on the prevalence of Salmonella existed between the meat cuts and meat fluid. A total of 34 different types of Salmonella serovars were identified with S. Chester being the most frequently isolated serovars (n = 12), followed by S. Reading and S. Bredeney (n = 6) and S. Typhimurium (n = 5).

Conclusions: The prevalence of Salmonella in raw beef found in this survey was lower than those observed in Sub Sahara Africa with S. Chester being the most prevalent serovar.