HN-01950152_Isolation of Enterococcus Spp. from The Hospital Food Samples in Iran

Introduction: In health care settings, ensuring microbiological quality and safety of hospital food is essential for patients with somehow compromised immune systems. Enterococcus species, in particular Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis, are leading agents of nosocomial infections. Enterococci also have been implicated in the spread of food-borne disease. Therefore, this study investigated the presence of Enterococcus spp. isolated from various types of raw and cooked hospital food samples from the university hospitals of the Mashhad city, Iran.Methods: From August 2019 to January 2020, 468 hospital food samples (including cooked rice, vegetable rice, bean rice, grilled fish, roast chicken, chicken barbecue, meat barbecue, celery stew, soup and salad) were obtained from 13 different hospitals and immediately transferred to the laboratory in the cold chain. Briefly, Enterococcus spp. were isolated by using Azide dextrose broth with added 6.5% NaCl for enumeration and Kenner Fecal Agar (KF medium) for detection and selection of colonies.Results: Fifty-five out of 468 (11.75%) hospital food samples contained Enterococcus. Salad (5.55%) and chicken barbecues (1.92%) were the most commonly contaminated specimens. Ready-to-eat food samples had the highest prevalence of Enterococcus. Of the cooked foods, 6.19% were positive for Enterococcus.Conclusions: Presence of enterococci in hospital food samples generally indicates fecal contamination or that the food was produced under poor sanitary conditions. Moreover, the high presence of the Enterococcus among the raw foods tested strongly emphasizes the need for a safer management of catering in the hospital. Thus, education of food handlers and regular inspections is needed.

کلیدواژه ها:

Enterococcus ، Food safety ، Hospital food ، Iran