Mehmet Emin Erkan

Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Arcobacter species in cow milk, water buffalo milk and fresh village cheese.

In this study, the presence of Arcobacter spp. was examined in cow milk (n=50), water buffalo (WB) milk (n=50) and fresh village cheese (n=50) samples. The 16S rDNA-RFLP method was used for the identification of Arcobacter spp. The disc diffusion method was used to investigate the susceptibility of all strains identified to 18 different antimicrobial substances. The most commonly isolated Arcobacter species were found to be Arcobacter butzleri (38.89%), Arcobacter cryaerophilus (22.23%) and Arcobacter skirrowii (11.12%) in cow milk; A. cryaerophilus (33.33%), Arcobacter cibarius (20.83%) and A. butzleri (12.50%) in WB milk; and A. skirrowii (28.57%), A. butzleri (21.43%) and A. cryaerophilus (14.29%) in fresh village cheese. This is the first study to identify the presence of Arcobacter nitrofigilis, Arcobacter cloacae, Arcobacter halophilus, Arcobacter bivalviorum and A. cibarius species in analyzed samples. It was found that all of the A. cryaerophilus (n:16) isolates were resistant to cefoperazone, cloxacillin and penicillin G; all of the A. skirrowii (n:12) and A. butzleri (n:10) isolates were resistant to cefoperazone, tetracycline, ampicillin, erythromycin, cloxacillin and penicillin G. It was concluded that cow milk, WB milk and fresh village cheese samples are an important source of Arcobacter species and pose a risk to public health.

Prevalence and some virulence genes of Escherichia coli O157 isolated from chicken meats and giblets

Abstract Escherichia coli O157 related foodborne illnesses continue to be one of the most important global public health problems in the world. This study aims to determine E. coli O157 prevalence in 375 chicken meat parts and giblets. The samples were collected randomly from several supermarkets and butchers in Diyarbakir, a city in southeast Turkey. They were analyzed and confirmed using the immunomagnetic separation (IMS), Vitek® 2 microbial identification system and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. This study also aims to detect the presence of fliCH7, eaeA, stx1, stx2 and hlyA genes by using PCR. The overall E. coli O157 prevalence in chicken meat parts and giblets was 1.3%. All of the E. coli O157 isolates carried rfbEO157 and eaeA genes; but not any fliCH7 and hlyA genes. The E. coli O157 isolates obtained from drumstick and breast meat carried either stx1 or stx2 genes, which were related to important virulence factors of the disease.

Physico-chemical and microbiological properties of manna (gezo) samples collected from retailers in south-east of Turkey

Manna (gezo) is a traditional sweet, which is commonly consumed in south-east of Turkey. However, there is a myth about the sweet that it is strongly believed by the people within the region that manna is treated as a magical substance that rains down from the sky and it was thought that it could cure some diseases. In this study, totally 30 manna samples were analyzed. The contamination rate of total mesophilic aerob bacteria, coliform bacteria, Bacillus cereus, mold, yeast, osmophilic yeast and sulfite reducing anaerobe bacteria were found 100, 26.66, 23.33, 23.33, 76.66, 96.66 and 36.66%, respectively. Salmonella spp., Listeria spp., Staphylococcus-Micrococcus and Escherichia coli could not be determined in any of the samples. Mean value of pH and moisture, dry matter, ash, protein, fat and crude cellulose of the manna samples were found 5.86, 3.49, 96.51, 13.77, 0.39, 0.79 and 8.99%, respectively. As a result, important pathogens were not determined in the manna samples. However, some indicator bacteria of hygiene such as coliform were detected. It was concluded that during the production of the manna samples might be contaminated with some microorganisms from different sources and these contaminations caused health risks.