Analyses of prevalence and molecular typing of Salmonella in the goose production chain

This study investigated the prevalence of Salmonella and the molecular typing of all isolates in a goose production chain including hatchery, farm, slaughterhouse, and market. A total of 350 Salmonella isolates was detected from 1,030 samples, and 13 serotypes were recovered. The highest Salmonella contamination frequency was observed at the hatchery, which 51.8% (188/363) of samples were Salmonella positive. S. Potsdam and S. Typhimurium were the 2 most common serotypes. S. Potsdam was most frequently found in the hatchery, while S. Typhimurium was widely distributed in the goose production chain. In general, the antibiotic resistance of Salmonella isolates is low, which isolates from the market is comparatively higher than from other production links indicating a possibility of Salmonella cross-contamination in the market. By the multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis, 7 different ST types were identified. ST2039 was the most common ST type, which was mostly found from S. Potsdam isolates in hatchery indicating that S. Potsdam might have been long existed in hatchery. The pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis of S. Potsdam indicated that S. Potsdam could be transmitted along the production chain. The PFGE analysis of S. Typhimurium showed that PFGE pattern 29 (PF29) was distributed in hatchery, and also in farm and from humans indicating the risk of S. Typhimurium transmitting to humans by the food supply chain. Our study provided the evidence of Salmonella cross-contamination in the slaughterhouse and the retail market of goose production chain, and specific serotypes existed for a long time at a particular production link. The spread of Salmonella along the production chain, might cause harm to humans through cross-contamination. Further studies would be needed to control the Salmonella contamination in hatchery and prevent the transmission of the pathogen during the goose production.