Identification of Bacterial Pathogens in Organic Food of Animal Origin in Poland

Abstract

The consumption of organic food has increased in recent years. In organic rearing animalsare exposed to outdoor conditions, which may increase their risk of infection from various pathogens.In the present study the occurrence of the most significant foodborne pathogenic bacteria in organicmeat and ready-to-eat organic meat products was assessed. Out of 100 raw organic meat samplestested, 72 were contaminated with bacterial pathogens. The highest percentage of contaminatedsamples was observed in poultry meat (92.5%) followed by pork meat (66.7%). Furthermore, 50.0%of beef origin samples were positive for the bacteria tested. L. monocytogenes was found in 39.0% ofsamples, S. aureus was identified in 37.0%, Campylobacter in 20.0%, Salmonella in 8.0% and ShigatoxinproducingE. coli in 4.0% of raw meat samples. In 31.0% of samples a co-occurrence of two (83.9%) orthree (16.1%) pathogens was observed. Among 100 samples of organic meat products tested, onlyL. monocytogenes was found in 5.0% of samples. The result of the present study indicated that organicfood may be a source of harmful microorganisms that may pose foodborne infections to consumers.