Risk assessment of Vibrio parahaemolyticus from food contact surfaces in seafood pre-processing plants: A potential threat to value-added processed seafood in India

Abstract

Vibrio parahaemolyticus, autochthonous to marine and estuarine environment, is responsible for foodborne outbreaks associated with seafood. In the present study, a total of 52 V. parahaemolyticus strains isolated from various food contact surfaces in seafood pre-processing units located in Cochin were screened for antimicrobial resistance, virulence and biofilm forming capability as part of risk assessment. Multidrug resistance (MDR) was detected in 94.23% of the strains with higher resistance to ampicillin and colistin. Virulence related trh and tdh genes were present in 30.76% and 3.84% of the isolates, respectively. Among the T3SS genes, T3SS1 and T3SS2β were present in 75% and 23.07% of the isolates and none of them harboured T3SS2α genes. Among the strains, 86.54% of them were biofilm producers. V. parahaemolyticus showed significantly (p<0.05) moderate positive correlations (0.4V. parahaemolyticus strains with virulence potential on food contact surfaces, thereby emphasizes the need for continuous monitoring of foodborne pathogens and for improving seafood safety in food processing facilities and retail environments.