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Abstract

Background

is an important human and animal intestinal pathogen. Because of increasing indications of an association between and food, in 2015, the Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Food Safety, Veterinary Sector and Plant Protection (UVHVVR) included in its national food surveillance.

Aim

We aim to report the results and experience with a nationwide and long-term testing of food for as a part of a regular national food surveillance programme.

Methods

Retail minced meat and meat preparations (beef, pork and poultry) were sampled within a three-year period, 2015 to 2017. Selected raw retail vegetables, leaf salads and root vegetables, and ready-to-eat salads were only sampled during 2016 and 2017. Seafood was only sampled in 2017.

Results

Altogether, 434 samples were tested, with 12 of 336 (3.6%) meat samples and 6 of 98 (6.1%) raw vegetables contaminated with . Twelve of 18 recovered food isolates were toxigenic (toxinotypes 0, III, V, XII). The isolates belonged to 13 different PCR ribotypes, 001 being most common (5 isolates). Several food types with an increased potential of being contaminated with were detected by surveillance.

Conclusion

The three-year testing within the national food surveillance revealed a low proportion of -contaminated food and high genotype variability. Because the risk of infection associated with contaminated food is unknown, no measures were recommended in the case of positive results.

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2020-04-23
2024-04-25
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.16.1900479
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Clostridioides difficile in national food surveillance, Slovenia, 2015 to 2017
<p class="citation"> <span>Citation style for this article:</span> <span class="meta-value authors"> <a href="/search?value1=Valerija+Tkalec&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Tkalec Valerija</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Urska+Jamnikar-Ciglenecki&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Jamnikar-Ciglenecki Urska</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Maja+Rupnik&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Rupnik Maja</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Stanka+Vadnjal&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Vadnjal Stanka</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Katja+Zelenik&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Zelenik Katja</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Majda+Biasizzo&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Biasizzo Majda</a></span>. Clostridioides difficile in national food surveillance, Slovenia, 2015 to 2017. <a href="/content/ecdc">Euro Surveill.</a> 2020;25(16):pii=1900479. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.16.1900479" title="doi link" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.16.1900479</a> <span class="ES_Article_citation"> <span class="generated">Received</span>: 19 Jul 2019;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="generated">Accepted</span>: 06 Nov 2019 </span> </p>
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