Antimicrobial Resistance and Genetic Diversity of Serotypes Recovered from Edible Pork Offal from Korea

Although edible offal can be easily contaminated with foodborne bacteria and regarded as important transfers of antimicrobial resistance to humans, the characterization of bacteria from edible offal have not been researched sufficiently. This study is the first to focus on the molecular characterization of isolated from edible pork offal. From a total of 52 isolates from edible pork offal, 44 (80.7%) were resistant to at least one antimicrobial agent and 24 (46.2%) exhibited multidrug resistance (MDR). All MDR were also resistant to β-lactams and 12 (50.0%) of the isolates were positive for . Eleven (68.8%) of the 16 gentamicin-resistant isolates harbored the gene. Among 18 tetracycline-resistant isolates, and genes were found in 9 (50.0%) and 3 (16.7%) isolates, respectively. The gene was identified in 9 (81.8%) of 11 trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole-resistant isolates, and the gene was identified in only 2 (18.1%) among 11 chloramphenicol-resistant isolates. Eighteen (75.0%) of the 24 MDR were identified as containing class 1 integrons, within which (55.6%) was the most prevalent resistance gene cassettes. Twenty-one (87.5%) of the MDR isolates were also found to have the plasmid replicons. Replicon B/O (41.7%) was the most prevalent replicon types. These results suggest that edible pork offal can become a reservoir that not only harbors MDR but also contributes to their dissemination through cross-contamination processes.