AVALIAÇÃO DA CONTAMINAÇÃO POR SALMONELLA SPP. EM OVOS DE GALINHAS CAIPIRAS ORIUNDOS DE UMA COOPERATIVA DO AGRESTE PARAIBANO

Abstract

Salmonella spp. is one of the pathogens most commonly found in food-borne infections in humans. Eggs, egg-containing foods and poultry meat are frequently involved in human salmonellosis outbreaks, posing a challenge to the public health authorities. In order to investigate the frequency of Salmonella spp. in eggs destined for human consumption produced and processed in a cooperative of poultry farmers of the mesoregion of the agreste region of Paraiba, the present study was carried out. A total of 240 eggs from two cooperative producers' properties were analyzed by means of conventional microbiological examinations. The eggs were collected at the headquarters of the cooperative located in the county of São Sebastião de Lagoa de Roça and analyzed at the Laboratory of Preventive Veterinary Medicine of the Center of Agricultural Sciences of the Federal University of Paraíba. The samples were composed of six eggs, with internal contents and shell, broken and homogenized in sterile plastic containers with lid. They were then submitted to a battery of conventional bacteriological tests for the isolation of Salmonella spp. The presence of the microorganism was not detected in the egg samples examined. Frequencies of Salmonella spp. in samples of eggs, ranging from 0.1 (flocks of birds with low frequency of infection) to 10% (flocks with sanitary problems), were described in the literature. In the present study the frequency of Salmonella spp. was zero. Although it is necessary to analyse of a larger number of samples, it seems that the contamination by this bacterium is low in the eggs from the sampled properties. This could possibly be correlated with the low prevalence of Salmonella spp. in the flocks of chickens that were sampled.