Fuente: Microorganisms - Revista científica (MDPI) Microorganisms, Vol. 14, Pages 1051: Persistence and Risk Assessment of Biofilm-Forming MDR and XDR Bacteria on Non-Poultry Meat Contact Surfaces in Wah Cantt, Pakistan
Microorganisms doi: 10.3390/microorganisms14051051
Authors:
Lubna Shakoor
Shumaila Naz
Anas Rashid
Muhammad Idrees

Biofilms on meat-contact surfaces pose critical food safety risks. This study investigates the interplay between biofilm architecture, metabolic vigor, and antimicrobial resistance on retail surfaces in Pakistan. Screening 300 isolates from 120 surfaces identified 42 high-risk biofilm formers. Comprehensive phenotypic screening revealed that standard visual assays severely underestimate the viability of environmental strains. Biofilm biomass and metabolic activity correlated positively (Spearman’s ρ = 0.656, p < 0.001). Crucially, Ordinary Least Squares regression established that metabolic vigor, rather than physical biomass, independently predicts resistance severity. Phenotypic profiling revealed a high-risk landscape with 81.8% multidrug-resistant and 18.2% extensively drug-resistant isolates, including resistance to colistin and Linezolid. Alarmingly, 79.5% of critical resistance phenotypes compromised WHO Reserve category antibiotics, escalating to 100% on mincer machines. Ecological analysis demonstrated surface-driven partitioning; porous wood boards fostered diverse Enterobacteriaceae, while mincers selected for uniformly resistant clades. These findings highlight processing machinery as resilient reservoirs for untreatable pathogens, necessitating targeted anti-biofilm measures, such as matrix-degrading enzymes. Bridging a critical knowledge gap, this study is among the earliest integrated ecological analyses combining phylogenetic, metabolic, and resistance profiling in Pakistan’s non-poultry meat sector.