Volume: 57 Issue: 2
Year: 2026, Page: 277-284, Doi: https://doi.org/10.51966/jvas.2026.57.2.277-284
Received: Feb. 3, 2026 Accepted: March 25, 2026 Published: June 30, 2026
Enterococcus faecium is an opportunistic pathogen of major public health importance and a recognised indicator of antimicrobial resistance in food production systems. This study investigated the occurrence of E. faecium in pigs, pork, and associated environments of organised slaughterhouses and retail meat outlets in Thrissur district, Kerala, using cultural and molecular approaches. A total of 330 samples were collected from pigs, pork, meat-contact surface swabs, water, and slaughtering personnel hand-wash samples. Isolation was performed using conventional culture methods followed by biochemical characterisation, and molecular confirmation was carried out by multiplex PCR targeting the Enterococcus genus-specific 16SrRNA gene and the E. faecium-specific ddl gene. Phenotypic analysis detected E. faecium in 5.45per cent of samples, while multiplex PCR confirmed 4.84per cent. The highest occurrence was observed on meat-contact surfaces, particularly knife and carcass cutting surface swabs, whereas pigs, pork, water, and hand wash samples showed low or no positivity. Retail outlets exhibited a significantly higher occurrence of E. faecium than organised slaughterhouses by both cultural and molecular methods. These findings indicate that retail meat handling environments act as key points for persistence and dissemination of E. faecium, highlighting the need for improved hygiene and sanitation of food-contact surfaces to reduce food-chain transmission risks.
Keywords: Enterococcus faecium, pork production, retail meat outlets, organised slaughterhouses, meat-contact surfaces, multiplex PCR, food safety, antimicrobial resistance, One Health
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© 2026 Arunima et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Arunima, K.M., Mathew, B., Sunil, B., Vrinda, K.M., Irshad A. & Chithra V. (2026). Occurrence of Enterococcus faecium in pigs and pork from organised slaughterhouse and retail outlets from Thrissur, Kerala. Journal of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, 57(2),277-284 https://doi.org/10.51966/jvas.2026.57.2.277-284