Abstract:
Refrigerated meat is among the most accessible food products for human consumption. Among different types of
meat, poultry and pork are most frequently associated with cases of foodborne illness worldwide, often resulting from
contamination with zoonotic bacteria. This underscores the critical importance of maintaining high levels of biosecurity
throughout the entire production, processing, and marketing chain of poultry and pork meat. Based on the above, the
purpose of this research was focused on establishing the presence and diversity of Enterobacteriaceae bacteria in
refrigerated meat collected from commercial units of Bălți municipality, Republic of Moldova. The research was
carried out on samples of refrigerated poultry and pork meat and for the isolation of bacterial flora, selective and
differential cultural media were used for Gram-negative bacteria. Identification was performed by MALDI-TOF
method. The analysis of bacterial species distribution isolated from poultry and pork refrigerated meat samples revealed
a clear predominance of bacteria belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family (83%), which indicates enteric
contamination, most likely associated with unhygienic handling during slaughtering, a possible deficient processing, or
improper storage conditions. The most commonly isolated microorganism was Escherichia coli (25%), followed by
Proteus mirabilis (18%), Morganella morganii (10%), Hafnia alvei (6%), and Escherichia albertii (5%). The isolation
frequency decreased to 3% for Citrobacter braakii, Klebsiella oxytoca, Moellerella wisconsensis, and Raoultella
ornithinolytica. Other sporadically isolated Enterobacteriaceae were Citrobacter amalonaticus, Enterobacter
hormaechei, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Providencia rustigianii, Serratia liquefaciens, Proteus vulgaris and Escherichia
fergusonii. Regarding non-Enterobacteriaceae species, the most frequent was Aeromonas veronii (11 isolates),
followed by Plesiomonas shigelloides (3%), Acinetobacter hemolyticus (2%) and Acinetobacter baumannii (1%).
Although major enteropathogenic bacteria were not identified, enteric contamination remains a relevant indicator for
food safety, justifying the need for strict hygiene control, modernization of diagnosis, and expansion of monitoring at
the national level
