UK Study Finds Low Presence of Salmonella on Retail Food, but High Genetic Diversity
A survey of non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS)found on retail foods sold in the UK has shown the overall prevalence of Salmonellato be low, although there is great genetic diversity among the Salmonella that was present, which may hinder outbreak investigations and source attribution in the case of foodborne illness outbreaks.
Although the pathogen is a significant cause of foodborne illness, there is limited knowledge on NTS diversity on food and its contribution to human disease. Using whole genome sequencing (WGS), the study aimed to characterize the NTS genomes from retail foods in a particular region of the UK and assess the contribution to human NTS infections.