Significance of the beef, pork and poultry sectors in the occurrence of Clostridium perfringens food poisoning outbreaks in France
Résumé
Clostridium perfringens is a spore-forming, anaerobic, and ubiquitous pathogen responsible for gastrointestinal diseases in humans and animals. C. perfringens strains are classified into seven types (A–G) based on the combination of produced toxins. Types A and F are responsible for C. perfringens foodborne outbreaks (FBO) in France, and the most common implicated foods are meat-based ready meals. Despite very few available studies, the contamination of meat is highly suspected to occur in the slaughtering process through contamination with the intestinal or fecal content of slaughtered animals. With the purpose of assessing the C. perfringens risk in food safety, the ClostAbat project (ANR2021-CE21-0007) aims to provide information on the isolation rate, genetic diversity, and pathogenic potential of C. perfringens strains isolated from French slaughterhouses and to compare them to isolates involved in FBO. Strains were isolated from 8–12 sampling campaigns in three sectors: cattle, pig, and poultry. For each sampling campaign, up to five isolates per sample were collected, and 58–74 samples were collected from various sources, including animals (feces, carcasses, and meat cuts), surfaces, and the air of slaughterhouses and cutting plants. The strains' genetic diversity was first assessed by PCR-M13 molecular typing, and their toxinotype was determined using PCR targeting the 7 genes encoding major toxins [1]. Further analysis involved whole genome sequencing (WGS) on a selection of 288 isolates from all three sectors. The level of genetic relatedness between the isolates and their virulence factors were identified with the application of WGS-based analysis. Out of 410 positive samples, a total of 1724 isolates were obtained. The isolation rates in the cattle, pig, and poultry sectors were as follows: 19.2% (112/584), 25.5% (151/592), and 22% (147/667) respectively. This study confirmed the presence of C. perfringens at different steps of the slaughtering process suggesting cross-contamination occurring at the slaughterhouse stage. Additionally, using genomic source attribution models, the origin of isolates responsible for FBO was determined by comparison with strains from various sources, including slaughterhouses, soil, composts, ponds, and clinical strains. Furthermore, this study also contributed to gain epidemiological data on FBO associated with C. perfringens.
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