Food Safety Concerns in Pakistan: Monitoring of Antimicrobial-Resistant Bacteria and Residue Contamination in Commercially Available Fish and Poultry Meat Samples
Qamar M.U. Fizza K. Chughtai M.I. Shafique M. Seytkhanova B. Yktiyarov A. Aatika Saleem Z. Mustafa S. Tufail Z. Chaudhry M. Shah T.A. Salamatullah A.M. Bourhia M.
November 2025Mary Ann Liebert Inc.
Foodborne Pathogens and Disease
2025#22Issue 12841 - 855 pp.
Food safety is a critical issue in the 21st century due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing harmful foodborne diseases. This comprehensive study meticulously examined the presence of bacterial isolates, quinolone residue, and antimicrobial resistance genes in samples of broiler and fish meat. Forty samples were collected from various locations in the Faisalabad metropolis. The samples underwent culture on various types of agar, and the Vitek 2 compact system was used to confirm the isolates along with determining the minimum inhibitory concentration of antibiotics. Additionally, polymerase chain reaction was used to identify antimicrobial-resistant genes, and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit was employed to detect quinolone residue in each sample. Out of 40 fish samples, 66 polymicrobials were identified with Escherichia coli being the most prevalent (26.6%), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (16.6%) and Acinetobacter baumannii (15%). Furthermore, 70 polymicrobial were identified in the broiler samples, with 41.6% E. coli and 15% K. pneumoniae. In fish isolates, 14 (21%) qnr gene, 18 (27.2%) blaCTX-M, and 11 (16.6%) blaNDM-1, and in broiler samples, 19 (27.1%) qnr gene, 19 (27.1%) blaTEM and 22 (31.4%) blaCTX-M, and 5 (7.1%) blaNDM-1 were found. Eighteen (45%) broiler and 7 (17.5%) fish samples with more than 100 µg per kg (ppb) for quinolone residues. The study concluded that the increased prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacteria and quinolone residue poses a significant threat to consumer health.
AMR , AR , ARGs , blaCTX-M , blaNDM , Food safety , qnr
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Institute of Microbiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Food Safety Laboratories, Animal Sciences Division, Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB), Faisalabad, Pakistan
Department of Microbiology, Virology, and Immunology, South Kazakhstan Medical Academy, Shymkent, Kazakhstan
Department of Microbiology and Virology, Astana Medical University, Astana, Kazakhstan
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan
Ameer ud Din Medical College/Lahore General Hospital and Post Graduate Medical Institute, Lahore, Pakistan
College of Agriculture Engineering and Food Sciences, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo, China
Department of Food Science & Nutrition, College of Food and Agriculture, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine & Pharmacy, Ibn Zohr University, Laayoune, Morocco
Institute of Microbiology
Food Safety Laboratories
Department of Microbiology
Department of Microbiology and Virology
Department of Pharmacy Practice
Ameer ud Din Medical College/Lahore General Hospital and Post Graduate Medical Institute
College of Agriculture Engineering and Food Sciences
Department of Food Science & Nutrition
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
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