Isolation of vancomycin resistant Enterococcus faecium from food

In a survey of vancomycin resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREF) in Danish meat products, VREF could be detected in 16% of 160 samples of broilers collected at slaughterhouses and in 15% of 26 samples of pork collected from the retail trade. VREF were isolated by enrichment for 24 h in nutrient broth supplemented with vancomycin (50 mu g/ml) prior to plating on Slanetz and Bartley agar. Using direct plating on Slanetz and Bartley agar, VREF could be isolated from only 1.7% of 540 samples of broilers from slaughterhouses and 2.2% of 90 samples of broilers from retail outlets. VREF was not detected in 124 samples of pork and 128 samples of beef from retail outlets by the direct plating method. An additional enrichment step in nutrient broth supplemented with vancomycin enhanced the detection rate of VREF by approximately three times compared to the direct plating method when investigating the same 160 samples of broilers by the two methods. The implications and public health aspects of VREF in food is discussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.