Isolations of salmonellas from human, food and environmental sources in the Manchester area: 1976-1980.

A retrospective survey was carried out for isolations of salmonellas from humans, foods and sewer swabs from food-handling premises for the period 1976-80. The predominant serotypes isolated from humans were S. typhimurium, S. hadar, S. virchow and S. agona. Salmonellas were found in less than 1% of cooked pork and poultry products and were not detected in cooked beef or lamb. The isolation rates for cooked offal and cooked open pet foods were 2.1% and 19.7% respectively. Isolation rates for uncooked meats ranged from 5% for beef to 36% for poultry. Most of the uncooked meats were sausages in which the predominant serotypes were S. derby, S. typhimurium, S. heidelberg and S. panama. An attempt was made to investigate the relationship between serotypes isolated from humans and from sausages and sewer swabs. S. typhimurium and S. bredeney were predominant in humans, sausages and sewer swabs whilst S. derby, S. panama and S. give were predominant only in sausages and sewer swabs.