Occurrence of Shiga-like toxin-producing Escherichia coli in retail fresh seafood, beef, lamb, pork, and poultry from grocery stores in Seattle, Washington

Abstract

Fresh meat, poultry, and seafood purchased from Seattle area grocery stores were investigated for the presence of Shiga-like toxin-producing Escherichia coli by using DNA probes for Shiga-like toxin (SLT) genes I and II. Of the 294 food samples tested, 17% had colonies with sequence homology to SLT I and/or SLT II genes.