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Identification of Salmonella serotypes isolated from cantaloupe and chile pepper production systems in Mexico by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism.

A study was conducted in 2006 to determine the prevalence of Salmonella on three cantaloupe farms in Matamoros, Coahuila, Mexico, and on one farm that cultivates chile peppers var. Bell in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico. Samples from cantaloupe farms consisted of cantaloupe rinses, irrigation water, water from furrows in the field, and workers' hands. Samples from the chile pepper farm consisted of rinses of chile peppers obtained at the field, pepper rinses obtained at the packing house, and irrigation water from the field. A total of 55 samples were obtained from both production systems. Twelve and 10 samples from the cantaloupe and chile pepper production systems, respectively, tested positive for Salmonella according to a traditional culture method. The difference between the proportion of Salmonella-positive samples from the cantaloupe production system (12 of 28 = 0.43) and the chile pepper production system (10 of 27 = 0.37) was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). A PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method based on the fliC gene was used to determine the serotype of the isolates. Salmonella Typhimurium was the only serotype found associated with the cantaloupe production system, whereas both Salmonella Typhimurium and Enteritidis serotypes were found associated with the chile pepper production system. Results showed that 91% (20 of 22) and 9% (2 of 22) of the isolates from both agricultural systems matched with the Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Enteritidis reference strain restriction profiles, respectively. This study demonstrates the utility of the PCR-RFLP technique for determining the serotypes of Salmonella isolates obtained from cantaloupe and chile pepper production systems.