Microbial contamination and antibiotic resistance of bacterial isolates from disposable food containers in Hamadan

The widespread application of disposable food containers in Iranian society has been rapidly increased. Scientific evaluation for detecting problems of such containers and their microbial contamination is necessarily inevitable. The aim of this study was to determine the level of contamination in plastic and plant disposable food containers and examining the antibiotic resistances of the isolated bacteria. In this cross-sectional study, 200 samples of disposable plastic and plant type food containers, were randomly collected from the main distributors in Hamadan. Swab cultures were taken from the internal surface of containers. Based on microbiological standard methods, samples were studied. Isolated bacteria were examined by consideration of antibiotic resistance, using antibiotic disks consisting: ampicillin, cloxacillin, clindamycin, ciprofloxacin, cephalexin, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, tetracycline, gentamycin and amoxicillin. To do the statistical analysis, SPSS version 16 was utilized. The data were analyzed using chi-square test. The results showed that 58 (36.3%) plastic containers and 15 (37.5%) plant disposable containers had microbial contamination. The isolated bacteria included Corynebacterium, Bacillus, Micrococcus and coagulase-negative Staphylococci species. All Gram-positive bacteria isolated were resistant (95 to 100%) to cloxacillin. Staphylococci strains had the highest sensitivity (100%) compared to the ampicillin and gentamycin and 75% to the clindamycin. Micrococcus strains demonstrated 100% sensitivity to the ciprofloxacin and gentamycin. Although, the percentage of contamination in plastic and plant disposable containers was approximately similar, Because of less diversity of isolated bacteria in plant disposable containers, These containers are recommended. However, there are concerns about species of coagulase-negative Staphylococci contamination in the containers, which must be considered.