author(s)
C Vijayan, VJ Ajaykumar, A Bhattacharya and V Bhanurekka

abstract
Food borne illnesses have major social and economic impacts. Escherichia coli O157:H7 is one of the bacterial organism cause food borne illness in human beings. This study was conducted to detect the presence of E. coli O157: H7 from beef and chevon sold in Puducherry as per the standard procedure. A total of 115 meat samples (beef – 55 and chevon - 60) were collected from different retail meat shops in and around Puducherry. Out of 115 samples, 16 samples (13.91 per cent) were positive for E. coli O157: H7 by conventional methods. This isolates were further subjected to PCR. Out of 16 isolates 14 (87.5 per cent) isolates were showing presence of stx₂ gene. After the PCR confirmation that 14 isolates were subjected to the antibiogram and biofilm production assay. The antibiotic resistance profiling of the E. coli O157: H7 isolates does not show high resistance. In biofilm production assay by CRA plate method out of 14 isolates, 8 (57.14 per cent) isolates were positive for biofilm production This can be a major concern as microorganisms can be associated with chronic and recurrent human infections. This study clearly indicates the need for proper handling and processing of meat especially beef. It is also important that at household level proper hygienic measures should be taken to avoid cross contamination.