Preventive Veterinary Medicine 118 (2015) 2227

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Preventive Veterinary Medicine

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/prevetmed

Microbiological detection of bacteria in animal products

seized in baggage of international air passengers to Brazil
Cristiano Barros de Melo a, , Marcos Eielson Pinheiro de S a,b ,
Valria Mouro Sabino c , Maria de Fatima Boechat-Fernandes c ,
Marco Tlio Santiago d , Fbio Fraga Schwingel d , Cleverson Freitas e ,
Carlos Alberto Magioli f , Sergio Cabral-Pinto g , Concepta McManus a ,
Luiza Seixas a
a
Universidade de Braslia (UnB/FAV/DINO), Campus Darcy Ribeiro, ICC Sul, Asa Norte, Braslia, DF 70910-900, Brazil
b
International Agricultural Surveillance Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (VIGIAGRO/MAPA), Braslia, DF, Brazil
c
National Agricultural Laboratory Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (LANAGRO-MG/MAPA), Pedro Leopoldo, MG,
Brazil
d
International Agricultural Surveillance Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (VIGIAGRO/MAPA) UVAGRO AIB-PJK
(BSB), Braslia, DF, Brazil
e
International Agricultural Surveillance Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (VIGIAGRO/MAPA) SVA/Guarulhos
Airport (GRU), So Paulo, SP, Brazil
f
International Agricultural Surveillance Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (VIGIAGRO/MAPA) SVA/Galeo Airport
(GIG), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
g
International Agricultural Surveillance Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (VIGIAGRO/MAPA) UVAGRO/Conns
International Airport (CNF), Belo Horizonte-Conns, Brazil

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Airline travel favours the transmission of diseases, given the short time it takes to travel long
Received 16 April 2014 distances. In this study, animal products without health certicates seized in international
Received in revised form air passengers baggage at Guarulhos (GRU) and Galeo (GIG) airports in Brazil underwent a
11 November 2014
microbiological evaluation. Analyses (1610) were carried out on 322 seizures to test for the
Accepted 11 November 2014
presence of total and thermotolerant coliforms, as well as Staphylococcus aureus counts and
the presence of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella. Most seizures analysed showed col-
Keywords:
iform contamination and coliforms were present above acceptable limits in 83.4% (40/48)
Baggage
of the products that had some type of contamination. The second most prevalent microor-
Illegal food
Passenger ganism found was L. monocytogenes in 22.9% (11/48) and S. aureus was cultivated in 14.58%
Prevention (7/48) of seizures. Among the items seized in the present work, Salmonella was found in one
Public health seizure of pig sausage. Contamination of animal products with microbiological pathogens
of importance to public health and indicators of the bad quality of the food were shown in
the present study.
2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

1. Introduction

Infections caused by bacteria in humans are often dan-

gerous and may be occasionally lethal. Salmonella are
enteric microorganisms and clinical symptoms may vary
Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 61 81294626; fax: +55 61 32736593. from asymptomatic carriage to life-threatening systemic
E-mail address: cristianomelo@unb.br (C.B. de Melo). infections (Elad, 2013). Among the food-borne illness,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2014.11.011
0167-5877/ 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
 C.B. de Melo et al. / Preventive Veterinary Medicine 118 (2015) 2227
salmonellosis is the most prevalent worldwide (Funk et al.,
2005).
Listeria monocytogenes can cause sporadic meningitis
in humans, before being recognised as an opportunistic,
food-borne pathogen of human, cattle and wild animals.
Listeriosis can constitute a life-threatening disease in the
elderly and in immunocompromised patients; in pregnant
women, can cause still-birth or frequently lethal neona-
tal infections (Cossart and Lebreton, 2014). Escherichia
coli can cause diarrhoea, urinary tract infections, respira-
tory illness and pneumonia, as well as other symptoms in
humans, while Staphylococus aureus are important bacte-
ria that cause infections in a wide range of conditions in
humans and animals, from mild skin infections to life-
threatening bacteremia, economic losses in both terms of
animal and human health (Leonard and Markey, 2008;
Williams et al., 2013). Over time, the transport and dissem-
ination of pathogenic bacteria in food has caused health
problems over the world (Yilmaz et al., 2009; CDC, 2014).
Animal products in baggage introduced illegally do not
follow any specic sanitary standard, thereby creating a
risk to public health. Air travel can lead to a quick global
dissemination of bacteria and airports are currently areas
of high ow of individuals coming from various parts of
the world, where diseases may be introduced and dissem-
inated (Wilder-Smith et al., 2003; Hartnett et al., 2007;
Schneider, 2011).
The International Airport of So Paulo (Guarulhos GRU
Airport) is the busiest airport in Brazil, and it also has
the second highest number of international ights in the
Southern Hemisphere, behind Sydney International Air-
port. In terms of cargo, it is the largest in Latin America
and 66th in the world. The International Airport of Rio de
Janeiro (Galeo Airport GIG) is the second busiest in Brazil
for international passenger ights. It is the main gateway to
Brazil, considering that about 40% of foreign tourists choose
Rio de Janeiro city as their destination (Infraero, 2014).
Brazil will also be the host of upcoming major sport-
ing events, such as the Olympics and Paralympics in 2016,
which will increase passenger movement, as well as the
risk of introduction of strains of infectious agents through
airports. Therefore, strategic measures need to be taken to
restrict the entrance of infectious agents into the country
in baggage of international air passengers.
Brazilian authorities work to study and expand veteri-
nary surveillance in international airports to evaluate the
introduction of agents that may compromise public health.
The objective of this study was to analyse microbiologi-
cally seizures of animal products in air passenger baggage
on international ights, for faecal coliforms and S aureus
(as indicators of the degree of safety of the products) and,
L. monocytogenes and Salmonella under the perspective of
public health.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Products seized at airports and transport to the
laboratory
Animal products without health certicates in inter-
national air passenger baggage were seized at Guarulhos
23
(GRU) and Galeo (GIG) Airports in Brazil. The minimum
sample size was calculated according Thruseld (2004), in
accordance with a condence level of 95%, desired absolute
precision of 5% and an observed prevalence of 10%. Previous
studies on observed prevalence in animal products showed
an observed prevalence of approximately 10% (range of
9.111.9%) based on studies by Jonnalagadda and Bhat
(2004) Salmonella spp. in 11% shrimp samples in India;
Busani et al. (2005) Salmonella and Listeria was detected
in 10.3% in raw pork in Italy; de Boer et al. (2009) S. aureus
in 10.6% (cattle beef) and 10.7% in pork; Lee et al. (2009)
E. coli contamination in fresh beef, poultry, and pork result-
ing in an overall isolation rate of 9.1% in Korea, and Di
Pinto et al. (2010) L. monocytogenes in 105/1045 (10%)
ready-to-eat (RTE) foods from supermarkets in Southern
Italy. Therefore, 138 seizures per airport were determined
as the minimum number. Nevertheless, a higher number
was effectively collected (322 items dairy and meat) were
seized in the two airports for laboratory analysis.
The seizures were carried out on twelve occasions from
April 23, 2010 to August 19, 2011 (six missions in each
Airport) to obtain the illegal products in international
air passenger baggage. Together with the International
Agricultural Surveillance of the Ministry of Agriculture,
Livestock and Supply (VIGIAGRO/MAPA), following routine
procedures, baggage was inspected using a non-invasive
scanning equipment. Those with organic products were
intercepted, and those products of animal origin were
seized for the laboratory analyzes. Other products, such
as those of plant origin, that were not of interest for the
present work, were destroyed using the standard protocols
at each airport.
Passengers from 119 international ights of 35 air com-
panies were intercepted by the ofcial service in these two
airports, according to Brazilian standard protocols (Brasil,
2006). After seizure, no packaging was violated to avoid
contamination and all products remained under refrig-
eration until analysis. All seizures were catalogued and
packaged in biosecurity boxes (BVQI Bureau Veritas Certi-
cation, ISO 9001:2008) according to IATA (2010) for air
transport of dangerous cargo, monitored by the project
coordinator and authorised by the Brazilian Ofcial Veteri-
nary Service. These were transported immediately by air to
the National Agricultural Laboratory (LANAGRO-MG/MAPA)
in Minas Gerais, Brazil, to perform bacteriological analyses,
following protocols listed below and with ofcial permis-
sion of the General Coordination of Laboratory Support
(CGAL/MAPA).
2.2. Application of tests in the laboratory
We determined total and thermotolerant coliforms,
S. aureus, L. monocytogenes and Salmonella. These bacte-
ria were chosen because laboratory analyses for these
pathogens were well established in LANAGRO-MG/MAPA
and had undergone accreditation criteria according to
ISO 17025/2005 (INMETRO, 2005). The tests could not
be changed to provide reliable laboratory analyzes for
all products, maintaining sensitivity and specicity. In
LANAGRO-MG/MAPA, a total of 1610 analyzes were
performed on the 322 products to verify the presence of
24 C.B. de Melo et al. / Preventive Veterinary Medicine 118 (2015) 2227
pathogens. The samples were opened only after arrival at
the laboratory to avoid external contamination. Analyses
began immediately after the arrival at the laboratory.
Before opening the sample, asepsis of the packing was
carried out using cotton wool embedded in a disinfecting
solution and 70 GL ethanol. Samples from various points
(surface and interior) of the seized product were cut (using
sterilised tweezers, scissors and scalpels) and weighed
(25 0.2 g), transferred into plastic bags and this pool
homogenised in a stomacher. All microorganism determi-
nations were carried out according to Brasil (2003) ofcial
procedures.
2.3. S. aureus, faecal and thermotolerant coliform counts
S. aureus count was carried out by inoculating desired
dilutions of the samples in Baird-Parker Agar. The composi-
tion of this agar evidences the ability of the microorganism
to grow in the presence of 0.010.05% potassium telluride
in combination with 0.20.5% lithium chlorate and 0.12 to
1.26% glycine. Baird-Parker Agar was supplemented with
egg yolk solution to verify proteolytic and lipolytic activ-
ities of S. aureus through the appearance of a transparent
halo and precipitation around the colony, respectively. S.
aureus ATCC 25923 (ATCC , Manassas, VA, USA) was used
as a positive control, and results were expressed as a power
of 10 (10y colony forming units/gram CFU/g).
We determine total and thermotolerant coliforms count
using a presumptive test based on the inoculation of the
desired dilutions of the samples under neutral crystal Vio-
let Red Bile Agar (VRBA) and subsequent counting was
performed on suspicious colonies. For faecal coliforms,
a conrmatory test was performed and the conrmed
presence of total coliform performed by inoculation of sus-
pected colonies on brilliant green bile broth with 2% lactose
and subsequent incubation at 36 1 C. The conrmation of
the presence of faecal coliforms was performed by inocula-
tion of suspect colonies in EC broth and further incubation
at temperature of 45 0.2 C in a water bath with agitation
and the results were expressed as CFU/g.
2.4. L. monocytogenes detection and the presence of
Salmonella
L. monocytogenes detection was performed by bio-
chemical analyzes in the sample pool verifying catalase
production, observation of the morphological and staining
characteristics, verication of typical growth in semi-
solid media and by testing the inability to reduce nitrate
and checking the positive reactions of methyl red and
Voges-Proskauer. The L. monocytogenes strain ATCC 19112
(ATCC , Manassas, VA, USA) was used as a positive control
and the results were expressed as presence or absence of
L. monocytogenes/25 g.
The presence of Salmonella was tested using a pre-
enrichment step based on incubation at 36 1 C for
1620 h on 25 0.2 g or 25 0.2 mL of the sample (sam-
ple pool) added to 225 mL of buffered saline peptone
water. In a second stage, we cultured this with Rappaport-
Vassiliadis and Tetrathionate Broth. Isolation and selection
were based on the selection of colonies of Salmonella
in two solid media, Brilliant Green Phenol Red Lactose
Sucrose (GLP) and Rambach Agar and subsequent biochem-
ical identication. Finally, the agglutination test, based on
antigen-antibody reaction with the antigen agglutination
against the polyvalent Salmonella O antiserum was per-
formed. As a positive control, the strain S. typhimurium
ATCC 14028 (ATCC , Manassas, Virginia, USA) was used
and results were expressed as presence or absence of
Salmonella spp./25 g.
2.5. Statistical analysis
All analyses were carried out using SAS v.9.2 (Statistical
Analysis System INC, Cary, NC, USA). Total coliform (TC),
thermotolerant coliform count (TCC) and S. aureus counts
were transformed on positive counts using logarithm. An
analysis of variance was carried out using general linear
model (PROC GLIMMIX) to see if levels of bacteria were
higher in dairy or meat, and within dairy to see if there
was a difference between products from sheep or cattle,
as well as region of origin. Salmonella was not analysed as
there was only a single positive sample. L. monocytogenes
was analysed for the presence (1) and the absence (0) in a
chi squared test adjusted for small numbers using Fishers
exact test.
2.6. Ethical aspects and special governmental
authorizations
The present study had its technical and ethical pro-
cedures approved by the Brazilian National Council for
Scientic and Technological Development (CNPq) through
process number 578255/2008-1 and special permits were
obtained from the General Coordination of International
Agricultural Surveillance of the Ministry of Agricul-
ture, Livestock and Supply (VIGIAGRO/MAPA number
294/2010) as well as the Customs (number 00571/2009).
No information that could violate privacy of passengers
was obtained or used in this study. Following standard
procedures, all passengers signed a notice of seizure of
illegal products in their baggage. Also, passengers who had
illegal products seized were released and did not pay any
nes or fee.
3. Results and discussion
Table 1 shows the mean (non-transformed) bacteria
colony forming units and proportion of products posi-
tive for bacteria seized in Brazilian airports. Total coliform
count was associated with the type of product (higher in
meat than dairy), and species of animal (higher in other
products such as duck compared with cattle, sheep and
pigs). The count was also higher in products that origi-
nated in Asia. S. aureus and thermotolerant coliform count
were not seen to be associated with any of these factors.
Although some tendencies were seen, the low number of
samples may have affected this outcome.
Considering that these bacteria are mainly indicator
of the degree of safety of the product and that in Brazil
the acceptable number for S. aureus is lower that 100
(1 102 ) CFU/g or mL and for total and termotolerant
coliform the maximum tolerated number is equal to 100
 C.B. de Melo et al. / Preventive Veterinary Medicine 118 (2015) 2227 25

Table 1
Mean number bacteria colony forming units for positive samples seized in Brazilian airports.

TCC TC S. aureus

Mean N Mean N Mean N

Type
Dairy 115,000 4 5021a 38 145,333 6
Meat 70,986 36 30,000b 10 530 1

Species
Cattle 69,534 29 5782b 33 124,647 7
Others 150,000 2 150,000a 2 0 0
Sheep 86,125 8 0b 8 0 0
Swine 10,000 1 0b 5 0 0

Region
Asia 150,000 3 100,000a 3 0 0
Europe 68,152 29 4318b 34 0 0
NI 4100 1 0b 2 530 1
South America 83,571 7 4889b 9 145,333 6

N number of positive samples; NI not informed. TCC thermotolerant coliform count; TC total coliforms.
Numbers followed by the different letters in the same column differ signicantly by the Chi square test (p < 0.05).

(1 102 ) CFU/g or mL in samples of feedstock, food and feed
(Brasil, 2003), the results of the present study demonstrate
contamination levels far above from the limits established
that by law, mainly for total coliforms count: ham (cat-
tle), meat (duck tongue) and sausage (swine), cheese (cattle
and sheep); thermotolerant coliforms count: meat (duck
tongue) and cheese (cattle and sheep); count of S. aureus:
meat (cattle) and cheese (cattle).
No signicant effects were found for the presence of L.
monocitogenes per region, type of product (dairy or milk)
but was affected by species (P < 0.05) with a greater risk
from products of origin other than cattle (Odds ratio = 6.34,
CI = 1.4827.22) (Table 2). Only one sample was positive
for Salmonella so no statistical analyses were carried out.
Salmonella was cultured from a seizure of swine sausage
(seizure 439) from Italy, which occurred at the Galeo
Airport (GIG) in Rio de Janeiro. According to what is
described in the methodology, the agglutination test, based
on antigen-antibody reaction with the antigen agglutina-
tion against the polyvalent Salmonella O antiserum was
performed. As a positive control, the strain S. typhimurium
ATCC 14028 (ATCC ), Manassas, VA, USA) was used. In fact,
one positive sample represents a serious risk for public
health.
L. monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. have a public
health importance by themselves. In Brazil, the tolerance
for the presence of L. monocytogenes and Salmonella in dairy
and meat products is zero and the research results are
expressed as presence or absence of L. monocytogenes/25 g
and the presence or absence of Salmonella spp./25 g. L.
monocytogenes was detected in meat (cattle), sausage
(swine) and cheese (cattle and sheep). Salmonella was
detected in sausage (swine). The detection of L. monocyto-
genes and Salmonella in the seizures reinforces the danger
that these products may pose to public health.
Several types of animal products were intercepted and
seized in the baggage including dairy (cheese) and several
meat types such as ham, bologna and sausages in general.
The seizures were from cattle, buffalo, goat, chicken, llama,
rabbit, kudu, sheep, pig and unidentied species origins,
when packages were in languages not identied by staff
(such as indigenous dialects). Illegal animal products were
intercepted from 119 international ights of 35 air compa-
nies in these two airports and the focus of the present study
was microbiological analysis. In another study we analysed
and describe the prole of the passengers considered as
offenders (de Melo et al., 2014).
The seizures were from 48 countries (South Africa,
Angola, Egypt, Morocco; Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, United
States, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico; Argentina, Bolivia,
Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela; China, Korea,
India, Japan, Taiwan; Spain, France, Italy, Portugal;
Romania, Turkey; Australia; Germany, Holland, Hungary,
Norway, Poland, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Qatar,
United Arab Emirates, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon,
Turkey; Russia and its borders Lithuania and Ukraine).
In the 10 contaminated meat samples, total coliforms
were present in samples from South Korea, China and
England. Thermotolerant coliforms were found in samples
from China and L. monocytogenes from Spain, Argentina,
England and France. Salmonella was found in a sample from
Italy and it was not possible to identify the origin of S.
aureus.
In the cheese seizures, total coliforms were from Italy,
Bolivia, Portugal (16 seizures), France, Spain, Turkey and
Peru. As for thermotolerant coliforms, these were detected
in samples from Peru, France and Portugal, while S. aureus
was found in samples from Peru and Bolivia. The pres-
ence (in 25 g) of L. monocytogenes was seen in samples
from England and Portugal. Positive S. aureus counts were
observed in dairy/cheese from cattle, while L. monocyto-
genes were present in seizures of both cattle and sheep
products.
No specic country of origin pattern was seen for bacte-
ria distribution, but cheeses from Portugal stood out. In
total, bacteria were detected in cheeses and meat from 11
countries (France, Italy, Bolivia, Spain, England, Portugal,
Turkey, South Korea, Argentina and China). Italian cheeses
had a high total coliform count indicating possible hygiene
problems during manipulation. Swine sausage from Italy
was seen to be contaminated with Salmonella, as the
paper from Busani et al. (2005), who detected Salmonella
26 C.B. de Melo et al. / Preventive Veterinary Medicine 118 (2015) 2227
Table 2
Presence of Listeria monocytogenes in samples of dairy and meat seized in Brazilian airports with Baysean binomial condence intervals.
Type Dairy
Meat
Species Cattlea
Othersa
Sheepb
Swineb
Region Asia
Europe
NI
South America
Names followed by the different letters in the same column differ signicantly by the chi square test (p < 0.05).
enterica and L. monocytogenes contamination in food of
animal origin in Italy. Di Pinto et al. (2010) detected L.
monocytogenes in ready-to-eat food from supermarkets in
Southern Italy. Lee et al. (2009) isolated E. coli from fresh
beef, poultry, and pork in Korea. Our study also found
E. coli in cattle meat (ham) from Korea.
In a study carried out in 2012 and 2013 by Schoder et al.
(2014), 5% (30/600) contamination was seen in conscated
animal products from baggage in Vienna International
Airport (VIE airport) Austria, where Salmonella spp.,
Campylobacter spp., verotoxigenic E. coli and L. monocyto-
genes were isolated. Considering the intense airline trafc
from Africa, Asia, Russia, China and Turkey, the problems
presented in VIE airport are different from those observed
in our case because the seized products mainly originated
from South America (Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay)
or Latin European countries (France, Italy and Portugal).
Nevertheless, products of Chinese origin were similar is
both papers. Difculties in protecting borders and aware-
ness of the population about the health dangers of carrying
products without health certicates remain a major chal-
lenge in both studies.
While dairy products had signicantly (P < 0.05) a higher
proportion of thermotolerant coliforms and S. aureus,
meat had a higher proportion of thermotolerant coliforms,
Salmonella and L. monocytogenes. Within dairy products
there was no signicant difference (P > 0.05) between cat-
tle and sheep for the level of infection. Nevertheless, only
cattle products had thermotolerant coliforms and S. aureus.
There were 40 products contaminated with faecal col-
iforms and coliforms were present in 83.3% (40/48) of the
products that had some type of contamination. The second
most common type of microorganism found in contam-
inated products was L. monocytogenes (11 contaminated
products). The presence of S. aureus was seen in 14.6%
(7/48) of products collected and Salmonella was found in
one seizure of swine sausage.
In relation to the seizures, it is important to note that
79.2% of the products were of dairy origin and 20.8% was
meat from various animal species. In the present study, of
the seizures that were contaminated by L. monocytogenes,
63.6% were dairy products. Recent studies have suggested
cheese can represent a signicant source of L. mono-
cytogenes and potential health risk for listeriosis in Italy
(Lomonaco et al., 2012) and another large study reviewed
the presence of L. monocytogenes in cheese on a worldwide
Absence Presence Proportion (95% condence interval)
31 7 0.184 (0.0930.335)
6 4 0.400 (0.1670.692)
29 4 0.121 (0.0490.274)
2 0 0.000 (0.0000.708)
4 4 0.500 (0.2120.788)
2 3 0.600 (0.2230.882)
3 0 0.000 (0.0000.602)
25 9 0.265 (0.1460.433)
1 1 0.500 (0.0940.906)
8 1 0.111 (0.0250.445)
scale, especially those associated with high value artisanal
production like soft cheeses (Todd and Notermans, 2011).
Three seizures from Peru (two rabbit meat and one
sheep meat) could not be analysed because they were in a
state of putrefaction, which demonstrates that these prod-
ucts are usually transported in inadequate conditions and
without refrigeration on the ight.
The animal products seized were stored in diverse types
of packaging and some had a label indicating that the
product was supposedly industrialised, but this does not
guarantee the safety of the food since we cannot vouch for
the veracity of the packaging and proof of its actual content.
There were various other types of product packaging with-
out any identication of the content or origin. These were
mostly handmade products, being produced and marketed
under inferior hygienic conditions, without refrigeration,
and were often packaged in newspapers and underwear,
probably in an attempt to fool the authorities. Labelling and
packing could not be considered reliable as no international
health certicate was produced and may be falsied. Prod-
uct certication of animal product in international transit
is essential as it proves that the product meets security and
quality requirements agreed internationally (Pastoret and
Chaisemartin, 2011).
There has been growing concern about the importance
of meat products as potential carriers of Salmonella and L.
monocytogenes, especially those that are consumed with-
out any post-processing heat treatment (Dong et al., 2014).
In our study, 20.8% of the seized positive products were
meat. Meat is highly perishable due to its biological char-
acteristics and may be responsible for the transmission of
pathogenic bacteria to man (Zhou et al., 2010).
Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of
intercepting illegal animal products in airports. In Roissy-
Charles de Gaulle Airport, Chaber et al. (2010) estimated the
nature and volume of animal products entering Europe ille-
gally via Paris airport, carried by passengers who boarded
planes in various parts of the African continent. Most of
these passengers had health certicates, which were not
legally valid for the majority of livestock products and espe-
cially for fresh meat.
There is a great need for scientic studies in airports,
mainly in periods preceding major world sporting events.
de Melo et al. (2014) identied associations between
possession of illegal animal products in baggage and
demographic characteristics of the passengers, as well as
 C.B. de Melo et al. / Preventive Veterinary Medicine 118 (2015) 2227
characteristics of their travel plans in the two main Brazil-
ian international airports. The International Agricultural
Surveillance should maintain alert and be improved in
Brazilian airports, considering the increase of passengers
worldwide and that can inadvertently endanger public
health, by attempting to introduce contaminated food of
animal origin.
4. Conclusions
Illegal animal products in baggage of international air
passengers from the two largest airports in Brazil showed
contamination with bacteria that are important to public
health, such as L. monocytogenes and Salmonella. Also, ille-
gal animal products seized in the airports showed S. aureus
and E. coli, important indicators of the degree of safety of
the product.
Conict of interest statement
The authors declare that they have no conict of
interest.
Acknowledgements
Financed by CNPq/MAPA/SDA 64/2008, CNPq/MCT
15/2008 INCT Pecuaria and CAPES Demanda Social
(DS). The authors thank VIGIAGRO/MAPA (General Coor-
dination), VIGIAGRO/MAPA SVA-Guarulhos (GRU), VIGIA-
GRO/MAPA SVA-Galeo (GIG), VIGIAGRO/MAPA Braslia
(AIB-PJK) (BSB) and VIGIAGRO/MAPA Belo Horizonte-
Conns (CNF), LANAGRO-MG/MAPA, CGAL/SDA/MAPA,
Federal Superintendence of Agriculture/MAPA of So Paulo,
Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Distrito Federal; to Cus-
toms and Infraero. We thank Srgio Menicucci and the
staffs of all the Institutions that have helped us run this
project.
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