Isolation and identification of pathogenic bacteria from ready-to-eat chicken shawarma in Duhok district

Since many people eat sandwiches as part of the global food culture, examining the microbiological quality and hygienists are crucial steps in determining the risk factors for food-borne illnesses.This study investigated the bacterial contamination in 51 chicken shawarma sandwiches randomly selected from local restaurants in Duhok district.The results showed that E. coli was the predominant bacterial species isolated from the sandwiches (59.40%), thus, it has been suggested to represent the highest source of bacterial contamination in the screened samples.followed by proteus (15.60%),Salmonella (10.90%),Shigella (6.30%), Pseudomonas (4.70%), and Klebsiella (3.10%).The bacterial sensitivity to the antibiotics showed that all tested pathogens were mostly resistant to the results showed that all species have shown the highest rate of resistance was seen in CAZ, CTX, AX, were 100% followed by AM, TE in the same ratio (98.4%) and, CRO, AK, ATM (96.9, 95.3, 93.8%) respectively.The results of this study demonstrated that the bacterial contamination in the tested sandwiches were relatively high and were produced under low hygienic conditions.This was supported by the finding that the increased bacterial count in the sandwiches and the high resistant level to antibiotic have indicated a high-risk factor for acquiring foodborne illnesses.