| Summary: | <i>Salmonella</i> is among the most common foodborne pathogens worldwide, and can lead to acute gastroenteritis. Along with poultry, cattle production is recognized as an important source of human infection. <i>Salmonella</i> transmission from cattle to humans can occur through the environment, or through close contact with sick animals or their derived products. This study aimed to investigate the intestinal carriage of <i>Salmonella</i> spp. within French cattle production. A total of 959 cattle intestinal samples, from one of the largest French slaughterhouses, were analyzed. Isolated strains were genotyped by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and a sub-selection was taken by whole genome sequencing (WGS). Twenty-nine samples were positive for <i>Salmonella</i> spp., yielding an estimated prevalence of 3% in cattle production. Eight different <i>Salmonella</i> serotypes were found: Montevideo was the most prevalent (34%), followed by Mbandaka (24%) and Anatum (14%). PFGE genotyping allowed the clustering of <i>Salmonella</i> isolates according to their serotype. Within the clusters, some isolates presented 100% similarity. To investigate potential epidemiological links between them, WGS and core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) were used, revealing identical profiles between isolates originating from different areas and/or different animal breeds. This investigation provides new insights on <i>Salmonella</i> serotype epidemiology in cattle production in France.
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