• Cobbold, Rowland
• Duffy, Lesley
• Blackall, Patrick
• Fegan, Narelle

Abstract

Campylobacter is an important food borne pathogen which has mostly been associated with poultry. A lack of through chain quantitative Campylobacter data has been previously highlighted within quantitative risk assessments. The aim of this study was to quantitatively and qualitatively measure both Campylobacter and Escherichia coli contamination of chicken carcases through poultry slaughter. Chickens (n=10) were sampled from each of four Flocks at six sampling sites along the processing chain, caecum, before scald, after scald, before chill, after chill and after packaging. The overall prevalence of Campylobacter after packaging was 82.5% with an average count of 4.40 log10 CFU/carcase.All Flocks had a significant reduction in counts of Campylobacter and E. coli from before scald to after packaging. The processing points of scald and chilling had significant average reductions of both Campylobacter (1.82 and 2.48 log10 CFU/carcase) and E. coli (1.41 and 2.38 log10 CFU/carcase). The counts of E. coli and Campylobacter were significantly correlated throughout processing indicating E. coli may be a useful indicator organism for reductions in Campylobacter levels. The carriage of each species varied between Flocks, with Flocks 1 and 3 dominated by C. coli and Flocks 2 and 4 dominated by C. jejuni. Current industry processing practices can lead to significant reductions in the level of Campylobacter on whole chickens. Further understanding of the effect of interventions on Campylobacter, as applied in the poultry processing chain, may enable more targeted interventions to reduce the level of contamination and hence lead to future public health benefits.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy