title: Campylobacter contamination of broiler caeca and carcasses at the slaughterhouse and correlation with Salmonella contamination.
abstract: In order to estimate the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. and Salmonella spp. on broiler chicken carcasses and the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in caeca, 58 French slaughterhouses were investigated in 2008. Enumeration of Campylobacter spp. was also performed in order to study the relation between caeca and carcass contamination. A pool of 10 caeca and one carcass were collected from 425 different batches over a 12-month period in 2008. Salmonella was isolated on 32 carcasses leading to a prevalence of 7.5% ([5.0-10.0](95%CI)). The prevalence of Campylobacter was 77.2% ([73.2-81.2](95%CI)) in caeca and 87.5% ([84.4-90.7](95%CI)) on carcasses. No significant correlation was found between Campylobacter and Salmonella. Positive values of Campylobacter were normally distributed and the average level was 8.05 log(10) cfu/g ([7.94-8.16](95%CI)) in caeca and 2.39 cfu/g ([2.30-2.48](95%CI)) on carcasses. A positive correlation (r = 0.59) was found between the mean of Campylobacter in caeca and on carcasses (p < 0.001). Thus, carcasses from batches with Campylobacter-positive caeca had significantly (p < 0.001) higher numbers of Campylobacter per gram than batches with negative caeca. These results show that Campylobacter can be present in both matrices and reduction in caeca could be a possible way to reduce the amount of bacteria on carcasses. Of the 2504 identifications performed, 3 species of Campylobacter (Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter coli and Campylobacter lari) were identified. The main species recovered were C. jejuni and C. coli, which were isolated in 55.3% and 44.5% of positive samples, respectively. These two species were equally represented in caeca but C. jejuni was the most frequently isolated on carcasses with 57.1% and 42.5% of positive carcasses for C. jejuni and C. coli, respectively. This study underlines that target a reduction of Campylobacter on final products requires a decrease of contamination in caeca.
authors.affiliation: Anses, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety, BP53, 22440 Ploufragan, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hue
authors.forename: Virginie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Allain
authors.forename: Marie-José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Laisney
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Le Bouquin
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lalande
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Petetin
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rouxel
authors.forename: Ségolène
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Quesne
authors.forename: Pierre-Yves
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Gloaguen
authors.forename: Mélanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Picherot
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Santolini
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bougeard
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Salvat
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chemaly
mesh_terms: D000003:Abattoirs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000818:Animals; D002167:Campylobacter / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002432:Cecum / Q000382:microbiology*; D002645:Chickens / Q000382:microbiology; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology*; D012475:Salmonella / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*