title: Factors associated with carcass contamination by Campylobacter at slaughterhouse in cecal-carrier broilers.
abstract: A study was conducted in 2009 to identify risk factors of Campylobacter spp. transmission from the digestive tract to the carcasses of standard broilers (slaughter age: 37 day, carcass weight: 1.3 kg on average). Counts of Campylobacter were performed on pools of 10 ceca and 10 neck-skins from 108 Campylobacter ceca-positive batches in three slaughterhouses. Technical and health data also was collected on the broilers: age, size, carcass weight (mean and standard deviation), condemnation rate, mortality rate and nature of treatment during the rearing period. Cecal counts varied from 4.8 to 10.2 log(10) cfu/g. In seventeen batches (15.7%), the skin count was below the detection limit. In the 91 batches with positive neck-skin test results, the counts varied from 2.0 to 5.2 log(10) cfu/g. Standard deviation of carcass weight, condemnation rate, slaughter rate and cecal count were significantly lower and growth rate higher in the 17 batches where neck-skin results were not detected positive. Multivariate analysis showed that batches with higher standard deviation of carcass weight were 5 to 9 fold more at risk of having detectable carcass contamination. Among the 91 positive neck-skin batches, only slaughter rate and cecal counts were found to have a significant but limited effect on the level of neck-skin contamination. As far as body weight homogeneity may be affected by disease, better health control can contribute to a reduction of the contamination of the broiler carcasses in Campylobacter carrier batches.
authors.affiliation: Biologie, épidémiologie et analyse des risques, Nantes, France. xavier.malher@oniris-nantes.fr
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Malher
authors.forename: Matthieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Charnay
authors.forename: Rosine Danguy des
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Déserts
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lehébel
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Belloc
mesh_terms: D000003:Abattoirs; D000818:Animals; D002167:Campylobacter / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002432:Cecum / Q000382:microbiology*; D002645:Chickens / Q000382:microbiology; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D011200:Poultry / Q000382:microbiology*