Quantification of campylobacter in swine before, during, and after the slaughter process.
Campylobacter has been implicated as a major cause of foodborne illness worldwide. Pigs can be subclinically infected, and fecal contamination of meat during slaughter is a food safety risk. The objective of this study was to determine the association between the concentration  of Campylobacter pre- and periharvest with postharvest contamination in swine. Samples were collected from 100 individually identified swine during the pre-, peri-, and postharvest periods. For each animal, the following phases were sampled: on farm (fecal sample), in lairage (hide  swab), post-stunning and exsanguination (rectal contents), prechilling (carcass swab), and final product (rib meat) sample. The proportions of samples that were Campylobacter positive were 90, 95, 76, 100, and 49% for fecal, rectal content, hide, carcass, and rib meat samples, respectively.  The mean Campylobacter concentrations for each sample were fecal sample, 1.7 × 10(6) CFU/g; rectal content, 1.2 × 10(7) CFU/g; hide swab, 1.4 CFU/cm(2); carcass swab, 1.7 × 10(3) CFU per half carcass; and rib meat, 18 CFU/g. There  was a positive correlation between Campylobacter concentrations in fecal samples (R = 0.20, P = 0.065) and concentration of Campylobacter on rib meat, and between rectal content sample concentration (R = 0.20, P = 0.068) and the concentration on rib  meat. There was no association between the isolation of Campylobacter on rib meat and the isolation of Campylobacter at any pre- or periharvest stage. This could indicate that the risk of a meat product being contaminated is associated with pigs that shed higher concentrations  of Campylobacter before slaughter.
Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
M J
MJ
Abley
T E
TE
Wittum
S J
SJ
Moeller
H N
HN
Zerby
J A
JA
Funk
D000003:Abattoirs; D000818:Animals; D002167:Campylobacter / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology*; D012007:Rectum / Q000382:microbiology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology; D013552:Swine