Investigations of two chicken processing plants in The Netherlands have shown that large contamination with Campylobacter jejuni can exist on birds, equipment, hands of processing-line workers and in air samples from the processing facility. This contamination appeared only to be of intestinal origin. Intestinal contents of birds to be processed contained up to 107 C. jejuni per gram. Contamination of birds was reduced during scalding at 58°C, but this reduction was not always observed at 51.8°C. The number of C. jejuni on carcasses increased during defeathering and evisceration. Large numbers of C. jejuni were washed off the carcasses when a spinchiller was used. When air-cooling was employed, C. jejuni in some instances died off, probably due to drying. End-products from these chicken processing plants contained C. jejuni in 50% of carcasses and 75% of livers.
Experiments were done to assess the survival of Campylobacter jejuni during different stages of poultry processing and pig slaughtering. Natural sources of Campylobacter contamination, i.e., spinchiller water, chicken intestinal contents and pig feces, were used for this purpose. C. jejuni in chicken intestinal contents had D-values ranging from 0.18 to 0.39 min at 60°C to 1.96 to 10.82 min at 52°C. Experiments with surfaces of pig carcasses contaminated with pig feces and held in the cooling room of a pig slaughterhouse showed an overnight reduction of Campylobacter until below the detection level. Further experiments in the laboratory showed that this reduction was due to drying of the skin surface. C. jejuni was very sensitive to drying. When contaminated spinchiller water was spread on tiles of different materials (aluminium, stainless steel, Formica and ceramic), the organism survived as long as a moistened surface could be observed. They could not be isolated once surfaces were visually dry. Freezing affected C. jejuni only during the first few hours; after an initial drop of number, Campylobacter could survive on chicken carcasses and chicken livers at −20°C for more than 64 and 84 d, respectively.
Fifty-four Rotterdam patients in which a primary infection with Campylobacter jejuni had been detected (index patients) were compared with 54 control subjects with regard to the consumption and preparation of foods 7 days before onset of illness and the keeping of pet animals. Significantly more index patients than controls had eaten chicken meat (47 v. 29; P = 0.0002), particularly at barbecues (14 v. 2; P = 0.0015). Marginally more index patients had eaten pork (47 v. 39; P = 0.048) or inadequately heated meat (13 v. 8), though in the last case numbers were too small to be statistically significant. The consumption of beef or mutton and outdoor eating (other than at barbecues) were essentially the same in both groups. There was no significant association with the keeping of pet animals, although a few more index patients had cage birds than controls (18 v. 12). Twenty-one (15%) of 136 household contacts of index patients also suffered from diarrhoea during the same period. Circumstantial evidence pointed to a common source of infection with the index patient in 13 instances (nine households) and probable intrafamilial spread of infection in six instances. Campylobacters were isolated from one of 110 swabs of kitchen work surfaces and eight of 107 swabs taken from lavatory bowls in index households.
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