Current Status of <i>Campylobacter</i> Food Poisoning in Japan

Multi-Locus Sequence Typing and Lipooligosaccharide Class Analysis of <i>Campylobacter jejuni</i> HS:19 Isolated in Japan

“…Campylobacter jejuni is a globally widespread and major foodborne enteritis agent in humans and is frequently transmitted from chicken meat, unpasteurized milk, and contaminated water, among others (1). In recent years, food poisoning caused by C. jejuni has been occurring frequently in Japan, especially because of the consumption of raw or insufficiently heated poultry meat (2). In addition, after C. jejuni enteritis, the onset of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) with bilateral flaccid motor paralysis rarely occurs (3).…”

Work-related increases in titer of <i>Campylobacter jejuni</i> antibody among workers at a chicken processing plant in Miyazaki prefecture, Japan, independent of individual ingestion of edible raw chicken meat

“…The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan revised the Poultry Slaughtering Business Control and Poultry Meat Inspection Act in 2014 to introduce the HACCP system to poultry processing plants in a stepwise manner. In line with this amendment, all poultry processing facilities in Japan are required to have introduced the HACCP system by May 2021 [29]. Therefore, based on the HACCP system, it is necessary to provide information to food business operators and workers about food safety practices and hygiene management to reduce the risk of exposure to pathogens.…”

“…Another factor that needs to be considered is consumption of raw and/or undercooked chicken meat or liver. In the southern part of Japan including Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, there is a tradition of eating sliced raw chicken meat (so-called torisashi) or undercooked chicken meat (so-called tataki) seared only at the surface, and epidemiological studies have shown that these are the main foods responsible for campylobacteriosis in Japan [29]. This has led to the hypothesis that Japanese individuals who consume raw and/or undercooked chicken meat may have a specific humoral immune response against Campylobacter.…”

The whole issue

“…Chicken meat is one of the major sources of food poisoning cases because of the frequent presence of Salmonella spp., E. coli and Campylobacter spp. (Kim et al, 2019;Vetchapitak and Misawa, 2019;Dantas et al, 2020;Saad et al, 2020;Shen et al, 2020). For instance, several virulence genes of Salmonella spp.…”