Prevalence, Numbers, and Subtypes of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in Uncooked Retail Meat Samples

Abstract

A national quantitative survey of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in 1,011 uncooked retail meat samples (beef, unweaned veal, chicken, lamb and mutton, and pork) was undertaken from August 2003 to June 2004 to establish baseline proportionality data. The presence, number, and type of Campylobacter present in each sample was assessed. Prevalences of C. jejuni and C. coli were 89.1% in chicken, 9.1% in pork, 6.9% in lamb and mutton, 3.5% in beef, and 10% in unweaned veal. C. jejuni was identified in the majority of positive samples (246 of 259). In chicken samples positive for C. jejuni, 40.2% had counts of <0.3 most probable number (MPN)/g, 50.5% had 0.3 to 10.0 MPN/g, 8.8% had 10.1 to 50.0 MPN/g, and 0.5% had 110 MPN/g. In other meats (49 samples), Campylobacter counts were < or = 0.3 MPN/g, except for one unweaned veal sample at > 10.9 MPN/g. Penner serotyping and SmaI macrorestriction genotyping using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis with 247 isolates revealed 17 Penner serotypes and 56 electrophoresis profiles. Seven Penner serotypes (HS1 complex, 2, 4 complex, 6, 11, 27, and 42) were represented by 10 or more isolates from chicken. When data from both typing methods were combined, 62 sero-genotypes were generated. In a comparison of these sero-genotypes with historical data for isolates from human cases, 71% of the beef isolates, 50% of the lamb and mutton isolates, 50% of the pork isolates, 41% of the chicken isolates, and 25% of the unweaned veal isolates were common to both sources. These results provide baseline proportionality profiles of Campylobacter in these five meats and will facilitate exposure assessment in combination with other information such as consumption data and subsequent quantitative risk assessment.

Effects of feeding finisher pigs with chicory or lupine feed for one week or two weeks before slaughter with respect to levels of Bifidobacteria and Campylobacter

“…are considered to have a natural reservoir in pigs, and an excretion level of up to 5 log 10 CFU/g in faeces at the time of slaughter constitutes a potential contamination source (Weijtens et al, 1993;Boes et al, 2005;Jensen et al, 2006). Pigs are not only a reservoir for this pathogen, as tests show that up to 10% of pork meat samples at the retail level are contaminated with Campylobacter coli or Campylobacter jejuni (Pezzotti et al, 2003;Wong et al, 2007). Although C. coli is often dominant to C. jejuni in pigs, C. jejuni, the major source of human campylobacteriosis, was found in 29% of the 48 organic pigs tested by Jensen et al (2006).…”

“…Moreover, C. coli was identified as a potentially important food-borne pathogen by Tam et al (2003). Wong et al (2007) a Present address: Mørkhøj Bygade 19, 2860 Søborg, Denmark. E-mail: anyj@ food.…”

Molecular Epidemiology of Campylobacter jejuni Isolates from Wild-Bird Fecal Material in Children's Playgrounds

“…Much emphasis has been placed on controlling exposure pathways involving food, particularly poultry (1). This can be justified due to the high carriage rates in poultry (26) and due to evidence that similar strains are present on poultry and in human infections (26).…”

Spatiotemporal Homogeneity of Campylobacter Subtypes from Cattle and Sheep across Northeastern and Southwestern Scotland

“…Meat products of cattle and sheep, by contrast, have generally lower levels of Campylobacter contamination. Prevalence values are 0.5 to 4.9% in surveys of retail beef (11a, 17, 36) and 6.9 to 12.6% in surveys of retail lamb and mutton (17,35).Clinical Campylobacter strains can be attributed to infection sources in animals by comparing subtype frequencies in clinical cases with those in different candidate sources, including cattle, sheep, pigs, and the physical environment. Campylobacter subtype data sets are most transferable when subtypes are defined as sequence type (ST) using multilocus sequence typing (MLST).…”

“…Meat products of cattle and sheep, by contrast, have generally lower levels of Campylobacter contamination. Prevalence values are 0.5 to 4.9% in surveys of retail beef (11a, 17, 36) and 6.9 to 12.6% in surveys of retail lamb and mutton (17,35).…”