Quantification of Campylobacter contamination on chicken carcasses sold in retail markets in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Background Campylobacter is among the leading causes of foodborne zoonotic disease worldwide, with chicken meat accounting for the majority of human illnesses. This baseline study generates the first quantitative data for Campylobacter contamination in the United Arab Emirates chicken meat. Such data will help inform risk analysis and develop evidence-based food safety management. Methods For a year, chilled whole chicken carcasses (n = 315) belonging to seven different companies were collected from retail supermarkets. According to standard methods, Campylobacter enumeration was achieved by a direct plating in all chicken samples, and isolates were confirmed using multiplex PCR. Results Campylobacter spp. were recovered from 28.6% (90/315) of the samples. Campylobacter enumeration results indicated that 71.4% of the tested samples were contaminated with < 1 log10 CFU (colony-forming units)/g, and 7% were contaminated with ≥3 log10 CFU/g. The mean Campylobacter concentration was 2.70 log10 CFU/g, with a standard deviation of 0.41 log10 CFU/g. Campylobacter counts varied significantly in relation to the sourcing chicken processing companies. Six out of the seven surveyed companies provided Campylobacter positive samples. Moreover, significantly higher (p-value< 0.0001) counts were found to be associated with smaller size chicken carcasses (weighted 600–700 g; compared to the other categories, 800 g and 900–1000 g). Interestingly, C. coli was present in 83% of the positive samples, while C. jejuni was only detected in 6.4% of the samples. Compared with studies from other countries utilizing the same enumeration method, the UAE chicken appears to have a lower prevalence but a higher Campylobacter count per gram of carcasses. Higher Campylobacter counts were significantly associated with smaller carcasses, and C. coli was the dominant species detected in this study’s samples. Conclusion These results add to our understanding of the local, regional and global epidemiology of Campylobacter in chicken meat. Outputs of the current study may aid in developing a risk assessment of Campylobacter in the UAE, a country among the biggest per capita consumption markets for chicken meat worldwide.

Intervention Strategies to Control Campylobacter at Different Stages of the Food Chain

“…Data from surveillance studies in different countries indicated a high prevalence of Campylobacter on raw retail chicken meat. For example, Campylobacter was detected in 28.6%, 36.5%, 41.2% and 52.2%, 59.9% of samples from chicken meat from retail stores in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Canada, respectively [ 187 , 188 , 189 , 190 , 191 ]. It is estimated that a reduction in Campylobacter counts in the neck and breast skin to 10 3 CFU/g reduces the public health risk by 50% [ 192 ].…”

Prevalence and Distribution of Thermotolerant Campylobacter Species in Poultry: A Comprehensive Review with a Focus on the Factors Affecting the Detection and Enumeration of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in Chicken Meat

“…isolated from chicken meat samples. Lately, however, C. coli has been increasingly recovered from chicken samples to such an extent that it is now obvious it many times comprises the dominant species among the identified campylobacters in the meat samples [58][59][60][61][62]. To this end, in studies pertaining to the metropolitan area of Athens, Greece, and its suburbs in the Attica region, Andritsos et al [63] reported isolation rates of 6% and 27% for C. jejuni and C. coli, respectively, during Campylobacter spp.…”