Campylobacter contamination of chicken livers at slaughter

Abstract T4

Presenter: Alicia Manzanares Pedrosa (CReSA-IRTA)

Authors: Alicia Manzanares (1), Joanna Szumilas (1), Teresa Ayats (1), Miquel Nofraras (1), Marta Cerd-Cullar (1)

• 1 IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.

Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of human gastroenteritis worldwide. The largest contributors of human campylobacteriosis in developed countries are poultry and poultry products. The current European legislation regulates levels of Campylobacter on the neck skin from broiler carcasses at the slaughterhouse. However, there have been outbreaks of campylobacteriosis attributed to undercooked chicken livers. There is a lack of information on the occurrence of Campylobacter in chicken livers in Spain. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and levels of C. jejuni and C. coli in chicken livers by sampling 56 flocks from two slaughterhouses in Catalonia, northeastern Spain. Three carcasses per flock were collected randomly during the evisceration of the animals, thus analyzing in total 168 liver and ceca samples. Prevalence of Campylobacter from liver surface, inner tissue, and cecal contents were compared by chi-square test for independence. Overall, Campylobacter prevalence was 54,8% in cecal samples, whilst in the liver surface and the internal tissue was 71,4% and 35,1%, respectively. Out of the 92 Campylobacter-positive cecal samples, 45,7% were C. coli-positive, 48,9% were C. jejuni-positive and in the remaining 5,4% of these samples, coinfections with both bacteria were identified. Among the 120 Campylobacter-positive samples of the external surface of the liver, 40,0% were positive to C. coli, 45,8% were positive to C. jejuni and in the remaining 14,2% of these samples, we found coinfections with both bacteria. Finally, out of the 59 Campylobacter-positive samples of internal tissue liver, a 37,3% were C. coli-positive, a 52,5% were C. jejuni-positive, whilst in the remaining 10,2% samples we detected coinfections with both bacteria. However, no relation was found between Campylobacter species (C. jejuni, C. coli) identified and type of the sample (P>0,05). Coinfections were more prevalent in the livers than in the ceca. The data highlights chicken livers as a potential source of human campylobacteriosis, not only due to the Campylobacter prevalence but particularly because of the bacterial load, which was >103 CFU/liver or >103 CFU/g respectively, in 40,1% of the samples of surface liver and in 6,6% of the internal tissue samples. Further research is needed to determine the potential risk of campylobacteriosis due to consumption of chicken livers.

Presenting in Speaking session 3 - Epidemiology and public health