Interventions effects on Campylobacter populations in poultry and poultry meat

Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli are bacteria that cause are human food-borne infections through out the world. In common with other European countries, campylobacters are the most commonly recorded cause of acute bacterial enteritis in the UK with 57,772 cases of campylobacterosis reported to the Health Protection Agency in 2009. However, due to under-reporting the true incidence be 8-fold higher with estimated costs to the UK economy approaching £600 million per annum. Poultry are a major souce of infection through undercooked meat or cross-contamination of other foods in the kitchen. This proposal seeks to assess if practical interventions can reduce the levels of Campylobacter entering the food chain from poultry sources and thereby the incidence of human disease. The project will sample all stages of broiler chicken production from farm to retail in order to record the levels of contamination and the types of Campylobacter present. Comprehensive sampling will yield high quality data that will show if the total numbers or types of Campylobacter change through production, and will be used for the construction of predictive mathematical models to assess the effects of implementing multiple interventions, and how useful these might be in reducing human exposure to the bacteria.

This proposal seeks to assess the efficacy of practical interventions aimed to reduce the levels of Campylobacter entering the food chain from poultry and thereby the incidence of human Campylobacterosis. The efficacy of the interventions will be assessed against empirical determinations of the incidence of chicken colonization and carcass contamination in commercial poultry production and include an assessment of the diversity of the Campylobacter populations present. Strain diversity will be addressed using a combination of molecular and traditional culture methods from chickens present on farm pre and post thinning, upon transport and slaughter, through processing and on the final carcasses as they are scheduled for retail distribution. These data will be used to construct epidemiological models to estimate the impact of interventions on Campylobacter population levels and diversity. This will be achieved through collaboration with the UK poultry industry scheduling a series of on-farm interventions to be implemented with parallel operational changes in processing.

The current proposal is in response to the BBSRC, Defra and FSA research call in support of policy makers and industry to achieve a reduction in the levels of Campylobacter entering the food chain and thereby the incidence of foodborne Campylobacter entritis in the UK population. Campylobacters are the most commonly recorded cause of acute bacterial enteritis in the UK with an estimated cost approaching £600 million per annum to the economy. Poultry are a major souce of infection and this proposal represents a collaboration with industry to objectively assess the efficacy of practical interventions aimed to reduce the levels of Campylobacter in broiler chickens and on chicken meat. Potential Beneficiaries 1. If the interventions prove to be successful and economically viable then the public will benefit in the longer term through reduced morbidity, general improved health and no loss of earnings through illness. 2. Policymakers will benefit on completion of the project by gaining an understanding of the incidence and levels of Campylobacter in the context of commercial poultry production and the limitations of interventions permissible under current legislation. 3. The industrial collaborator will benefit during the course of the project and on completion by: A. having a comprehensive view of how campylobacters contaminate poultry and survive their processing lines to contaminate retail ready produce, which will allow greater precision in the implementation of their HACCP plans; B. having direct information on the impact of their investments to reduce Campylobacter. 4. The wider poultry industry will benefit on completion of the project through the provision of mathematical models for farm and post-harvest process interventions that will predict their effects on Campylobacter contamination of finished product. 5. The food industry in general will benefit in the long term through increased consumer confidence if the levels of foodborne illness decline.