Can Volatile Organic Compounds be used to detect Campylobacter infection in Poultry Houses?

In the UK, Campylobacter is believed to cause over 100 deaths a year and infects at least 600,000 people, far more than
Salmonella or E. coli. Campylobacter infection of UK poultry is a major public
health issue and chicken is estimated to cause ~80% of human cases. Costing the
NHS £ 36 million, UK Industry £140 million and the UK Government, in sick pay, £60 million, a total cost to UK PLC of over £230m a year. This feasibility project will show that Campylobacter, in poultry faeces, can be detected using air sampling technologies,electronic noses. It is hoped that using this passive monitoring method poultry producers will be able to easily identify Campylobacter positive flocks. This will allow them to segregate these +ve flocks, and at the slaughter house to schedule these flocks behind Campylobacter negative flocks. This will reduce the level of cross contamination from positive to negative flocks in the slaughter house, improving the quality of poultry meat leaving the slaughter house. A reduction of Campylobacter contamination of
chicken carcasses will have an impact upon the levels of food poisoning in the general population. A 25% reduction in the level of Campylobacter contamination of Poultry could save UK PLC as much as £60 million a year!