Campylobacter jejuni contamination on broiler carcasses of C. jejuni-negative flocks during processing in a Japanese slaughterhouse

At a slaughterhouse, we determined the Campylobacter jejuni status of each broiler flock coming from different farms by culturing cecal contents of representative birds, and examined the prevalence of C. jejuni on carcasses during processing. Then, C. jejuni isolates from the carcasses were typed with RAPD PCR and compared with those from the cecal contents of a C. jejuni-positive flock. C. jejuni was not isolated from the carcasses of C. jejuni-negative flocks processed before the C. jejuni-positive flock, and C. jejuni was isolated from the carcasses of C. jejuni-negative flocks processed after the C. jejuni-positive flock. RAPD PCR type of the isolates from the carcasses of C. jejuni-negative flocks was the same as those from the cecal contents of the previously processed C. jejuni-positive flock. Our results suggest that the carcasses of the C. jejuni-negative flocks were contaminated with C. jejuni strains originating from the intestines of the previously processed C. jejuni-positive flock.