Correlation between <i>Campylobacter</i> Counts in Cecal Contents of Broilers and Those in Chicken Meat

Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) and Campylobacter coli (C. coli) can colonize the gastrointestinal tracts of broilers, and poultry meat is contaminated with these organisms during slaughter in poultry processing plants. We investigated the relationship between Campylobacter counts in cecal contents of broilers and those in chicken meat at eight chicken processing plants. Ceca and their breast products derived from broilers from 51 flocks were collected. Campylobacter were isolated from cecal contents of 40 (78.4%) flocks. The average number of Campylobacter in the ceca of the Campylobacter-positive flocks was 7.6 1og₁₀ CFU/g. Of 51 chicken breast products, 35 (68.6%) were contaminated with Campylobacter and the average number of Campylobacter was 1.7 1og₁₀ CFU/g. All the Campylobacter-positive products were derived from Campylobacter-positive flocks. The results of this study indicate that there is a weak positive correlation (R=0.37) between the number of Campylobacter in the ceca of broiler flocks and the number of Campylobacter in chicken meat. Of the 14 products with C. jejuni/C. coli counts of 2.0 log₁₀ CFU/g or more, nine (64.2%) were from groups with high Campylobacter (≥ 8.4 log₁₀ CFU/g) in the ceca. The Campylobacter prevalence of products from chicken flocks with C. jejuni/C. coli counts of 6.2 log₁₀ CFU/g or less in the cecal contents have a C. jejuni/C coli contamination rate of 50% (3/6) with a maximum Campylobacter count of 1.4 log₁₀ CFU/g.