Incidence of Listeria monocytogenes in poultry and poultry products obtained from Belgian and French abbatoirs

From January 1992 until December 1995 a research survey was conducted to determine the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in raw poultry products obtained from slaughter houses situated in Belgium and France. It was found that L. monocytogenes is associated with poultry products but during four consecutive years contamination of poultry products with L. monocytogenes >1 cfu 100 cm(-2) or 25 g) declined: 32.1% in 1992, 27.2% in 1993, 12.8% in 1994 and 9.2% in 1995. A minority of the samples showed a contamination of >1 cfu cm(-2) or g: 12.9% in 1992, 9.2% in 1993, 3.6% in 1994 and 2.1% in 1995). Boiling hens were identified as a dominant carrier of L. monocytogenes (50% of boiling hen samples were positive for the pathogen and 50% of them crossed the threshold of 1 cfu cm(-2). Carcasses of broiler chickens showed a contamination of 10-15% but the majority of the samples (81.8-84.2%) contained between 1 and 100 bacteria per 100 cm(2). isolation of L. monocytogenes from guinea-fowl or spring chicken was restricted Contamination of poultry parts and processed poultry decreased significantly from 1992 to 1995 (25.8 and 27.2%, respectively to 3 and 5%). If L. monocytogenes was found, mostly chicken legs or chicken wings were implicated but Turkey meat was not. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.