Prevalence of Campylobacter spp. from skin, crop, and intestine of commercial broiler chicken carcasses at processing

This study describes the prevalence of positive Campylobacter cultures from the skin, crop, and intestine of postscald broiler chicken carcasses at processing. Six to 12 carcasses from 22 flocks were sampled. Skin was cultured by direct plating of a cotton swab, whereas crop and intestine were cultured from tissue that was aseptically harvested and stomached in PBS before plating. Cultures were not enriched prior to plating. The methods used in this report are compared to those used by others. In this study, skin samples were 78% positive; crops were 48% positive, and intestines were 94% positive (n = 202). Based on our results, if the intestine was positive for Campylobacter, the odds of finding a positive crop culture was 8.6 times greater, and the odds of finding a positive skin culture was 35 times greater than if the intestinal culture was negative for Campylobacter. These data suggest that the intestine was the most likely organ of those tested to be positive in postscald broiler carcasses from positive flocks. Further, if only one organ can be sampled, intestinal samples are most likely to reflect the prevalence of Campylobacter in a flock.