RASFF– Campylobacter coli (100 <–> 8000 CFU/g) and Campylobacter jejuni (100 <–> 8000 CFU/g) in chilled chicken breasts from France in Denmark
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Category Archives: Campylobacter
RASFF Alerts – Campylobacter – Chicken Breast
RASFF alert – Campylobacter -Chilled Chicken Meat
RASFF -Campylobacter jejuni (between 1700 and 43000 CFU/g) in chilled chicken meat from Poland in Denmark
New Zealand – Campylobacter cases increase in Nelson Marlborough
Officials with Nelson Marlborough Health are reporting an increase in campylobacteriosis cases during the past month. 24 cases have been notified to the Medical Officer of Health in the past four weeks, compared to a range of 6-16 cases in the same period over the previous five years.
A number of known risk factors for campylobacteriosis have been identified in the people affected. These are: drinking raw (unpasteurised) milk or untreated water, and contact with animals and/or nappies (diapers).
A single source cause has yet to be found and investigations are ongoing.
Research – FSA report on Campylobacter, antimicrobial resistance
Campylobacter in poultry and the ongoing battle on antimicrobial resistance were two of the key issues raised in this year’s Food Standards Agency annual report, published this week.
Heather Hancock, FSA chair, said one of the great successes in recent years had been its work in tackling campylobacter and that the agency had invited Professor Sir Charles Godfray to commission a restatement of the evidence base underpinning its understanding.
This is being taken forward by Matthew Goddard, professor of population and evolutionary biology at Lincoln University: “We expect this restatement to be published later this year. We will use it to judge any further measures need to understand or tackle campylobacter risks from food, and it will help set the context for the ways we tackle other threats to public health.”
Jason Feeney, FSA chief executive, added that factors outside the control of the FSA or the industry, such as climatic conditions, could have a significant impact, not fully understood on the prevalence of campylobacter.
But he praised the continuing efforts made by the main retailers and processors – accounting for around 80% of whole fresh UK-produced chickens – in reducing the levels of campylobacter on their chickens, describing it as “not insignificant and are likely to be associated with a reduced risk to consumers.”
The FSA, he added, remain committed to reducing the levels of campylobacter on all UK produced chickens but the focus on the retail survey would move to smaller retailers, independent traders and market stalls supplied by small processors, which go into catering.
Posted in Campylobacter, Uncategorized
Research- Researchers warn against raw milk, cheese after testing dairies
Research recently published by scientists in The Netherlands shows that E. coli and Campylobacter bacteria are so common on goat and sheep dairy farms that pasteurization is necessary to prevent contamination of raw milk and products made with it.The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment and the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority joined forces for the project. The government agencies annually investigate how common pathogens of zoonoses are on different types farms. Cattle, meat pig and laying hen operations have already been examined.
For the recent report, scientists looked at 181 dairy goat farms and 24 dairy sheep farms. Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) and Campylobacter bacteria was found on most of the animals. The pathogens were also found among farmers and their family members.
“STEC appeared on virtually all the farms studied,” according to the research report.
“Campylobacter has been demonstrated in one out of three goat farms (33 percent) and almost all sheep farms (96 percent).”
Listeria was less common. It was found on about 9 percent of the goat farms and 17 percent of the sheep farms. It was not found in farmers and their families. The percentage of farms with Listeria is relevant, the researchers wrote, because “unpasteurized soft cheese is the most important source of Listeria infection in humans.”
Research – Ruminant and chicken: important sources of Campylobacteriosis in France
Campylobacter spp. are regarded as the most common foodborne bacterial zoonosis in Europe, despite potential underestimation due to underreporting of cases. In France, C. jejuni is responsible for nearly 80% of human infections while C. coli accounts for around 15%. The economic burden of campylobacteriosis has been estimated to 2.4 billion euros annually in Europe, with estimates of £50 million in 2008–2009 in the United Kingdom and 82 million euros in the Netherlands in 2011.Pathogen source attribution studies are a useful tool for identifying reservoirs of human infection. Based on Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) data, such studies have identified chicken as a major source of C. jejuni human infection. The use of whole genome sequence-based typing methods offers potential to improve the precision of attribution beyond that which is possible from 7 MLST loci. Using published data and 156 novel C. jejuni genomes sequenced in this study, the researchers performed probabilistic host source attribution of clinical C. jejuni isolates from France using three types of genotype data: comparative genomic fingerprints; MLST genes; 15 host segregating genes previously identified by whole genome sequencing. Consistent with previous studies, chicken was an important source of campylobacteriosis in France (31–63% of clinical isolates assigned). There was also evidence that ruminants are a source (22–55% of clinical isolates assigned), suggesting that further investigation of potential transmission routes from ruminants to human would be useful.
