Prevalence and Characteristics of Campylobacter and Salmonella in Meat Derived from Spent Hens

Abstract

Meat derived from spent hens as well as broilers is destined for human consumption. There are many reports on the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Campylobacter and Salmonella in broiler meat, but few in spent hen meat. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of these genera in spent hen meat collected at chicken processing plants. Campylobacter and Salmonella were isolated from 47 (92.2%) and 18 (35.5%), respectively, of breast meat derived from 51 spent hen flocks. Campylobacter jejuni accounted for 87.5% of Campylobacter isolates. The highest resistant rate in C. jejuni isolates was found for ampicillin (45.3%), followed by tetracycline (14.3%) and ciprofloxacin (14.3%). There was no Campylobacter isolate resistant to erythromycin, which is recommended as a first-choice antimicrobial for humans when Campylobacter enteritis is strongly suspected. Of Salmonella isolates, the first and second most frequent serovars were Salmonella Corvallis (30.4%) and S. Braenderup (21.7%), respectively. Of Salmonella isolates, 30.4% were resistant to streptomycin. There was no Salmonella isolate resistant to ciprofloxacin, which is one of the recommended antimicrobials for humans against Salmonella enteritis. This study shows that one third of spent hen meat is contaminated with Campylobacter or Salmonella, and administration of erythromycin or cefotaxime is an effective option for patients with Campylobacter- or Salmonella- enteritis, respectively, caused by consumption of spent hen meat.