Abstract
Chickens contaminated with Campylobacter are a major risk factor for human Campylobacter disease. As a result of the slaughter process, infections should be strictly controlled due to complete exposure of the chickens and the cross-contamination of pathogens. Using @RISK software, quantitative evaluation models of Campylobacter contamination during slaughtering in a large broiler slaughterhouse were constructed. Broiler scalding was set as the starting point of evaluation and four major processes including defeathering, eviscerating, pre-cool rinsing, and splitting-transmission were included. Through the simulation of the constructed model, 90% probability of Campylobacter in 100 g chickens after slaughtering were distributed between 0.3 and 50.2 MPN, which was consistent with simulated actual monitoring data 0–16.6 MPN, indicating that the model shows high credibility. In addition, growth curves of Campylobacter during whole slaughtering showed that contamination significantly increased after defeathering, and increased again after pre-cool rinsing. Using correlation coefficients to analyze the sensitivity of each parameter in the model, it was determined that the concentration of Campylobacter in the pre-cool pond water (correlation coefficient: 0.95) was the most critical risk point of sanitary control in this slaughterhouse. In conclusion, this study is the first to incorporate environmental factors during broiler slaughtering into the risk evaluation of Campylobacter contamination, which provides guidance for the sanitary control and risk management of Campylobacter contamination during broiler slaughtering.
Highlights
The colonization rates of Campylobacter in the intestine, as a symbiotic bacteria in the intestinal tract of broilers, can reach 90%, but broilers show minimal clinical symptoms even when heavily infected [1]
Through quantitative risk assessment models of Campylobacter contamination in slaughter chickens, after defeathering, eviscerating, pre-cool rinsing, and splitting-transmission, 90% of the total Campylobacter contamination in broiler chickens was distributed between 0.4 × 106 and 87.2 × 108 MPN (Figure 1B), with an average of 3.06 × 107 MPN
After fitting the actual monitoring data of the chickens after slaughtering, it was found that the 90% probability distribution of Campylobacter contamination in 100 g of chicken was 0–16.6 MPN (Figure 2B)
Summary
The colonization rates of Campylobacter in the intestine, as a symbiotic bacteria in the intestinal tract of broilers, can reach 90%, but broilers show minimal clinical symptoms even when heavily infected [1]. 55.4% of retail chickens are contaminated by Campylobacter according to the latest surveys by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in 2019 [2]. Consumer Protection and Food Safety Agency (BVL) in 2017 found that 51.8% of retail chickens were contaminated by Campylobacter, and that 78.8% of slaughterhouse chickens are contaminated [3]. The contamination rates of Campylobacter in the chicken produced from large slaughterhouses in Eastern China was as high as 36.7% in 2018 (Monitoring data from our lab). It has been reported that 20–30% of Campylobacter cases are related to consumption of chickens contaminated with Campylobacter [4]. Controlling Campylobacter during broiler slaughter represents an effective means to prevent the risk of Campylobacter disease in the population
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