Enteropathogenic Campylobacter and Campylobacter-like organism in slaughtered quails in Italy: prevalence and charge enumeration

From 2005 at today in Europe, Campylobacteriosis remains the most reported foodborne zoonose in humans and the number of clinical cases has increased during the last five years. Campylobacter contamination of poultry carcasses and their fresh meats is a major concern in this specific food chain. During evisceration, the high concentrations of Campylobacter spp. in the colon and feces of poultry may lead to contamination of carcasses through equipment with the subsequent contamination of slaughtered batches. This problem has been investigated extensively in chickens, but less so in other species such as quail. In order to estimate the prevalence and enumeration of enteropathogenic Campylobacter spp. and Campylobacter-like organism on skin and in caeca of quails, we considered the biggest quail's slaughterhouse in Italy. This study reports the results from determination of the title on 56 samples by conventional culture method and Simplate® Campylobacter method. A pool of 5 caeca and one carcass were collected from 24 different batches over a 12 month period in 2011. The prevalence of Campylobacter spp. was 17,8% in caeca and 25% on carcasses; the average level was 1,6 x 105 cfu/g in caeca and 200 microorganisms/g on carcasses. The charge enumeration observed in caeca ranged between 1,9 x 105 and 1,3 x 105 cfu/g. Also, the contamination level observed on carcasses ranged between 100 and 276 microorganisms/g. The 36 isolates were identified biochemically as C. jejuni (61,1%), C. coli (27,8%) and Arcobacter spp. (11,1%). All the isolates were further confirmed by PCR multiplex, but there was difference between the biochemical and PCR results. Further studies are ongoing to determinate the genetic identification of the enteropathogenic Campylobacter and Campylobacter-like organism isolates. The results show a low level of Campylobacter spp. contamination in quail's carcasses and confirm the high quality of hygiene of their meats. However, we don’t exclude that quail’s meats could be a potential hazard for human health if these meats are consumed undercooked