Microbiological quality of chicken meat: Campylobacter relevant public health problem

Abstract

Campylobacter is undoubtedly an important public health problem that European legislation (Directive 2003/99 / EEC) establishes as zoonotic agent to be monitored, with mandatory notification of the number of isolates, registration of cases, and the provision of information to Member States. However, despite its high prevalence, so far they have not established measures for its reduction or the obligation to implement control plans. Unlike Salmonella, which, most likely, thanks to community prevalence reduction targets and national control plans, still, for years, a marked downward trend in the number of cases in the EU. Consumption of contaminated chicken meat, mainly by Campylobacter jejuni is the leading cause of human campylobacteriosis in Europe, so it EFSA considered necessary to establish measures to reduce Campylobacter in chicken flocks. According to the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), a real incidence of 9 million annual cases of campylobacteriosis in the EU is estimated. The average prevalence of Campylobacter in broiler flocks at Community level is 71.2%, with 75% in the case of Romania, it is therefore a major problem. A lot of birds that come to slaughter excrete the bacteria in their feces and is very difficult to prevent, during processing, contamination of carcasses and abattoir equipment occurs. Therefore it is important to reduce the bacterial load in birds before arrival at the slaughterhouse. As the reports of the EFSA and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), based on the results of monitoring activities of zoonoses (diseases transmitted naturally from vertebrate animals to man diseases), carried conducted in 2015 in 32 European countries (28 Member States and four non-Member States), campylobacteriosis is the most commonly reported zoonosis. In view of this trend, the European Union is preparing a draft regulation that will come to amend the current legislation for the control of Campylobacter. Those rules shall establish a process hygiene criterion for Campylobacter in broiler channels to control possible contamination with this bacteria during the slaughter stage. This draft European regulation also establishes a contamination value above which corrective action is required to maintain hygiene, according to food legislation (20% of chicken carcasses with a level of Campylobacter ≥ 1000 cfu / g, for 2025). The European Commission considers that this approach should be implemented gradually and tighter over time.