Purpose: The objective of our research was to evaluate a rinse method using buffered peptone water (BPW) to enrich retail broiler meat under aerobic condition for the isolation of Campylobacter spp.
Methods: In each of two experiments (Exp1 and Exp2), 120 retail meat samples (breasts = 40, tenderloins = 40, thighs = 40) collected in the states of Alabama and Washington were analyzed for the presence of naturally occurring Campylobacter spp. One piece of meat was rinsed in Exp1 (A1) and two pieces in Exp2 (A2). Samples were also tested with a reference (R1, R2) method (enrichment of 25 g of meat in Bolton broth at 42oC under microaerobiosis. Isolation was performed on CCDA plates and identification was done using PCR and characterized by PFGE. Result from reference and alternative methods were analyzed with the McNemar's chi-square.
Results: Samples in Alabama had less prevalence of Campylobacter spp. than samples in the state of Washington (P ≤ 0.05). The percentage of positive was higher in A than in R subsamples (P ≤ 0.05) and rinsing two pieces of meat yielded the highest percentage of positive subsamples (P ≤ 0.05). R subsamples showed variations in the prevalence by product (P ≤ 0.05). However, the alternative subsamples from Exp2 (A2) had similar prevalence of positives among products. A2 subsamples had more C. coli isolates and a larger diversity of Campylobacter spp. by PFGE.
Significance: Rinsing broiler meats was less time consuming, required less sample preparation and was more sensitive than the reference method for the isolation of naturally occurring Campylobacter spp. This new method could help with epidemiological and intervention studies to control Campylobacter spp.