A pilot study on post-evisceration contamination of broiler carcasses and ready-to-sell livers and intestines (mala) with Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in a high-throughput South African poultry abattoir.

To assess post-evisceration contamination of broiler carcasses, 300 samples were randomly selected during routine slaughter in the winter of 2004. The samples originated from 50 chicken carcasses, taken directly after evisceration, as well as 25 samples from ready-to-sell packages of fresh intestines (mala) and livers. The samples were taken in batches over a period of 4 weeks to allow randomised sampling from different farms of origin. Conventional culture-based detection methods of Campylobacter spp. usually need 4-6 days to produce a result. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) used for this study took less than 32 hours. The average contamination rates with Campylobacter in both the skin and liver samples were 24%, and 28% for intestines. Chicken and chicken products, especially livers and intestines, form an integral part of the traditional diet of many Black South Africans, as they are cheap and readily available in bulk and un-chilled for direct distribution, mainly through street vending and other informal retail outlets. This sudy showed that Campylobacter spp. are prevalent in poultry in South Africa. The handling of poultry meat and products contaminated with this organism in households and the potential for cross-contamination of other foods presents a high risk of infection to consumers in South Africa. The study also emphasised the need for further research in this field.