Campylobacter contamination in retail poultry meats and by-products in the world: a literature survey.

Campylobacter species are common bacterial pathogens associated with human gastroenteritis worldwide. In North America, Europe and Japan, campylobacteriosis is one of the leading food-borne bacterial illnesses and the consumption of poultry meats and/or by-products is suspected a major cause of the illness. In this survey, we summarized the research papers describing Campylobacter contamination of retail poultry meats and by-products in various countries of the world. In most of the countries, a majority of retail poultry meats and by-products were contaminated with Campylobacter spp. C. jejuni was usually the dominant Campylobacter species isolated from retail poultry and C. coli was less frequently isolated, although the ratio of C. coli to C. jejuni was considerably different among the countries. However, in Thailand and South Africa, C. coli was the dominant Campylobacter species isolated from retail poultry. A large portion of retail poultry was contaminated with Campylobacter spp. in the world; therefore, further trials are required for finding proper countermeasures and attention should be paid for the sanitary handling of poultry products.