Detection of Campylobacter on the Outer Surface of Retail Broiler Chicken Meat Packages and on Product Within

The objective of this study was to compare prevalence of Campylobacter on the outside of broiler meat packages to that on the product inside the same packages. Chicken meat products were purchased at retail. Samples comprised whole carcasses and six different cut-up-part products. Fifteen packages of each type of product were purchased (n = 105). The exterior surface of each package was sampled, the package was sanitized, and opened, and exudate or product rinse was collected. Samples were cultured for the presence of Campylobacter spp. Overall, 41 of 105 packages (39%) had detectable numbers of Campylobacter associated with the product within. This included some of each type of product. One of 105 packages had detectable numbers of Campylobacter on the outer surface. That package was one of six characterized as leaky. Campylobacter isolates were subtyped using multi-locus sequence typing; 29 sequence types identified were either C. jejuni (n = 19) or C. coli (n = 10). The outer surface isolate was the same subtype as the associated exudate isolate. Although various Campylobacter subtypes were found on the inside of a substantial percentage of retail broiler meat packages, the outer surface of intact, non-leaky packages can be reasonably expected to be free of Campylobacter.