Investigation on contamination by Campylobacter of retail raw meat in Shenyang

  Objective   To determine the prevalence of Campy lobacter in retail raw meats obtained from markets and to investigate the association of microbial contamination with product type, season, and market.

  Methods   Retail raw meat samples were randomly obtained from three kinds of stores Shenyang from January 2003 to December 2003 and were examined for the species and the serotypes of Campy lobacter by PCR.

  Results   The majority(94%)of 123 chicken carcasses were contaminated with Campylobacter.Approximately 96% of 85 duck carcasses and 97% of 65 rabbit carcasses yielded Campylobacter, whereas 31% of 138 pork chops and 35% of the 89 beef chops were positive for this pathogen.A total of 525 Campylobacter isolates were obtained from 200 meat samples; 55% of these isolates were C.jejuni, 41% were C.coli, and 4% were other species.

  Conclusion   Significant differences in the microbial prevalence were observed for supermarket samples with the lowest contamination, street market samples showing the highest contamination, and farm market samples in the middle.