Monitoring Campylobacter in the poultry production chain — From culture to genes and beyond

• Alternative rapid methods for Campylobacter offer new possibilities for sampling and detection in poultry production
• Alternative methods should supplement, but not replace, culture-based methods
• Accelerated culture, PCR, detection of only viable cells, biosensors and microarrays are described
• On-site monitoring of multiple microorganisms have the potential of offering cost-effective diagnostic “packages”
• New detection technologies will require development and further investigation of innovative sample preparations

Improved monitoring tools are important for the control of Campylobacter bacteria in poultry production. Standardized reference culture methods issued by national and international standardization organizations are time-consuming, cumbersome and not amenable to automation for screening of large numbers of samples. The ultimate goal for rapid monitoring of Campylobacter is to prevent contaminated meat from entering the food market. Currently, real-time PCR is fulfilling abovementioned criteria to a certain extent. Further development of real-time PCR, microarray PCR, miniaturized biosensors, chromatographic techniques and DNA sequencing can improve our monitoring capacity at a lower cost. Combined with innovative sampling and sample treatment, these techniques could become realistic options for on-farm and liquid-sample monitoring at slaughterhouses.