Distribution of Campylobacter jejuni strains at different stages of a turkey slaughter line

The aim of this study was to detect and determine the genotypes of Campylobacter jejuni strains on turkey skin of eight turkey slaughter lots over a period of 1 year. Skin swabs (n=258) were taken at the abattoir at different stages of the slaughter line. At the beginning of the slaughter process 76.7% of the turkey skins were C. jejuni positive. Amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis was used to assess the genetic diversity of C. jejuni strains at the different sampling points. Whereas a high diversity of C. jejuni strains entered the slaughterhouse via the live turkeys, only a closely related subpopulation survived the scalding bath. Fecal recontamination of the avian skin occurred during defeathering and evisceration. The chilling process decreased C. jejuni contamination on the turkey skin significantly and only 25.6% of the carcass skins remained C. jejuni positive after 24 h chilling. Again, only highly related genotypes survived the chilling process, suggesting that C. jejuni vary widely in their ability to resist environmental stressors that occur during slaughter and further processing.