Prevalence and Risk Factor Investigation of Campylobacter Species in Retail Ground Beef from Alberta, Canada

摘要

Campylobacteriosis is the most commonly reported (notifiable) bacterial enteric disease in Alberta, Canada.The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of Campylobacter species in retail ground beef based on a survey of 60 stores (four supermarket chains, three cities) in southern Alberta. None of the 1,200 retail lean and regular ground beef packages were culture positive. Direct PCR results from a subset of samples (n = 142) indicated that 46% of packages tested were positive for Campylobacter DNA. By species, 14.8% (21/142), 26.8% (38/142) and 1.4% (2/142) of packages were PCR positive for C.jejuni, C. coll and C. hyointestinalis DNA, respectively.The presence of campylobacters varied depending on the dates of collection. However, typeof package (regular or lean), whether the store cut/packaged poultry in the meat department, type of meat used as the beef source (market trim, coarse grind tubes or a combination of these), whether meat portions were previously frozen, and package weight were not associated with the odds of finding Campylobacter spp. DNA by use of PCR.The high levels of Campylobacter DNA in the beef suggest that breaks in food safety protocols within slaughter plants, processors or grocery stores could have potentiallyimportant public health repercussions.