Seminar - Prevalence and Control Viable Campylobacter on Chicken Breasts

Campylobacter is the leading bacterial cause of foodborne illness, with chicken as the primary source of infection, contributing to 50–90% of human cases. During food processing, Campylobacter can be induced into a viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state, where cells remain intact but cannot grow on conventional culture media, making detection challenging. Standard food safety monitoring relies on culture-based methods, which only detect culturable cells and may underestimate the true presence of Campylobacter. Peroxyacetic acid (PAA) is a common antimicrobial used in poultry processing to control pathogens, but its effectiveness may be overestimated if it induces Campylobacter into a VBNC state rather than fully inactivating it. To address these detection challenges, I employed molecular methods like viability qPCR that have been developed to quantify both culturable and nonculturable viable cells to provide a more accurate assessment of contamination and antimicrobial efficacy.

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