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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Egg and Poultry Production Safety Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #405526
Research Project: Reduction of Foodborne Pathogens and Antimicrobial Resistance in Poultry Production Environments

Location: Egg and Poultry Production Safety Research Unit

Title: Assessing the risk of seasonal effects of Campylobacter contaminated broiler meat prepared in-home in the United States

Author
item XU, XINRAN - University Of Georgia
item Rothrock, Michael
item DEV KUMAR, GOVINDARAJ - University Of Georgia
item MISHRA, ABHINAV - University Of Georgia

Submitted to: Foods
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/27/2023
Publication Date: 6/30/2023
Citation: Xu, X., Rothrock Jr, M.J., Dev Kumar, G., Mishra, A. 2023. Assessing the risk of seasonal effects of Campylobacter contaminated broiler meat prepared in-home in the United States. Foods. https://doi.org/10.3390/feeds12132559.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/feeds12132559

Interpretive Summary: Campylobacter has long presented a major problem for the food safety of broiler meat. The goal of this study was to develop a retail-to-consumption quantitative microbial risk assessment model that could be used to estimate the seasonal risk of campylobacteriosis from consuming broiler meat in the United States. Data were taken and used to make distributions that could be used to estimate Campylobacter growth during retail storage, transportation, and home storage, as well as changes in concentration during preparation and due to cross-contamination. A Monte Carlo simulation with 100,000 iterations was used to estimate the risk of infection per serving and the number of infections in the United States by season. In the summer, chicken meat was estimated to have a median risk of infection per serving of 9.22×10-7 and cause an average of about 27,058,680 infections. During the winter months, the median risk of infection per serving was estimated to be 4.06×10-7 and cause an average of about 12,085,638 infections. The risk assessment model provides information about the risk of broiler meat to public health by season. These results will help understand the most important steps to reduce the food safety risks from contaminated chicken products.

Technical Abstract: Campylobacter has long presented a major problem for the food safety of broiler meat. The goal of this study was to develop a retail-to-consumption quantitative microbial risk assessment model that could be used to estimate the seasonal risk of campylobacteriosis from consuming broiler meat in the United States. Data were taken and used to make distributions that could be used to estimate Campylobacter growth during retail storage, transportation, and home storage, as well as changes in concentration during preparation and due to cross-contamination. A Monte Carlo simulation with 100,000 iterations was used to estimate the risk of infection per serving and the number of infections in the United States by season. In the summer, chicken meat was estimated to have a median risk of infection per serving of 9.22×10-7 and cause an average of about 27,058,680 infections. During the winter months, the median risk of infection per serving was estimated to be 4.06×10-7 and cause an average of about 12,085,638 infections. The risk assessment model provides information about the risk of broiler meat to public health by season. These results will help understand the most important steps to reduce the food safety risks from contaminated chicken products.