PROCESSING ANTIMICROBIALS SELECT FOR PROCESSING TOLERANT CAMPYLOBACTER JEJUNI: IMPLICATIONS TO HEALTH AND POTENTIAL INTERVENTIONS.

The overall objective is to control Campylobacteron poutry carcasses in order to enhance the safety of poutry meat and enhance public health.Despite advances in pathogen control during poultry processing, it is established that Campylobacterjejuni, a leading foodborne pathogen,can con­taminate a high percentage of poultry carcasses at the end of processing. Although antimicrobials are deployed to reduce Campylobacter numbers during processing, it has been shown that the antimicrobials might show lowered effectiveness due to multiple factors, including carcass propertiesand/ or the high level of contamination associated with the large number of poultry in processing. However, an important factor that might have been overlooked is the tolerance of certain Campylobacter strains to antimicrobials and other controls used during processing. Despite the importance of these observations, there is limited data on the existence of potentially process tolerant C. jejuni and their link to human disease.Here, it ishypothesize that certain C. jejuni strains are tolerant to commonly used processing antimicrobials and that these strains, dubbed process tolerant C. jejuni, might be clinically relevant. Therefore, the major aim of this proposal is to identify C. jejuni that are tolerant to antimicrobials commonly used during poultry processing and propose an approach to control them. This will be achieved via the following objectives:Objective 1: Isolation and typing of C. jejuni from carcass samples in poultry plants.Objective 2: Assess the tolerance of C. jejuni to process antimicrobials (chlorine, peracetic acid, cetylpyridinium chloride, acidified sodium chlorite, organic acids: lactic acid).Objective 3: Control of process tolerant C. jejuni on artificially contaminated chicken carcasses.This proposal addresses the USDA-NIFA Program Area Priority Code, A1332. We are tackling an emerging food safety concern for both consumers and the industry. The data generated from the proposed research has the potential to be rapidly scaled up to enhance the safety of an essential protein source, poultry meat, during processing.