Prevalence of<i>Campylobacter</i>spp.<i>, Escherichia coli</i>, and<i>Salmonella</i>Serovars in Retail Chicken, Turkey, Pork, and Beef from the Greater Washington, D.C., Area

TLDR

Raw retail meats are potential vehicles for transmitting food‑borne diseases, underscoring the need for greater HACCP implementation and consumer food safety education. The study examined 825 retail raw meat samples (chicken, turkey, pork, beef) from 59 stores across four supermarket chains during 107 visits between June 1999 and July 2000, testing for Escherichia coli, Salmonella serovars, and Campylobacter spp. Campylobacter was the most prevalent pathogen, contaminating 70.7 % of chicken samples and 14 % of turkey, with lower rates in pork (1.7 %) and beef (0.5 %); E.

Abstract

ABSTRACT A total of 825 samples of retail raw meats (chicken, turkey, pork, and beef) were examined for the presence of Escherichia coli and Salmonella serovars, and 719 of these samples were also tested for Campylobacter spp. The samples were randomly obtained from 59 stores of four supermarket chains during 107 sampling visits in the Greater Washington, D.C., area from June 1999 to July 2000. The majority (70.7%) of chicken samples ( n = 184) were contaminated with Campylobacter , and a large percentage of the stores visited (91%) had Campylobacter -contaminated chickens. Approximately 14% of the 172 turkey samples yielded Campylobacter , whereas fewer pork (1.7%) and beef (0.5%) samples were positive for this pathogen. A total of 722 Campylobacter isolates were obtained from 159 meat samples; 53.6% of these isolates were Campylobacter jejuni , 41.3% were Campylobacter coli , and 5.1% were other species. Of the 212 chicken samples, 82 (38.7%) yielded E. coli , while 19.0% of the beef samples, 16.3% of the pork samples, and 11.9% of the turkey samples were positive for E. coli . However, only 25 (3.0%) of the retail meat samples tested were positive for Salmonella . Significant differences in the bacterial contamination rates were observed for the four supermarket chains. This study revealed that retail raw meats are often contaminated with food-borne pathogens; however, there are marked differences in the prevalence of such pathogens in different meats. Raw retail meats are potential vehicles for transmitting food-borne diseases, and our findings stress the need for increased implementation of hazard analysis of critical control point (HACCP) and consumer food safety education efforts.