Effect of feed withdrawal on Campylobacter in the crops of market-age broiler chickens

The presence of Campylobacter and Salmonella on poultry meat products remains a significant public health concern. Previous research has indicated that feed withdrawal may significantly increase Salmonella contamination of broiler crops and that crop contents may serve as an important source of Salmonella carcass contamination at commercial processing. The present study evaluated the effect of preslaughter feed withdrawal on the incidence of Campylobacter isolation in crops of market-age commercial broiler chickens prior to capture and transport to the processing plant. The incidence of Campylobacter isolation from the crop was determined immediately before and after feed withdrawal in 40 7-wk-old broiler chickens obtained from each of nine separate broiler houses. Ceca were collected from broilers in six of thr same flocks for comparison with the: crop samples. Feed withdrawal caused a significant (P < 0.025) increase in Campylobacter-positive crop samples in seven of the nine houses sampled. Furthermore, the total number of Campylobacter-positive crops increased significantly (P < 0.001) from 90/360 (25%) before feed removal to 224/359 (62.4%) after the feed withdrawal period. Alternatively feed withdrawal did not significantly alter the Campylobacter isolation frequency from ceca. Similar to our previous studies with Salmonella, the present results suggest that preharvest feed withdrawal increases the frequency of Campylobacter crop contamination and, thus, provides a source of Campylobacter contamination of carcasses at commercial processing.