UK 2022 retail surveillance: Campylobacter & Salmonella in raw chicken/turkey
Samples of raw fresh chicken (n=306) and turkey (n=302) were collected from retail premises across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland between January and December 2022. Salmonella spp. were detected in 1.9% (n=6/306) of chicken samples and 0.7% (n=2/302) of turkey samples, but the salmonella organisms were not ESBL producers. C. jejuni was the most common contaminant on both types of meat. High levels of contamination (>1000 cfu/g) were observed in 5.6% of chicken meat samples in total with 10.4% of whole chickens highly contaminated. Meat with skin was more likely to be contaminated with Campylobacter spp. than meat without skin with 21.8% of skinless chicken contaminated versus 60.3% of chicken samples containing skin. In turkey meat, 10.4% of samples with skin were contaminated whilst 1.6% without skin were contaminated.
Ciprofloxacin and tetracycline resistance was detected in the majority of Campylobacter spp. from turkey and chicken samples. It is encouraging to report no resistance to chloramphenicol, erythromycin and gentamicin in all Campylobacter spp. isolates. Although the frequency and intensity of Campylobacter spp. contamination on turkey meat was less than for chicken meat, the species, genomic types and the AMR profiles of turkey meat and chicken meat isolates were generally similar.