Radio New Zealand reported that the New Zealand Health Authority is working to prevent Campylobacter from reaching consumers there. In an explanation of why Campylobacter infection is common, and is a serious concern, the health authority stated that, “Cmpylobacter exists in farm animals generally but poultry is regarded as the primary pathway for spreading the

Sharon Durham, an Agricultural Research Service Informational Service writer with the USDA, wrote about solutions to Campyloacter contamination in poultry processing facilities in Poultry Today.  Her article was based on research at USDA’s ARS.

One foodborne pathogen of particular interest is campylobacter, which may cause mild to severe diarrhea and fever in humans and possibly result in a secondary, neurological condition known as Guillain-BarrÈ Syndrome. Campylobacter is commonly found in the intestinal tracts of swine, cattle and poultry. It may be deposited onto trucks, trailers and coops when the animals are transported to processing plants.

Continue Reading Preventing Campylobacter contamination in poultry processing

May 5, 2006
University of Arkansas, Food Safety Consortium via Newswise
Scientists who look for ways to eliminate foodborne pathogens are up against another obstacle: those pathogens that resist antibiotics. In particular, they want to single out the resistant bacteria for special attention and get rid of them.
That’s the focus occupying Ramakrishna Nannapaneni, a Food Safety Consortium researcher in the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture food science department working with Michael Johnson. His team is trying to quantify Campylobacter, a pathogen that contaminates nearly all retail raw broiler chicken carcasses, and its emerging ability to resist an important fluoroquinolone antibiotic known as ciprofloxacin.
Surveys have shown that broilers frequently carry large numbers of Campylobacter in their intestinal contents that spread during further processing onto retail raw products. Campylobacter also can occur in raw milk and water and on raw fruits and vegetables. Proper cooking recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will completely kill Campylobacter present on raw poultry.Continue Reading Zooming in on the Campylobacter that would resist antibiotics

By Los Angeles Times
Tuesday, May 2, 2006 10:44 AM EDT
Avoiding the use of antibiotics in food animals appears to reduce drug resistance in humans, according to a study published online recently in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
The study involved the use of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones in Australian poultry.
Australia restricts use of the antibiotics in animal husbandry because the practice is thought to contribute to drug resistance in people who contract bacterial infections from eating contaminated food.Continue Reading Study: Antibiotics in food cause drug resistance in us

28/04/2006 17:08:00
Poultry World
Are happy chickens safe chickens? One researcher believes so, outlining a possible role of bird stress on the number of campylobacter positive flocks.
Speaking at the recent 2006 World Poultry Science Association meeting in York, Tom Humphrey of the University of Bristol revealed new results that show the incidence of campylobacter

April 26, 2006
Washington Post
Bonnie S. Benwick
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which for decades had recommended that poultry be cooked to an internal temperature of 180 degrees for safe eating, has reevaluated that assessment.
Earlier this month, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service established 165 degrees as the single safe minimum internal temperature to kill food-borne pathogens and viruses in poultry.
The months of commissioned study and testing by the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods were not prompted by reports of overcooked white meat but by reported outbreaks of Salmonella bacteria that were traced to partially cooked, frozen poultry products.Continue Reading The roasted bird gets a temperature reprieve

Wed 19 Apr 2006 05:39 PM CST
VIRGINIA (myDNA News)
Australia’s policy of restricting antibiotic use in food-producing animals may be linked with lower levels of drug-resistant bacteria found in its citizens, according to an article in the May 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.
Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) is a leading bacterial cause of foodborne illness in industrialized countries. Drug resistance can make Campylobacter infections difficult for physicians to treat, and can result in longer bouts of diarrhea and a higher risk of serious or even fatal illness. Bacterial resistance to drugs is generally attributed to inappropriate prescribing or overuse of antibiotics.Continue Reading Benefits from limiting animal antibiotics

By Ben Wasserman
Apr 17, 2006, 23:17
April 17 (foodconsumer.org) – Overuse of antibiotics in men or animals is attributed to the ever-increasing bacterial drug resistance. A new Australian study has linked less antibiotic use in animals with low levels of drug-resistant bacteria in humans.
The study, published in the May 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, was to examine whether less use of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones would lower the bacterial drug resistance in humans. In Australia, the government has banned use of the antibiotic in poultry.
In the study of 585 patients from five Australian states, Australian researchers examined drug resistance of Campylobacter jejuni, a leading bacterial cause of foodborne illness in industrialized countries, in the study patients. None of the patients had received fluoroquinolone within the month prior to becoming ill.Continue Reading Less antibiotic use reduces drug-resistant bacteria

Source: scenta
Date Published: April 18, 2006
An Australian policy restricting the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals may be linked with the lower levels of drug-resistant bacteria found in its population, scientists now suggest.
Campylobacter jejuni is a leading bacterial cause of food-borne illness in industrialised countries.
Drug resistance can make Campylobacter infections difficult for physicians to treat, and can result in longer bouts of diarrhoea and a higher risk of serious or even fatal illness.
Individuals who showed a bacterial resistance to curative drugs generally were found to be susceptible to inappropriate prescribing or to overuse antibiotics.Continue Reading Farmers who use fewer antibiotics in animal food could be lowering drug resistance in people, a new study explains.