Estimating the performance of four culture media used for enumeration and detection of Campylobacter species in chicken meat

It is well known that culture media used for the detection of foodborne pathogens are imperfect tests and different media present different sensitivity and specificity values. The present study aimed to estimate the performance of four culture media commonly used for enumerating and detecting Campylobacter in foods. Samples of naturally contaminated chicken meat (n = 47) were tested for Campylobacter spp. using in parallel the mCCDA, Karmali agar (KA), CASA (R) and BCCA, according to ISO 10272:2006 detection and enumeration protocols. Plating onto mCCDA, KA, CASA (R), and BCCA produced countable results (> 0.9 log cfu/g) in 91.5, 93.2, 95.7 and 95.7% of the samples (enumeration method), but Campylobacter spp. were detected only in 32.6, 36.2, 87.2 and 33.3% of the samples (detection method), respectively. Combined (from all media) pathogen prevalence though was 100 and 87% for enumeration and detection procedures, respectively. Results suggested that CASA (R) should be considered as a second medium or a suitable alternative of the ISO recommended mCCDA. The single use of mCCDA after enrichment in Bolton broth or after direct plating may lead to erroneous detection of Campylobacter spp. The study also demonstrated that parallel use of the two plating methods improves the recovery of Campylobacter spp.