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L. MONCUR¹, P. A. Myers², C. Destro², J. Tan³, J. Matera³, and N. Begue³. (1) Tecra International Pty Ltd., Sydney, Australia, (2) Tecra International Pty., (3) EML Consulting Services, Melbourne, Australia

Campylobacter is generally recognised as the most frequent cause of foodborne illness, significantly ahead of other pathogens such as Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli 0157. However, traditional cultural methods for the detection of Campylobacter are very complex, time consuming and require a system of atmosphere modification to achieve satisfactory results.

A new method has been developed which provides improved, faster and much simpler detection of Campylobacter in food and water samples. This method utilizes a single-step aerobic enrichment, at a single temperature, using a specially-formulated medium, followed by detection of the target pathogen using a highly specific and sensitive immunoassay.

In this trial, over 200 food, water and environmental samples were used to compare the new method with the Australian and New Zealand standard method (AS/NZ 1766.2.13) or the FDA BAM standard method (using Bolton's enrichment medium). 100 food samples including raw chicken, lamb, pork, unpasteurised milk and cream were tested for natural contamination. The new method detected 45 positive samples while the Australian and New Zealand standard method detected only 38 positive samples. A further 135 food samples consisting of the above raw meats, a range of dairy products, cooked meat products and mushrooms were tested for both natural contamination and recovery of an artificial inoculation of Campylobacter. The new method detected 93 positive samples while the FDA BAM method detected 92 positive samples.

Results show that the new method performed better than the Australian method and was comparable to the FDA BAM standard method for the recovery and detection of Campylobacter from both inoculated and naturally contaminated samples.

Using this new method (the TECRA Campylobacter VIA method) negative samples can be cleared within 42 hours, compared with standard methods that require up to 4-5 days to obtain a result.