Isolation and enumeration of Campylobacter jejuni from poultry products by a selective enrichment method

A direct selective enrichment procedure was developed for the isolation of Campylobacter jejuni from poultry products. The selective enrichment medium (ATB) consisted of (per liter) tryptose (20 g), yeast extract (2.5 g), sodium chloride (5 g), FBP supplement (ferrous sulfate [0.25 g], sodium metabisulfite [0.25 g], sodium pyruvate [0.25 g]), bicine (10 g), and agar (1 g). Hematin solution (6.25 ml; prepared by dissolving 0.032 g of bovine hemin in 10 ml of 0.15 N sodium hydroxide solution and autoclaving at 0.35 kg/cm2 for 30 min), rifampin (25 mg), cefsulodin (6.25 mg), and polymyxin B sulfate (20,000 IU) were added after the medium was sterilized. The pH was adjusted to 8.0. Samples were enriched in the above medium at 42 degrees C for 48 h under an atmosphere of 5% O2, 10% CO2, and 85% N2. Enrichment cultures were streaked on a plating medium composed of Brucella agar, hematin solution, FBP supplement, and the above antibiotics. Plates were incubated under the same conditions as above. Suspect colonies from the plates were confirmed to be C. jejuni by morphological examination, growth characteristics, and biochemical tests. The above method yielded 25 isolates of C. jejuni from 50 samples of retail cut-up chicken and chicken parts, whereas a more complex method involving filtration, centrifugation, selective enrichment under a flowing atmosphere, and membrane filtration yielded only 6 positives from the same samples. The new isolation procedure was particularly effective in isolating C. jejuni in the presence of large numbers of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)