Isolation of Campylobacter jejuni from poultry carcases

Campylobacter jejuni was isolated from 94% of chicken carcase rinses collected in a Queensland poultry abattoir. Direct plating resulted in the isolation of the organism from 84% of the rinses. A further 10% were found to contain C. jejuni by a procedure of selective enrichment and membrane filtration. Counts of C. jejuni on the carcases ranged from 0 to 1.1 x 10(5) organisms per carcase.