Research Note: Detection of Campylobacter spp. in chicken meat using culture methods and quantitative PCR with propidium monoazide

Globally, Campylobacter spp. are prominent causative agents of food-borne gastroenteritis. These pathogens are commonly detected using conventional culture methods; however, culture methods are unable to detect viable but nonculturable (VBNC) bacteria. Currently, the detection rate of Campylobacter spp. on chicken meat does not correlate with the seasonal peak of human campylobacteriosis. We hypothesized that this may be due to the presence of undetectable VBNC Campylobacter spp. Therefore, we previously established a quantitative PCR assay using propidium monoazide (PMA-qPCR), which can detect viable Campylobacter cells. In this study, PMA-qPCR was conducted to detect viable Campylobacter spp. in chicken meat, and the detection rates of PMA-qPCR and the culture method throughout all 4 seasons were compared. A total of 105 chicken meat samples (whole legs, breast fillets, and livers) were screened for the presence of Campylobacter spp. using both PMA-qPCR and the conventional culture method. The detection rates of the 2 methods did not differ significantly; however, the positive and negative samples were not always consistent. Detection rates in March were significantly lower compared to months with the highest detection rates. These results suggest that, to increase the detection rate of Campylobacter spp., the 2 methods should be used in parallel. In this study, PMA-qPCR could not detect VBNC Campylobacter spp. effectively in C. jejuni-spiked chicken meat. Further studies using improved viability-qPCR should be performed to describe the impact of the VBNC state of Campylobacter spp. on the detection of this bacterium in chicken meat.