Retail to fork quantitative risk assessment of Campylobacter in poultry meat preparations in Belgium using country specific baseline data and consumption survey

Introduction : Campylobacter spp. are still the major bacterial cause of infectious diarrheal illness in Belgium and in many other countries (Scientific Institute of Public Health, 2011; EFSA, 2012). In 2003, the Superior Health Council of the Belgian Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment initiated a risk assessment of Campylobacter spp. contamination in poultry meat preparations. The limited availability of data on Belgian consumersU+2019 behaviour and also the semi-quantitative nature of concentration data of Campylobacter spp. due to presence/absence testing were identified as important hurdles facing the development of risk assessment (Uyttendaele et al., 2006). The aim of this study is to develop a retail to fork quantitative risk assessment model for poultry meat preparations to estimate the risk for campylobacteriosis using data specifically gathered for such purpose in Belgium. Material and methods : A probabilistic model was developed in Excel and @Risk. In this risk assessment model, data were included from a 2007 quantitative baseline study on Campylobacter in Belgian poultry meat preparations. Survival data describing effects of (under)cooking, refrigerated storage and freezing on Campylobacter spp. in poultry meat preparations were also considered. Added to that, data on poultry consumption, food handling and preparation practices by Belgian consumers were included in the model. The risk estimate of the model relates to the incidence of illness (campylobacteriosis) in the Belgian population due to consumption of poultry meat preparations. Results and Discussion : The model predicts, taking into account the current retail to fork practices, an incidence of 91 persons/100,000 Belgians being affected by campylobacteriosis per year due to the consumption of poultry meat preparations. Two ways of mitigation were considered to tackle the problem of Campylobacter in poultry meat preparations: either with focus on producerU+2019s responsibility by setting a microbiological criterion, or the consumerU+2019s responsibility to prioritise what message should be given to the consumer. Scenario analysis demonstrated that setting an action limit to avoid putting highly contaminated (> 100 CFU/g) poultry meat preparations to the retail market would lead to a fifty-percent reduction of incidence of attributed campylobacteriosis. Further advocating freezing poultry meat preparations by consumers at home before preparation (already in use nowadays in ca. 3 out of 5 households) would result in a twofold reduction of illness. Whereas further results of scenario analysis also indicate that good kitchen hygiene can reduce the risk of illness, with a major impact from prevention of cross-contamination (91% reduction of illness) and undercooking (72% reduction of illness). References European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), 2012. The European Union summary report on trends and sources of zoonoses, zoonotic agents and food-borne outbreaks in 2010. The EFSA Journal 10(3):2597. Scientific Institute of Public Health, Department Epidemiology, 2011. Surveillance van Infectieuze Aandoeningen door een Netwerk van Laboratoria voor Microbiologie 2010, Epidemiologisch Trends 1983 U+2013 2009. Rapport: D/2011/2505/22. Uyttendaele, M., Baert, K., Ghafir, Y., Daube, G., De Zutter, L., Herman, L., Dierick, K., Pierard, D., Dubois, J.J., Horion, B., Debevere, J., 2006. Quantitative risk assessment of Campylobacter spp. in poultry based meat preparations as one of the factors to support the development of risk-based microbiological criteria in Belgium. International Journal of Food Microbiology 111, 149-163.

Jaar van publicatie:2012