This site gives you general information and news about the project. For further information please contact Project Coordinator, Deputy Coordinator or Work package leaders.
News and Reports
Presentations
CHRO 2011: Presentation - Poster from WP1
Presentation given at a.v.e.c General Assembly 2011.
Reports
Scientific reports:
WP1 (Report on broiler production across Europe).
WP3 (Report on methodological issues)
Annual reports: 2010, 2011, 2012
Periodic reports to the Commission (scientific part): Month 18
General information
Campylobacteriosis has become the most common cause of acute bacterial enteritis in many European countries. Many sources of this infection are not reported but the main suspected food borne source is poultry meat. In the EU, campylobacteriosis has long been the most commonly reported bacterial zoonosis, in 2006 more than 175.000 cases were notified. In many studies, poultry meat has been identified as a major risk factor for this disease.
The need to reduce levels of Campylobacter spp. in broilers is recognised by EFSA by a recent (December 2008) Scientific Colloquium on “Assessing health benefits of Controlling Campylobacter in the food chain” where the main focus was the broiler production. EFSA has also recently established a Working Group to answer a “Request for an update and quantification of the risk posed by Campylobacter in broiler meat production”.
In this project we will focus on the major poultry production in Europe, namely commercial, conventional broiler production. We also focus on the thermophilic Campylobacter spp. (among which C. jejuni and to a lesser extent C. coli are the most prevalent in broilers).
Intervention during primary production, defined as the growing cycle of the birds, on-farm, is likely to be the most cost-effective way to bring about control of this important public health problem. Our work will focus on housed birds, as these represent the majority of production in the EU, and studies in Northern Europe have shown that control is possible with this type of production. Given the EU-wide nature of broiler production and marketing and the prevalence of human infections across the community, it is vital to identify control measures that are applicable across Europe.