Campylobacter in broiler flocks

The Norwegian Veterinary institute monitor the situation of Campylobacter in broiler flocks on assignment from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.

Campylobacteriosis is currently the most commonly reported bacterial infectious disease in the Norwegian human population. In almost half of the cases, the infection is acquired in Norway. Consumption of poultry meat purchased raw has been identified as a significant risk factor together with the drinking of undisinfected water, eating at barbecues, occupational exposure to animals, and eating undercooked pork (Kapperud et al. 2003, Am J Epidemiol, 158:234-242).

The files called Handlingsplan is the action plan of the surveillance program, and is only available in Norwegian. 

  • Handlingsplan Campylobacter 2022

    Hovedformålet med handlingsplanen er å redusere eksponeringen i befolkningen for Campylobacter spp. via norsk  slaktekylling. Implementering og gjennomføring av handlingsplanen antas å kunne gi en folkehelsegevinst ved at færre mennesker smittes av Campylobacter spp. fra norsk fjørfekjøtt.

    ↓ Handlingsplan Campylobacter 2022

     

2022

Surveillance in 2022 showed that a total of 106 flocks (4.8%) tested positive for Campylobacter spp. when all broiler flocks slaughtered before 51 days of age during the period 1st of May – 31st of October were tested. In total 2189 flocks from 515 farms were sampled. Of all farms sampled, 72 (14.0%) had at least one positive flock, and of these, 22 had two or more positive flocks. Even though these farms only represent 4.3% (22/515) of all farms tested, they contributed with 52.8% (56/106) of all positive flocks tested in 2022.

The carcasses from the positive flocks were either heat treated or frozen for a minimum of three weeks before being marketed. This year’s result is somewhat more favourable than the results from 2019 - 2021 with 5.1%, 6.1% and 5.8% positive flocks, respectively. The prevalence is still very low, compared to most other European countries.

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