Campylobacter spp. na linha de produção de carne de aves

Abstract

In the attainment of carcasses, cuts or boneless poultry meat with assured quality, appropriate hygienic procedures must be followed along the production line from farm to the consumer table. The consumption of poultry meat is a habit of the Brazilian people and Brazil, a world power in poultry meat production and the largest exporter of poultry meat. As a result of this growing market, a proportional increase in the number of food borne disease outbreaks has been observed. Within this context, this research aimed to investigate the presence of Campylobacter spp. in the production line of poultry meat to provide subsidies to the adoption of appropriate measures to assure the product safety. As specific objectives, the poultry cloaca before slaughter, the surface of the carcasses at different processing line steps, as well as the scalding and chillers waters, were monitored for the presence of Campylobacter spp. It was observed a high incidence of Campylobacter in the intestinal tract of the birds and that the whole processes of carcass attainment by itself, presents a potential risk of contamination at all stages. In addition, the process is inefficient to eliminate and/or inactivate this micro-organism. It was concluded that the way of getting safer meat is avoiding the contaminations of the bird alive still in the breeding, besides cooking thoroughly before consumption. It is necessary to improve sanitary standards on meat production line as well as offering continuing accreditation to food handlers and promoting educational campaigns for consumers about the dangers and risks to which they are subjected.