Campylobactereriosis is the most commonly reported enteric disease in the province of BC with a total of 1471 cases reported in humans in 2004 and cumulative of 680 cases reported to the end of June in 2005. Historically BC has had the highest rate of Campylobacteriosis in Canada. The chicken broiler industry in BC consists of approximately 294 producers and has an approximate retail value of $620 million. Establishing a baseline of prevalence of Campylobacter in the broiler industry was considered of benefit to support transitioning into producer driven on-farm food safety programs.

The foundation for the sampling methodology for this surveillance was adapted from Iceland Campylobacter surveillance work. The methodology for the culture of Campylobacter spp. was adapted from Eric Line.

Two processing plants were selected for collection of samples. At plant A each flock from Monday to Thursday were sampled, and at plant B each flock on Tuesday and Thursday were sampled. A total of 209 flocks were sampled over a 12 week period commencing June 1^st 2005 and ending August 18^th 2005.(188 flocks from Plant A and 21 flocks from Plant B) Each flock sampled had ceca collected from 20 birds. Ceca were cultured for Campylobacter spp., Salmonella spp., generic Escherichia coli and Enterococcus spp. Information on flock size and age of birds were collected from each flock.

The overall prevalence of Campylobacter spp positive broiler flocks in this survey was 51%.

This project is part of a comprehensive baseline survey funded by the Agriculture Policy Framework Transition Fund.

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