Campylobacter spp.

Thermotolerant Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli are recognized as foodborne pathogens causing a significant burden of disease in human populations in both developing and developed countries. The gastrointestinal tracts of animals are often colonized by these bacteria and fecal contamination of foods can occur during the harvest phase, including milking. Raw milk and raw dairy products can be contaminated with campylobacters and consequently consumption of these foods has been linked to enteric disease in humans. Resistance to antimicrobial compounds in campylobacters has increased in recent years linked to their use in livestock production. Increased prevalence of resistance to therapeutically relevant agents increases the risk of human treatment failure. Prudent use and careful selection of these compounds used in livestock is critically important to limit the spread of resistance. Implementation of preventive herd health approaches in the dairy sector is recommended in order to minimize the need to administer antimicrobial compounds. To improve public health protection, robust and integrated surveillance systems to monitor prevalence and resistance of campylobacters in food chains are required. These would include appropriate detection strategies, strain characterization, resistance profiling and ongoing trend analysis of data. It is also recommended that good hygiene and farming practices are applied, especially during milking to minimize contamination together with effective pasteurization and prevention of post-processing contamination.