Representation of campylobacter spp. in meat and meat products imported intо R. Macedonia

Campylobacteriosis is the most frequently reported zoonosis in the EU and the epidemiology of sporadic campylobacteriosis, especially the routes of transmission, is to a great extent unclear. Poultry easily become colonized with Campylobacter spp., being symptom-less intestinal carriers. Earlier it was estimated that internationally between 50% and 80% of the cases could be attributed to chicken as a reservoir. Campylobacter spp. is the leading bacterial cause of diarrhea in human population in all parts of the world. In most cases the infection with Campylobacter spp. in humans comes from contaminated chicken meat and products from chicken meat. This paper aims to design and to assess the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in meat and meat products imported into the Republic of Macedonia. Among the analyzed samples, the highest prevalence of Campylobacter spp. was determined in chicken - sample 1 with 84% positive samples, followed by chicken - sample 2 with 81.8%, pork by 10%, and in beef and smoked beef the presence of Campylobacter spp. was not established. The overall prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in all tested meat samples was 55.36%. From the results obtained it can be concluded that due to the high prevalence in the examined samples and the severity of the disease in humans, the industry for the production and processing of poultry meat and poultry meat products, as well as food operators, are required to consider Campylobacter spp. in assessing risks in the course of making the HACCP plan