Development of a sampling and real-time PCR method for the quantitative detection of Campylobacter spp. in retail chicken meat without DNA extraction.

Campylobacter food poisoning is caused by consumption of the contaminated foods, especially poultry meat. Continuous quantitative measurement of Campylobacter spp. In contaminated foods is crucial to develop preventive measures. We developed a direct-qPCR method for determining the viable cell counts of Campylobacter spp. using qPCR without DNA extraction from enriched food samples and a sampling method (the wrap procedure) in which the sample is wrapped in a sheet, different from the conventional homogenization procedure. The viable cell counts of Campylobacter spp. Before and after enrichment of the samples sampled using the wrap and homogenization procedures from chicken samples inoculated with Campylobacter jejuni were determined using the culture method, and the cycle threshold (C_T) values after enrichment were determined using the direct-qPCR. An enrichment regression equation was generated from the viable cell counts obtained before and after enrichment, and a direct-qPCR regression equation was generated from the C_T...