Our research focuses on improving the methodology for isolation and identification of Campylobacter and the characterization of C. jejuni and C. coli strains using DNA-based techniques, such as pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing. We also do some reserch on the control Campylobacter in poultry products.
Baseline studies of bacterial pathogens on commercial poultry carcasses have shown a high prevalence of Campylobacter, even after several years of HACCP implementation. The lack of a standard methodology for Campylobacter isolation has always been discussed when attempting to understand the meaning of these figures and the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture (FSIS USDA) has requested the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods to evaluate the methodologies used in the 1994-1995 and 1999-2000 studies. To date no performance standard for Campylobacter has been established by FSIS USDA.
In May 2007 we taught the First Worshop on how to isolate and identify Campylobacter spp. from food products. We had our Second workshop the week of May 19, 2008. The Third Workshop is planed for May, 2008. Please send us an e-mail if you would like to get more information abou these Workshops.
You can find more about our reserach under Publications.Thank you for visiting our web page and we hope you find it useful.
Omar A. Oyarzabal