Biotraceability in Food and Feed Chains--Course Descriptions

How do we reduce Campylobacter in the poultry chain?

Overview
The purpose of the workshop is to give biologists and non-biologists an idea of how we identify Campylobacter jejuni in a meat chain and the tools that we have at hand to trace the Campylobacter that are coming from. In order to identify pathogens in the meat chain, we need to sample both in the farm, in the environment surrounding the farm and later when the animal enters the slaughterhouse (also the slaughterhouse equipment) and finally the meat product. In the first part of the workshop, we will discuss (and try!) the practical challenges faced when detecting of C. jejuni in various environments such as in the farm, in the air and on the slaughterhouse equipment. Later, we will work with C. jejuni DNA sequences and learn how we can extract information that will help us learn more about where a particular Campylobacter strain came from.

13.30-14.00: Sample collection in air and on surfaces (theory and pratice)
14.00-14.30: Sample preparation and detection using PCR (theory and practice)
14.30-14.50: coffee
14.50-15.20: Typing using MLST (presentation)
15.20-15.30: Typing by RAPD (presentation)
15.30-16.10: YOU are a poultry producer and your campylobacter free chickens have become campylobacter positive - how can you figure out where it came from? (practical MLST exercise)
16.10-16.30: MLST and other typing methods: Discussion.

Pre-workshop Required Reading*
'Guidelines for the validation and application of typing methods for use in bacterial epidemiology', Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, CMI, 13 (Suppl. 3), 1-46.
*Required for PhD students.