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The ANR Jeune Chercheur Jeune Chercheuse project ESCAPE (Characterization of the interaction between the microbiota of broiler meat and the foodborne pathogen Campylobacter: towards improving meat safety) led by Nabila Haddad, from UMR SECALIM, started in January 2022. This project involves several researchers and teacher-researchers from UMR Secalim, the recruitment of a PhD student, as well as a collaboration with the UMR INRAE MaIAGE.
ESCAPE is part of an innovative approach to improve food safety by considering the influence of the food microbiota on the microbial risk associated with the presence of food pathogenic bacteria. The project has as a case study broiler meat where the main microbial risk is the Campylobacter bacterium. ESCAPE aims to quantitatively evaluate the effect of rearing method (standard versus free-range) and refrigerated storage on the composition of the microbiota of broiler carcasses and the level of Campylobacter contamination. The project aims to determine if there are positive or negative correlations between certain bacterial communities and Campylobacter or even interactions, which could promote or hinder the persistence of Campylobacter on poultry meat.
For several years, Campylobacter remains the leading cause of foodborne zoonosis in Europe. Poultry is the main risk factor for campylobacteriosis. The control of contamination of poultry meat by this pathogen represents a major public health issue. The means to fight against Campylobacter are either on the farm by aiming to reduce the carrying of Campylobacter by poultry, or on the slaughterhouse by trying to better control the stages at the origin of the contamination. Another way to reduce the risk associated with Campylobacter is to identify factors that influence its behaviour in the face of so-called stressful conditions, particularly those that hinder its survival during food processing, in order to identify control measures. Until now, studies have focused on the responses of Campylobacter to abiotic stresses (oxygen, temperature, etc.) encountered along the food chain and no study has yet considered the behavior of this pathogen in interaction with its biotic environment, while such conditions occur throughout the food chain (from farm to fork). Broiler carcasses are the poultry products with the highest prevalences and concentrations of Campylobacter and are also subject to a new hygiene criterion related to Campylobacter since 2018. Based on the premise that free-range chickens are more exposed to pathogens than conventionally reared chickens in confinement, due to possible uncontrolled contact with wild birds and the environment, we considered that rearing methods were likely to affect the microbiota and the level of Campylobacter contamination of carcasses. The ESCAPE project will provide a description of the bacterial communities present on broiler meat according to the farming method and the identification of possible correlations or even interactions with Campylobacter. The challenge of this project lies in the possibility of improving the risk assessment models associated with Campylobacter by integrating the impact of biotic factors on survival, which are little or not taken into account in the current exposure models.
Within the framework of the thesis which started in February on the project, campaigns of sampling of poultry carcasses directly in slaughterhouses have started. Ten batches of carcasses will be collected.  Sequencing of 16S rDNA amplicons associated with the presence of bacterial communities on the carcass rinses will be carried out as well as a quantification of Campylobacter by cultural method.

Les données de séquençage vont être analysées conjointement avec les données quantitatives ou semi-quantitatives de concentrations en Campylobacter afin de réaliser une analyse de réseaux de co-occurrence en collaboration avec l’UMR MaIAGE.

The sequencing data will be analyzed in conjunction with quantitative or semi-quantitative Campylobacter concentration data in order to perform a co-occurrence network analysis in collaboration with the UMR MaIAGE.