CamChain: Biology and control of Campylobacter in the chicken supply chain

We comprise groups in Europe, Thailand and Viet Nam. The Thai government will fund work there and that in Viet Nam will be funded by Wellcome Trust and the Dutch Government. Our work will address knowledge gaps on the behaviour of Campylobacter in the poultry chain. We need to better understand interactions between Campylobacter, chickens and the environment and how these affect food safety. We will create a holistic picture of Campylobacter behaviour in chicken production and fundamental data on survival, how environmental exposures affect virulence and on-farm population biology and on pre- and/or probiotic intervention on-farm to reduce Campylobacter levels entering the food chain. We will use modelling and risk assessment tools to identify and test the potential efficacy of different interventions that can be utilised by the international poultry industry. We will determine the role of flies as vectors of Campylobacter to broilers and develop improved surveillance tools in order to reduce the number of Campylobacter in broiler meat.