Campylobacter jejuni is the most common thermophilic Campylobacter associated with human enteritis in
many countries. Broilers and their by-products are the main sources for human enteritis. Refrigeration and
freezing are used to control bacterial growth in foods. The effect of these interventions on survival of
Campylobacter jejuni is yet not quite understood. This study evaluated the effect of storage temperature on
the survival of C. jejuni in chicken meat stored for seven days at 4°C and for 28 days at -20°C. The
influence of selective enrichment on recovery of Campylobacter was also evaluated. Thirty fresh chicken
meat samples were analyzed and 93.3% was contaminated with termotolerant Campylobacter spp. with
average count of 3.08 Log10 CFU/g on direct plating. After refrigeration, 53.3% of the analyzed samples
tested positive for Campylobacter and the average count was 1.19 Log10 CFU/g. After storage at -20°C,
36.6% of the samples were positive with a verage count of 0.75 Log10 CFU/g. C. jejuni was detected after
enrichment, respectively, in 50% of the fresh, 36.7% of the refrigerated and 33.3% of the frozen meat
samples analyzed. No difference was detected for the recovery of C. jejuni from fresh, refrigerated or
frozen samples after selective enrichment, showing that this microorganism can survive under the tested
storage conditions.
