TraditionalREF 610216
Organism · Solutions
Campylobacter testing
Campylobacter is the leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in much of the world, and poultry is its principal reservoir — but it is also one of the most fragile organisms a laboratory has to recover.
Greyish colonies · microaerobic mCCDA
Why Campylobacter testing is demanding
Campylobacter is a microaerophile: it will not grow in normal atmosphere, and it dies quickly when exposed to it. Recovery therefore depends on a controlled microaerobic atmosphere from sampling through to reading, and on handling that limits the time samples spend in air.
That fragility works against detection in exactly the situations where it matters. Poultry carcasses and post-chill samples carry high background flora and stressed Campylobacter cells simultaneously, so selective supplements have to suppress competitors without further stressing the target organism.
Because culture recovery is difficult and slow, molecular methods have taken a larger share of routine Campylobacter testing than they have for most organisms — the specificity advantage is compounded by not depending on the organism surviving to the plate.
- Typical criterion
- Detection or count
- Reference method
- ISO 10272-1
- Atmosphere
- Microaerobic
- Culture result
- 2–5 days
Methods compared
Recovery is the hard part — method choice follows from how stressed the organism is.
- Traditional · ISO 10272-1Microaerobic culture
Selective enrichment and isolation on mCCDA under controlled microaerobic atmosphere. The reference method, and demanding in its handling requirements.
Time to result2–5 days - RapidSelective plating formats
Ready-to-use selective media that reduce preparation variability in a workflow where recovery is already the limiting factor.
Time to result48 h - Molecular · Real-time PCRDetection without recovery
Real-time PCR detecting the organism without depending on it surviving to a readable colony — a decisive advantage for stressed post-chill samples.
Time to resultSame day, post-enrichment
If samples travel or sit before testing, favour molecular — culture recovery falls quickly.
Ask usProducts for Campylobacter testing
A selection spanning culture media, rapid formats and molecular assays. The full range is in the catalogue.
Standards & compliance
The references a Campylobacter programme is measured against.
- ISO 10272-1
- Horizontal method for detection and enumeration of Campylobacter spp. — detection method.
- ISO 10272-2
- The colony-count technique, applied where a quantitative Campylobacter result is specified.
- AOAC validation
- Molecular Campylobacter assays carry AOAC validation; confirm coverage for poultry rinse and carcass matrices specifically.
- SFDA
- Supplied through an SFDA-licensed establishment, aligned to Kingdom requirements for the matrices you test.
Sourced from the brands your methods are built on.
Testing for Campylobacter?
Tell us your matrix and how fast you need a release decision — we'll recommend the method and respond with pricing, availability and lead time.