OCCURRENCE OF YERSINIA SPECIES IN POULTRY PRODUCTS

From the results of this study and from literature data it can be conc luded that poultry products are often contaminated with Yersinia speci es. However, potentially pathogenic strains of Y. enterocolitica are u sually not isolated from poultry and there are no reports of yersinios is caused by poultry contaminated with Y. enterocolitica. Poultry prod ucts from the retail trade were investigated on the occurrence of Y. e nterocolitica and related species using enrichment in Irgasan-Ticarcil lin-Chlorate (ITC) broth and isolation on Salmonella-Shigella-Deoxycho late-Calcium chloride (SSDC) agar. Yersinia species were isolated from 35 (8 %) of 390 samples of chicken products. The isolated Yersinia st rains did not belong to potentially pathogenic serogroups and did not show virulence in two in vitro virulence tests. From the results of th is study and from literature date it can be concluded that poultry pro ducts are usually not contaminated with potentially pathogenic Y. ente rocolitica strains.