Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine

Chicken eggs, chicken, pork and beef are sources of high-quality protein, and also support Japan's diverse food culture. On the other hand, it is also known as causative foods of non-typhoidal salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis, which are most commonly known as bacterial food poisoning. In particular, many of the salmonellosis cases, which have increased sharply since 1990, are presumed to be caused by eating Salmonella-contaminated chicken eggs. Therefore, the government launched various countermeasures across the entire egg food chain, such as strengthening the import quarantine of day old chicks, strengthening hygiene measures for breeding chicken farms, laying-hen farms, and egg grading and packaging centers. However, these two food poisoning cases still rank high among bacterial food poisoning incidents, and there is a continuing need to reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter food poisoning caused by chicken eggs, chicken, pork and beef. In addition, antibiotics used on farms have made these bacteria resistant, and eating food contaminated with resistant bacteria has led to medical problems such as infection with resistant bacteria. Therefore, there is also a need to reduce the resistance rate of these bacteria. In order to achieve these goals, not only the livestock industry, but also food manufacturers, restaurants, consumers, and all other stakeholders in the food chain should be aware of the status of Salmonella and Campylobacter contamination and the implementation of biological countermeasures in the food chain. After sharing and understanding such information, each stakeholder needs to implement countermeasures to reduce these food poisoning incidents. Therefore, we are continuously investigating the contamination status of Salmonella and Campylobacter in the food chain and the antimicrobial resistance status of the isolates.

Prevalence of foodborne pathogenic bacteria in livestock farms
Relationship between antibiotic use and the selection of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria on livestock farms
Identification of antimicrobial resistance factors
Genetic phylogenetic analysis of foodborne pathogenic bacteria