Techniques for the optimum recovery of cold injured Campylobacter jejuni from milk or water

When broth was inoculated with cells of Campylobacter jejuni that had been injured by chilling there was a fall in the viable population of up to 90%. It was greater at 43° than 37°C and in the presence of certain antibiotics and in some cases resulted in a surviving population that was below the minimum inoculum for subsequent growth. A technique of pre-enrichment in non-selective culture broth at 37°C for 2 h before the addition of antibiotics and incubation at 43°C was found to significantly reduce the fall in numbers and to improve the detection of C. jejuni in samples of raw milk and water.