Acid Cocktail for the Reduction of Campylobacter spp.

Campylobacteriosis was the most frequently reported zoonosis in the EU in 2020 and the most common cause of foodborne illness. Rare secondary diseases of a Campylobacter infection can include reactive arthritis and Guillain-Barré syndrome. After a Campylobacter infection, one in five people suffers from irritable bowel syndrome. Campylobacter bacteria in humans and poultry are increasingly showing high levels of resistance to macrolide and fluroquinolone antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin, which is commonly used to treat some bacterial infections in humans.

Challenge

The increasing number of officially registered human cases shows the urgent need to develop new strategies for the prevention, control and treatment of Campylobacter infections and thus reduce the number of infections in humans. Due to the problem of existing and increasing antibiotic resistance, preventive antibiotic use is prohibited, so that currently only hygiene measures are available to reduce Campylobacter concentrations in the food chain. For this reason, effective measures to reduce bacteria in farm animals and, in particular, to reduce bacterial colonization of the poultry intestines have been sought for years. One possibility is the administration of organic acids via the drinking water or feed. It became clear that a combined administration of organic acids had significant advantages over individual administration, though there were serious problems with the properties of effective treatment, storage stability and toxicity while having excellent solubility, viscosity and preparatory properties.

Our Solution

The invention is a supplementary feed for poultry that consists of a defined mixture of acids and salts of the three organic acids propionic, sorbic and acetic acid and leads to a reduction in Campylobacter concentrations in the chicken intestine by administering the cocktail with the drinking water or feed. This mixture, found in the systematic approach, works via the molecular properties of the organic acids and not via a shift in the pH value, i.e. the selection of the organic acids is crucial. The solubility is greatly improved compared to previously tested mixtures by omitting the benzoe acid. The reduction of Campylobacter occurs at a level of 4 log levels, which mathematically would lead to a 90% reduction in human Campylobacteriosis cases.

Advantages

The bacterial load of Campylobacter ssp. is reduced by 4 log levels, so that foodborne illness caused by Campylobacter loaded poultry would decrease significantly. The solution offers

• High solubility
• Easy application
• Low cost

Applications

This new acid cocktail could be easily add to feed/food, water or pharmaceuticals to reduce the bacterial load of Campylobacter ssp. for example in broiler feed.

Development Status

Ready to use

Patent Status

IP rights ( EP 223208643 A1) have been filed in the name of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover. A licensing partner for application is sought.

References

https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkad217
https://DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239312

Contact

Christiane Bolli
Patent Manager Lifescience
E-Mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tel.: +49 551 30724 156
Reference: BioM-2477-TiHo

Tags: broiler farming, poultry farming, animal nutrition, acetic acid, Campylobacter, sorbic acid, proionic acid