USDA selects Neogen to offer Campylobacter medium

According to the company, Campy-Cefex provides a quicker and simpler way to detect and differentiate the pathogens Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli from other, relatively harmless, members of the Campylobacter species.

Campy-Cefex is patented by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service microbiologist Norman Stern, with the ARS Poultry Microbiological Safety Research Unit in Athens, Ga. Stern’s patented formulation uses the antibiotics cycloheximide and cefoperazone, and has been shown by the USDA to both grow Campylobacter in a culture and repress the growth of most other microorganisms. Consequently, it was determined that the additional antibiotics previously used with other Campylobacter media were not needed.

“We’re very pleased to have been chosen to manufacture and market Campy-Cefex, a culture medium that the USDA has shown to provide superior performance in detecting the most dangerous strains of Campylobacter,” said Ed Bradley, Neogen’s vice president of Food Safety. “As a partner to numerous poultry production operations, there is an added bit of confidence in offering a medium from the USDA as we work with the regulators to help ensure our customers’ poultry products are safe as they can be.”