MIRCEN Journal, 1989,5, 199-204 Penetration of Campylobacterjejuni at different storage temperatures in membranes and contents of cracked eggs Anita Chaudhary, L. K. Gupta* and Saroj Sharma Department of Microbiology, Panjab University, Chandigarh -- 160 014, India Received 22 September 1988; accepted as revised 20 December 1988 Introduction Campylobacter jejuni is recognized as a source of food poisoning (Stern 1982). It is commonly associated with live, freshly slaughtered and retail-ready poultry (Luechtefeld & Wang 1981; Kinde et al. 1983; Oosterom et al. 1983). Other foods like raw milk (Robinson & Jones 1981), beef, pork, lamb (Skirrow & Benjamin 1980; Stern 1982) are also implicated in C. jejuni food poisoning. Eggs become infected through different routes or via soiling of the shell by infected faeces or due to poorly maintained nesting boxes and during washing with cold water (Mayes & TakebaUi 1983). There is no information available as to how C. jejuni behaves after penetration into cracked eggs which would then have a bearing on the safe consumption of such eggs. Doyle (1984) has shown that C. jejuni could penetrate occasionally the inner shell and membranes of sound uncracked refrigerated eggs but not the egg contents. The purpose of this study was to determine whether C. jejuni could be isolated from outer or inner membranes of eggs and ultimately from the contents of cracked eggs under different temperatures of storage. Materials and methods Bacterial strain Campylobacter jejuni 79-193 was obtained from Denver Veterans Administration, Medical Centre Culture Collection, Denver, USA. *Correspondifigauthor. 9 OxfordUniversity Press 1989