Industrial poultry farming leads to 100-fold increase in food-poisoning bacteria, study finds
Researchers found more than 2,700 genomes from 30 countries showed poultry flocks helped Campylobacter spread, mix and gain antimicrobial resistance traits.
- A groundbreaking study by the University of Oxford has revealed that the rapid global expansion of industrial poultry farming has caused a more than 100-fold increase in the movement and spread of Campylobacter.
- Campylobacter stands as the leading bacterial cause of gastroenteritis and diarrhea worldwide, responsible for 3.5 times more cases in the UK each year than all other monitored foodborne bacteria combined.
- Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , the researchers analyzed nearly 2,800 bacterial genomes collected from chickens and wild birds across 30 countries between 1979 and 2024 to trace the pathogen's evolutionary trajectory.
- The findings highlight a dramatic shift since the 1960s, during which global chicken populations surged seven-fold to approximately 31 billion birds, turning commercial poultry into massive ecological "pathogen sponges" that absorb and amplify bacterial strains originally restricted to wild birds.
- Beyond increased transmission, genomic modeling shows that these highly dense poultry populations have allowed Campylobacter to adapt aggressively to the farm environment, rapidly acquiring new genetic traits linked to extreme survival and dangerous levels of antimicrobial resistance.
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44 Articles
Industrial chicken farming linked to spread of gut bug behind food poisoning
A landmark study has revealed that the global expansion of intensive chicken farming is driving the rapid spread of campylobacter, the most prevalent bacterial source of diarrhoeal illness worldwide.The research, newly published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, documents a staggering 100-fold rise in the transfer of bacterial strains between domesticated chickens and wild bird populations since 1900.Scientists at the Unive…
In a new study, scientists have warned that global poultry farming is causing the rapid growth of Campylobacter bacteria, a major cause of diseases like diarrhea, and this bacteria is also increasing antibiotic resistance.
Sky News UK
Great Yorkshire RadioIndustrial poultry farming leads to 100-fold increase in food-poisoning bacteria, study finds
Researchers tracked genetic changes in a bacteria that causes food-poisoning in bird populations, and found large-scale poultry farming is linked to antimicrobial resistance.
Industrial chicken farming drives evolution of foodborne bacteria strains
A new study by the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research, University of Oxford, reveals that industrial poultry farming has led to more than 100-fold increase in the movement of Campylobacter, allowing strains that once circulated in wild birds to mix extensively in commercial poultry populations.
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