author(s)
Nishchal Dutta, HS Banga, Sidhartha Deshmukh, Geeta Devi Leishangthem and Nittin Dev Singh

abstract
The current study was done to comprehend the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in 100 raw chicken meat samples collected from the various retail shops and local butcher shops in Ludhiana, Punjab, to study the putative impact of contamination of meat during meat handling. C. jejuni was isolated from raw chicken meat and its localization was done by histopathology and various bio-molecular techniques like IHC and Fluorescence in situ hybridization. Prevalence of 8% was observed i.e. 08 out of 100 samples were positive and these samples were subjected to molecular identification using Fluorescence in situ hybridization technique to corroborate their presence in these meat samples. Histopathological analysis of the samples revealed changes in the tissues viz. heart, muscle, liver, kidney, and gizzard varying from degenerative changes, inflammation, and focal to multifocal areas of fibrosis. Bio-molecular techniques like immunohistochemistry (IHC) and FISH attested the presence of C. jejuni in meat samples.