Most chicken farms are infested with a bacteria that cause diarrhoea, researchers have said, raising concerns about food safety in Kenya.
The Campylobacter bacteria were detected in nearly two in every three poultry farms surveyed in Murang’a county, one of the major suppliers of chicken meat to Nairobi.
Chickens carrying the bacteria can pose a food-safety risk if contamination reaches meat during slaughter, handling or preparation. The bacteria can cause diarrhoea, stomach pain and fever.
"These results highlight the need to strengthen farm-level biosecurity, ensure regular cleaning and sanitation to reduce Campylobacter colonisation and human exposure, and train farmers in best practices," said the experts from the University of Nairobi, Jkuat and Egerton University.
Poultry meat is one of the more affordable and widely consumed animal proteins in Kenya. Still, infectious agents and poor management in production systems can compromise its safety and quality, the experts said.
The finding underlines the need for farmers to improve hygiene and for consumers to handle raw chicken carefully and cook it thoroughly before eating.
The researchers tested samples from the intestines of birds and detected the bacteria on 63.2 per cent of 340 poultry farms.
Kienyeji chicken was not necessarily safer than the commercially raised broilers. Some 60.6 per cent of farms keeping Kienyeji chickens tested positive for the bacteria, compared with 82.6 per cent of farms keeping layers.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics reported that the Kienyeji chicken population grew by 9.2 per cent in 2024, while the broiler population fell by 8.7 per cent.
Consumer preference for the indigenous chicken, partly driven by perceived nutritional and health benefits, was among the factors linked to the increase.
But the breed of a chicken does not guarantee its safety. The study found that farm conditions were important in determining whether birds carried the bacteria or not.
“Poor poultry house hygiene (wet and dirty), large flock size and higher farmer education level were significant risk factors associated with Campylobacter colonisation in chickens,” the researchers wrote.
“Farms with poor hygiene practices were about 2.88 times more likely to have Campylobacter-positive birds than farms maintaining good hygiene standards.”
They said bacteria could persist in poultry litter, drinkers, feeders and other surfaces, allowing infection to spread between birds. They also found that larger flocks were associated with a higher likelihood of detecting the bacteria.
“Poor hygiene likely enables pathogen persistence in litter, drinkers, feeders and surfaces, promoting bird-to-bird transmission,” the paper states.
“This finding underscores the importance of effective cleaning and disinfection practices for reducing environmental contamination and interrupting pathogen transmission in poultry houses.”
Farmers can reduce the risk by keeping poultry houses clean and dry, managing litter properly, cleaning feeders and drinkers regularly and limiting the spread of contamination between poultry houses.
They said consumers also have a role in preventing infection by storing raw chicken separate from cooked food. Further, hands, knives, chopping boards and kitchen surfaces should be cleaned after handling raw chicken.
Chicken must be cooked thoroughly because sufficient heat kills Campylobacter.
The World Health Organisation identifies contaminated or undercooked poultry as an important source of infection.
The study, titled Farm-Level Risk Factors Associated With the Colonisation of Chicken Flocks With Campylobacter spp., was published in the International Journal of Microbiology.
Its authors are Luciano Achieng, Daniel Wanja, Christine Mbindyo, Shepelo Getrude Peter, Felix Kibegwa, Mathew Kiplimo, George Gitao and Charles Kato from Makerere University.
