Paper Title
Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Essential Oils, Eugenol or Trans-cinnamaldehyde, on Enteric Colonization of Campylobacter in Broiler Chickens

Abstract
Campylobacter is a leading cause of foodborne bacterial enteritis in humans. Consumption or mishandling of contaminated poultry products are one of the most significant sources of Campylobacter infection in humans. A reduction in intestinal Campylobacter counts in preharvest poultry would reduce the likelihood of producing contaminated poultry products, which could drastically reduce the incidence of human illness caused by this pathogen. This study evaluated the efficacy of in-feed supplementation of two generally recognized as safe (GRAS) compounds, eugenol (a clove extract) and trans-cinnamaldehyde (an extract of cinnamon), for their ability to reduce enteric colonization of Campylobacter in broiler chickens. In three replicated trials, day of hatch chicks (N=90 birds/trial) were allocated into nine treatment groups and received either 0% or 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.8% eugenol or trans-cinnamaldehyde in feed for 14 days prior to necropsy (n=10 birds/treatment). Chicks were challenged in all trials with C. jejuni 72 h after the start of experiment and ceca were collected on day 14 for enumeration of cecal Campylobacter counts. Enteric Campylobacter counts were reduced for 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.4% eugenol or 0.4% trans-cinnamaldehyde treatment groups in 2 out of 3 trials when compared to the positive controls. Although these treatments demonstrated some efficacy, they did not consistently reduce cecal Campylobacter in all three trials. Key words - Eugenol, Trans-Cinnamaldehyde, Broilers, Campylobacter