Background: Campylobacter is the most commonly reported causative agent of foodborne bacterial infection in Germany, and contaminated chicken meat is an important source of this zoonotic agent. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge of consumers in Germany about Campylobacter, Salmonella and Toxoplasma and their transmissibility via meat. In addition, we investigated the level of knowledge between selected consumer groups and whether the results coincided with those of international studies. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 1008 consumers in Germany via an online panel to record, analyse and evaluate the state of knowledge about Campylobacter, Salmonella and Toxoplasma. The participants were selected according to age, gender and federal states to be representative of the German population.Results: Overall, 68.3% of the respondents had never heard of Campylobacter, 20.2% had heard of Campylobacter but did not know how to protect themselves, and only 11.5% knew how to protect themselves from Campylobacter infections. Slightly more than half (52.2%) of the respondents who had at least heard of Campylobacter knew that Campylobacter was transmissible via meat. Knowledge increased significantly with age. Participants over 60 years old knew about Campylobacter almost three times as often as the 16-to 19-year-old comparison group (OR = 2.982). Consumers who had at least a secondary school certificate were almost twice as likely to know about Campylobacter as those who had no school certificate or a lower secondary school certificate (OR = 1.899). Participants who were not actors in the food chain were significantly less frequently informed about Campylobacter than were those who were actors in the food chain. Consumer knowledge of Toxoplasma was better than that of Campylobacter. Consumers have the most knowledge about Salmonella.Conclusions: Consumers in Germany are predominantly poorly informed about Campylobacter and the transmission route via meat. General knowledge of Toxoplasma is better than that of Campylobacter. Among the three pathogens, consumers are best informed about Salmonella. This finding highlights the importance of making existing information materials more accessible to consumers in the future to increase their knowledge, with the objective of reducing the incidence of Campylobacter infections.

Contamination with potentially pathogenic microorganisms may occur at all stages of the food chain. We conducted a representative cross-sectional survey of 1008 consumers aged 16 years and older in Germany via an online panel; the aim was to assess the perception of consumers regarding the influence of aspects of meat production on the safety and quality of meat. Over 70 % of the participants indicated that poultry fattening farms had a “high or very high” influence on meat safety, followed by cooks or meat preparers (66.3 %). Meat consumption was significantly associated with a high perception of the influence of cooks or meat preparers (p=0.025). The oldest participants were almost three times as likely to vote “high influence” and six times as likely to select “very high influence” (instead of “no or limited”) as the youngest participants (high influence: OR = 2.89, p = 0.016; very high influence: OR = 6.06, p < 0.001). Of all participants, 78.1 % believed organic farming had a positive influence on the safety of meat compared to conventional farming.  Participants over 60 years voted significantly more frequently than youngest participants (16-19 years) that organic farming had no influence (p=0.006; OR= 5.71) or positive influence (p= 0.007; OR 3.93) on meat safety. In addition, it could be shown that majority of consumer believe that irradiation of meat had a negative influence on the safety of meat. In conclusion, consumers were aware that many aspects were important for food safety and quality. The influence of organic farming compared to conventional farming as well as the influence of irradiation was often incorrectly assessed by consumers. Consumers seemed to need more information on sensitive issues such as the different types of farming or the effects of irradiation, to assess the impact of these aspects on the safety and quality of meat better.