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The present multicenter study aimed at assessing the performance of air sampling as a novel method for monitoring Campylobacter in biosecure poultry farms. We compared, using a harmonized procedure, the bacteriological isolation protocol (ISO 10272-1:2017) and a real-time PCR method used on air filter samples. Air samples and boot swabs were collected from 62 biosecure flocks from five European countries during the summer of 2019. For air filters, the frequency of PCR-positive findings was significantly higher (n-36; 58%) than that obtained with the cultivation methods (P=0.01; standardized residuals). The cultivation protocols (one with Bolton enrichment and one with Preston enrichment) were comparable to each other but returned fewer positive samples (0 to 8%). The association between type of sample and frequency of PCRpositive findings was statistically confirmed (P=0.01; Fisher's exact test), although no culture-positive air filters were detected using direct plating. For the boot swabs, the highest number of positive samples were detected after enrichment in Preston broth (n-23; 37%), followed by direct plating after homogenization in Preston (n-21; 34%) or Bolton broth (n-20; 32%). It is noteworthy that the flocks in Norway, a country known to have low Campylobacter prevalence in biosecure chicken flocks, tested negative for Campylobacter by the new sensitive approach. In conclusion, air sampling combined with real-time PCR is proposed as a multipurpose, low-cost, and convenient screening method that can be up to four times faster and four times more sensitive than the current boot-swab testing scheme used for screening biosecure chicken production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]