###### Abstract  
The EU commission established Regulation (2017/1495) in 2017 to reduce _Campylobacter_ on chicken skin and to decrease the number of human cases of campylobacteriosis attributable to the consumption of poultry meat. A Process Hygiene Criterion based on colony-forming unit data was set to a maximum of 1000 CFU _Campylobacter_ spp. per gram chicken neck skin at slaughterhouses. Confronted with stressors, including cold, oxidative stress or antibiotic treatment, live cells may enter into a viable but non-cultivable state (VBNC) and lose the ability to grow, in reference to the plate count ISO 10272-2:2017 method, but still possess the potential to recover and cause infections under favorable conditions. In this study, a droplet digital PCR combined with the intercalating dye propidium monozide (PMA) was established for quantification of _C. coli_ and _C. jejuni_ in chicken meat rinses. The PMA was used to inactivate DNA from dead cells in this technique. This method was successfully validated against the reference method according to ISO 16140-2:2016 for accuracy and relative trueness. Additionally, it presented a 100% selectivity for _Campylobacter jejuni_ and _C. coli_. Moreover, the technical measurement uncertainty was determined according to ISO 19036:2019, and the applicability of ddPCR for quantifying _C. coli_ and _C. jejuni_ in chicken meat rinses was investigated on naturally contaminated samples from slaughterhouses and supermarkets. Results obtained from this study demonstrated a strong correlation to qPCR as well as the classical microbiological reference method. Footnote †: 2022: 17 May 2022  
a stable count of approximately 20,000 cases per year [3]. _C. jejuni_, followed by _C. coli_ are the predominant thermophilic _Campylobacter_ species in poultry samples, which are mainly responsible for foodborne human infections [4; 5]. A Process Hygiene Criterion (PHC) of a maximum of 1000 Colony Forming Units (CFU) thermophilic _Campylobacter_ per gram of chicken skin came into effect in January 2018 (Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1495 [6]), to reduce significantly the _Campylobacter_ contamination of poultry at slaughterhouses. According to the estimation of EFSA [3], more than 50% of the public health risk due to _Campylobacter_ could be reduced if none of the carcasses would exceed this PHC. The reference colony-enumeration method [7] for the quantification of _Campylobacter_ is time-consuming, laborious, and it can underestimate viable and potentially infectious cells. Environmental conditions such as cold, oxidative stress [8; 9], as well as antibiotic treatments [10; 11] have been reported to completely stop the growth of _Campylobacter_ on agar plates. This may be due to the fact that cells enter into a viable but non-cultivable state (VBNC) [12]. The VBNC state is a survival strategy for bacteria in order to overcome the above mentioned stressful external conditions [13]. Under favorable conditions, VBNC cells can revive and recover full infectious ability [14; 15]. Both cultivable and VBNC cells represent a significant threat to public health. While cultivable _Campylobacter_ can be quantified by plate counting, VBNC remains undetected, making the reference method unsuitable for a proper risk assessment for _Campylobacter_ spp. in broiler meat. Molecular-based technology, like quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and digital PCR (dPCR) can overcome this limitation by detecting and quantifying _Campylobacter_ DNA of VBNC cells. Furthermore, a sample treatment prior to DNA extraction analysis with DNA-intercalating dyes like propidium monoazide (PMA) enables differentiation between viable and dead cells via PCR. PMA passes through membrane-compromised dead cells, intercalates into cytoplasmic DNA, upon light exposure crosslinks to DNA, and inactivates it for PCR amplification [9; 16; 17]. Therefore, only intact and putatively infectious units (IPIU) comprising CFU and VBNC _Campylobacter_ cells generate a signal in qPCR.