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Title: RESEARCH AND INDUSTRY EFFORTS TO CONTROL SALMONELLA IN CHICKENS

Author
item Bailey, Joseph

Submitted to: International Association for Food Protection
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/13/2006
Publication Date: 8/13/2006
Citation: Bailey, J.S. 2006. Research and industry efforts to control salmonella in chickens. International Association for Food Protection. 93:15-16.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The ecology and epidemiology of Salmonella in poultry and their environments is complex. Elimination or significant reduction of Salmonella from chickens and their production and processing environments will require comprehensive, multi-faceted intervention procedures from the breeder level through grow-out and processing. The majority of research and industry efforts to control Salmonella in raw chicken meat have focused on identifying a terminal pasteurization step for the processing plant. There is also recognition that in order to eliminate or reduce the load of Salmonella entering the processing plant, that intervention procedures will have to be implemented on the farm. In recent years, processing equipment has been modified to facilitate food safety applications and numerous cleaning and disinfection steps have been added to commercial processing plants. In addition, numerous antimicrobial chemicals have been tested and shown to have varying degrees of effectiveness for controlling Salmonella. The effectiveness of these procedures and chemicals will be reviewed. Evidence of the role that on-farm interventions can play in effectively helping to control Salmonella can be seen in Sweden and Denmark where on-farm programs have significantly controlled Salmonella in broiler chicken production. The size and competitive nature of the industry make implementation of new pathogen intervention technologies that would significantly increase costs of production a challenge unless there is a concomitant decision by the entire industry to implement the technology. Research and anecdotal evidence suggests that the use of live and killed cell vaccines in breeders, competitive exclusion treatments in breeders and broilers, and extensive biosecurity in breeder and broiler operations should yield similar results without the extensive costs of eradication programs used in the Scandinavian countries.