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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Food and Feed Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #132238
Title: EFFECT OF PH AND EXPERIMENTAL CHLORATE COMPOUND (ECP) IN THE DRINKING WATER ON SALMONELLA CONTAMINATION OF MARKET-AGE BROILERS

Author
item Byrd Ii, James - Allen
item Moore, Randle
item KNAPE, KOYLE - TX A&M UNIVERSITY
item MCREYNOLDS, JACKSON - TX A&M UNIVERSITY
item Anderson, Robin
item Kubena, Leon
item Nisbet, David

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/12/2002
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Our laboratory has previously reported that organic acids and chlorate compounds reduce food-borne pathogens in poultry. Organic acids added in the drinking water reverse the increase in the crop pH associated with feed withdrawal. Chlorate compounds combined with organic acids should maximize the effects of these compounds. The following studies were performed to investigate the combined effects of an experimental chlorate product (ECP) and crop pH on Salmonella typhimurium (ST) recovery from market-age broilers. Broilers were obtained from a commercial processing plant and randomly assigned to control (non-treatment), ECP-treatment (ECP is equivalent to a 15 mM chlorate ion concentration), acidic ECP-treatment (pH 4.00) or basic ECP-treatment (pH 9.00) groups. Immediately upon arrival and 1 day prior to termination of the experiment broilers were challenged by crop gavage with 10**8 ST. Twenty-four hours after the last ST challenge, broilers were killed for crop and ceca ST enumeration following standard methods. Broilers provided basic ECP in the drinking water 48 hours prior to slaughter were found to consume slightly more ECP-water than broilers provided distilled water. Treatment with ECP or basic ECP caused a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in the incidence of ST in crop contents (0%) as compared to the controls (20%). Similarly, basic ECP or normal ECP treatment (0.0 Log10 ST /g crop content) caused a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in the number of ST recovered in the crop compared to controls (0.45 Log10 ST). A mean numerical reduction of ST recovered from the ceca was also observed in the basic ECP-treated group compared to the controls. This study suggests that incorporation of chlorate in the drinking water 48 hours prior to slaughter can reduce Salmonella contamination in market-age broilers.