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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Egg and Poultry Production Safety Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #378335
Research Project: Reduction of Invasive Salmonella enterica in Poultry through Genomics, Phenomics and Field Investigations of Small Multi-Species Farm Environments

Location: Egg and Poultry Production Safety Research Unit

Title: Mapping foodborne pathogen contamination throughout the conventional and alternative poultry supply chains.

Author
item GOLDEN, CHASE - University Of Georgia
item Rothrock, Michael
item ABHINAV, MISHRA - University Of Georgia

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/17/2021
Publication Date: 3/7/2021
Citation: Golden, C.E., Rothrock Jr, M.J., Abhinav, M. 2021. Mapping foodborne pathogen contamination throughout the conventional and alternative poultry supply chains. Poultry Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2021.101157.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2021.101157

Interpretive Summary: Recently, there has been a consumer push for natural and organic food products. This has caused alternative poultry production, such as organic, pasture, and free-range systems, to grow in popularity. Due to the stricter rearing practices of alternative poultry production systems, different types of levels of microbiological risks might be present for these systems when compared to conventional production systems. Both conventional and alternative production systems have complex supply chains that present many different chances for flocks of birds or poultry meat to be contaminated with foodborne pathogens. As such, it is important to understand the risks involved during each step of production. The purpose of this review was to detail the potential routes of foodborne pathogen transmission throughout the conventional and alternative supply chains, with a special emphasis on the differences in risk between the two management systems, and to identify gaps in knowledge that could assist, if addressed, in poultry risk-based decision making.

Technical Abstract: Recently, there has been a consumer push for natural and organic food products. This has caused alternative poultry production, such as organic, pasture, and free-range systems, to grow in popularity. Due to the stricter rearing practices of alternative poultry production systems, different types of levels of microbiological risks might be present for these systems when compared to conventional production systems. Both conventional and alternative production systems have complex supply chains that present many different chances for flocks of birds or poultry meat to be contaminated with foodborne pathogens. As such, it is important to understand the risks involved during each step of production. The purpose of this review was to detail the potential routes of foodborne pathogen transmission throughout the conventional and alternative supply chains, with a special emphasis on the differences in risk between the two management systems, and to identify gaps in knowledge that could assist, if addressed, in poultry risk-based decision making.