ARS | Publication request: EGGBORNE TRANSMISSION OF CAMPYLOBACTER JEJUNI FROM THE BREEDER HEN TO HER PROGENY AND THE PRESENCE OF OTHER HUMAN FOODBORNE PATHOGENS IN THE BREEDER HEN'S REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM

Submitted to: World Health Organization
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: December 20, 2000
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: For many decades, commercial poultry feed and feed ingredients were thought to be the primary contributors to the salmonellae contamination of poultry. Most poultry producers believed that if salmonellae could be eliminated from the feed, the problem would be solved. Unfortunately, the situation was not, and presently is not, that simple. Many studies have shown that Salmonella serotypes found on the final product (the fully processed broiler carcass) predominately originate from sources other than feed and usually these sources are hatcheries, breeder flocks, or litter. Transmission of Campylobacter jejuni from the parent breeder flock through the egg has been dismissed as source of entry into the broiler flock primarily because Campylobacter have not been cultured from hatchery samples or from newly hatched chicks. Campylobacter were isolated from fresh droppings from both the parent flock and broiler flock which were many miles apart. DNA sequencing provided conclusive evidence that these isolates of Campylobacter from both flocks were of clonal origin. As a result of these findings, future intervention strategies must consider the breeder hen, the egg and the hatcheries as critical points of Campylobacter entry into broiler flocks.