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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Food Safety and Enteric Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #170316
Title: THE EFFECT OF TRANSPORT AND HOLDING ON SALMONELLA AND CAMPYLOBACTER IN COMMERCIAL TURKEYS

Author
item Wesley, Irene
item Hurd, Howard
item Muraoka, Wayne
item Harbaugh, Ellen
item TRAMPEL, D - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Proceedings of North Central Avian Disease Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/3/2004
Publication Date: 10/3/2004
Citation: Wesley, I.V., Hurd, H.S., Muraoka, W.T., Harbaugh, E., Trampel, D. 2004. The effect of transport and holding on Salmonella and Campylobacter in commercial turkeys [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the North Central Avian Disease Conference. The Food Safety Consortium Annual Meeting, October 3-5, 2004, Ames, Iowa. 2004 CDROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine if perimarketing events, such as transport and holding at the slaughterhouse impact Salmonella and Campylobacter prevalence in turkeys. For Salmonella, floors of transport crates were swabbed after loading but prior to transport at the farm (Time 1) and after transport and holding at the abattoir (Time 2). When compared with crate swabs collected after loading on-farm (Time 1, 47.75%) there was a decline in Salmonella recovered in swabs of transport crates collected after transport (Time 2, 39.42%). Salmonella was isolated overall from 38.67% of environmental samples (n = 150) taken in the turkey house. Farm prevalence, based on recoveries from ceca and spleen at slaughter (n = 300 each), ranged from 8% to 100%. This indicates substantial variations between farms. To determine Campylobacter spp. prevalence, cloacal swabs from market-weight turkeys were obtained on the farm prior to the arrival of transport vehicles (Time 1, 120 swabs per flock) and after holding at the abattoir (Time 2, ~ 120 swabs per flock). A statistically significant increase in the overall levels of Campylobacter spp. was observed in samples obtained from Flock 3 following transportation (P < 0.01). For both Salmonella and Campylobacter, neither distance transported nor farm management practices were correlated with the prevalence of these major human foodborne pathogens.