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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #103746
Title: USE OF MUCOSAL STARTER CULTURE(TM) TO REDUCE SALMONELLA DURING BROILER PRODUCTION

Author
item Cox Jr, Nelson
item Bailey, Joseph
item Stern, Norman

Submitted to: Midwest Poultry Federation Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/1/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Commercial poultry has been implicated as a food source causing human salmonellosis. A process that rapidly matures the gut of a chicken (mucosal starter culture) was shown to reduce the salmonella contamination in commercial poultry. If applied to commercial poultry, this process will reduce exposure o humans to poultry borne salmonellae and hence human illness.

Technical Abstract: Multiple entry points for salmonellae exist in the present day production and processing of commercial poultry. As a consequence, multifaceted intervention approaches will likely be required during the various phases of poultry production. A two-step treatment of broiler chicks with an anaerobically grown mucosal starter culture [MC(TM)] was tested in commercial field trials. MSC(TM) was first sprayed on the chicks in the hatchery followed by administration in the first drinking water. These field trials demonstrated in a commercial setting that MSC(TM) can serve as a useful means to reduce salmonellae contamination in poultry. However, salmonellae contamination in the breeder flocks and hatcheries can colonize the young chick's intestinal tract before the treatment, thereby overriding or minimizing the beneficial effects of a treatment such as MSC(TM). In an attempt to produce salmonella-free poultry a combination of interventions needs to be considered; (1) rapidly applying the best possible chemical disinfection to the freshly laid fertile eggs, (2) combined with disinfecting the circulating air in hatching cabinets, and then (3) application of an effective MSC(TM).