Pre-Slaughter Control of Food-Borne Bacterial Pathogens in Poultry without Antibiotics

There is growing concern with regard to the continued emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria, which pose a significant risk to both human and animal health. Antibiotics have been used as therapeutic agents in agriculture since the 1940 s and in subtherapeutic doses as food additives to improve feed conversion of livestock and domestic poultry since the 1950's. However, the use of antibiotics in the poultry industry, both at therapeutic and sub-therapeutic levels, is thought by some to add to the problem of the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria (Anonymous, 1999). The emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria has been the basis for considerations to eliminate or severely restrict the use of antibiotics in the poultry industry. Such restriction would make the poultry industry vulnerable to an increase in bacterial disease of food safety importance. These diseases would significantly increase the risk of pathogen contamination of poultry products, increase the cost of poultry production, and decrease poultry welfare. Therefore, there is a real need to find effective and practical alternatives to antibiotics for poultry production.