Issues Concerning Food Safety in Poultry and Egg Production: Issues Concerning Salmonella and Campylobacter in Poultry Symposium

Four or 5 decades ago one of the main concerns was to extend the shelf life of refrigerated processed poultry. Some Salmonella analyses were done but primarily indicator organisms were used. At that time Campylobacter were not yet recognized as a foodborne (poultryborne) enteropathogen. At present, both of these microorganisms are routinely tested for both by cultural and rapid, high tech methods. It is fairly well established as to how Salmonella gets into a broiler flock, but many points of cultural methodology are not yet fully understood. Even for a relatively well-understood sample type such as a chilled poultry carcass, there is no internationally recognized standard method for Salmonella detection; for sample size, laboratory methods, number of colonies to pick etc. For example, Salmonella prevalence rates on chicken carcasses can be increased or decreased depending on the sampling methods used, such as changing the portion cultured after whole carcass rinsing or changing the sample weight in neck skin. Also many studies have demonstrated that cultural techniques can influence the serotypes that are recovered from samples and certainly that along with binomial and multinomial probabilities of picking serotypes at various ratios within a medium may explain the changing serotype patterns reported during rearing and processing of poultry. Therefore, along with a better understanding of the weaknesses of our lab methods, internationally agreed upon and reliable culture methods for both Salmonella and Campylobacter in poultry from the farm to retail are sorely needed. The situation is more complex with Campylobacter because it is more difficult to develop reliable culture methods, particularly from dry samples because this microorganism rapidly converts to a noncultural state. Plus there is still a great deal of controversy as to exactly how Campylobacter gets into the commercial poultry flocks. For a young poultry research scientist, the future is very bright. Much more research is needed on both of these organisms in many different areas.