SYMPOSIA AND ORAL SESSIONS Keynote Symposium: Tomorrow’s Poultry: Sustainability and Safety

The poultry industry in the United States faces numerous challenges that both directly and indirectly impact the sustainability of the nation’s poultry production systems. The intensive selection for fast growth and high feed efficiency in modern-day birds has been accompanied by a weakened immune system, increased disease susceptibility and dependence on in-feed antibiotics. Consumers have voiced a concern about the ways in which birds are fed and the widespread use of in-feed antimicrobials. Such concerns have led to the tremendous increase in organic poultry production in recent years. However, such antibiotic-free production systems also face bacterial disease challenges such as necrotic enteritis resulting in reduced growth rate, poor feed efficiency and increased contamination. It is imperative that today’s poultry industries be proactive in improving the safety of poultry foods. Addressing these challenges requires an increased input of knowledge about production systems and expertise to develop integrative systems that maximize animal health and product safety in a sustainable manner. Such measures include improvement of diet, utilization of biocontrol measures to enhance bird health, and novel processing and packaging strategies to enhance safety of food products. These measures must also be cost-effective for the continued viability of the industry. It is essential to understand these different strategies to successfully plan for the future of poultry production and food security in the US The objectives of this symposium are to provide a direct interaction and collaboration among food/feed scientists, nutritional immunologists, microbiologists, and veterinarians who are working in the areas of bird health, feed, and food safety. Such a dialog will foster cross-fertilization of ideas, stimulate the development of innovative strategies to enhance food safety and the sustainability of US poultry food systems.