Strategies to Control Salmonella in poultry Farms and ... - cid lines

Strategies to Control Salmonella in poultry
Farms and Processing Plants
Poultry is considered one of the most important Salmonella reservoirs, it
has been public health concern over the past 100 years and continues to be
a major food borne pathogen effecting humans.
Strategies to prevent transmission of salmonella to humans should focus on
the whole production chain of broiler meat and on the subsequent storage
and handling of meat, thus from FARM TO FORK
Factors affecting Salmonella prevalence
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Salmonella can be introduced on the broiler farm by:
o Vehicles
o People
o Clothing
o Footwear
o Equipment
o Utensils
o Water
o Feed
o Feathers
o Carcass of dead birds
o Litter
o Insects
o Rodents
o Wild birds
o Pets
Salmonelaa control strategies in broilers are the following:
• Pre-harvest phase (breeding farms and broiler farms)
• Harvest phase (catching and transport)
• Post harvest phase (at the slaughter house, at retail and in the consumer’s kitchen or
restaurants)
Salmonella control in the Production phase (Pre-Harvest)
Biosecurity and hygiene Measures
General hygienic and bioscurity measures should be part of the overall management plan of
poultry producing integrators and companies. These measures are of utmost importance to
control infections and all other measures lose their efficacy when the overall biosecurity plan
is not functioning.
• Introducing salmonella free birds is the most important starting point to prevent
infections
• Incoming birds should be of good health status
• Restricted access is an important issue
• Shower and changing room facilities for workers and visitors
• Limit the entry of nonessential visitors
Only essential visitors, wearing protective clothing (coveralls, gloves, mask, etc) and
disinfected boots should be allowed on-farm.
Simple measures such as foot baths, wheel baths, hand hygiene and minimizing
movement between different animal houses need to be implemented properly.
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Buildings, surfaces, fans, cooling pads and equipments should be cleaned and disinfected
properly.
Establish clear zone free from vegetation around building to discourage rodent and insect
traffic in the building
In an overall management plan, cleaning and disinfection after each production cycle
must be routinely performed as described below (CID LINES SANITATION PROGRAM)
5 basic principles for Salmonella control
1. Salmonella free day-old-chicks (parent stock, hatchery, transport)
Salmonella is transmitted vertically (via the egg from parent to chick), thus an obvious
starting point for any Salmonella control strategy is to ensure poultry breeding flocks
are kept Salmonella free
2. Rearing chicks in Salmonella free environment
a. All-in/all-out management
b. Vector control: Wild birds, flies and rodents
c. Visitors
d. Good cleaning and disinfection protocol
3. Salmonella free water and feed
• Pelleted feed 10 times less Salmonella than non-pelleted feed (thanks to heat
treatment)
• Antibiotics: can cause resistance Salmonella, affect the resistance of the animal
against colonization
• Addition of organic acids enhance Salmonella destruction
• Drinking water sanitizer
4. Regular monitoring of total production chain
According European legislation the production chain is regular monitored by sampling
of poultry flocks
5. Immediate action when Salmonella is detected
• Determination of the origin of the infection.
• Movement of poultry flocks at the end of the production cycle should only be
allowed for slaughter or destruction.
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• Poultry litter/feces and other potentially contaminated farm waste should be
disposed of in a safe manner.
• Particular care should be taken in cleaning and disinfection of the poultry house
and equipment.
• Before restocking the facility, a bacteriological examination should be carried out.
• Adequate time should be allowed between flocks if previous flock was
Salmonella-positive
• Buildings, surfaces and equipment should be cleaned and disinfected properly
CID LINES SANITATION PROGRAM
1. Dry cleaning
2. Soak with water, remove most of dirt
3. Clean water system with CID 2000
4. Clean the:
a. Ventilation fans, air inlets and cooling Pads
b. Ceilings
c. Outside water system and out/inside of feeding system
d. Floors and walls
e. Sanitary and storage rooms
f. Environment of the poultry house including silos
With CID LINES alkaline foaming detergents at the correct dilution and contact time
(see label).
5. Rinse with water and let it dry
6. Disinfect with VIROCID (Spray, foam or fog)
There are a lot of critical points that often forgotten during the cleaning process:
i. Lights
ii. Heaters
iii. Water tubes
iv. Cracks in the floors
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Salmonella control during transport (Harvest)
Feed should be withdrawn from the birds between 8-12 hours before the slaughter time to
reduce the amount of defecation and contamination of the carcass. Transpiration of a
salmonella positive flock leads to contamination of the crates and containers.
Each time, after unloading the flock; crates, containers, vehicles have to be cleaned and
disinfected.
Clean with CID LINES alkaline detergents (none foaming for tunnel washers, foaming for
manual cleaning with a HP cleaner and foam lance). Rinse with water and disinfect with
VIROCID.
Salmonella control practices during Slaughter and Processing
(post Harvest)
Slaughter house is divided into two man zones:
1. Dirty zone where slaughtering, bleeding, scalding, defeathering and evisceration takes
place
2. Clean Zone where all procedures are carried out at low temperatures and under strict
hygine controls
Defeathering, evisceration, Scalding and chilling are critical control points at processing
stages where cross contamination may occur
• Salmonella positive birds during defeathering and evisceration process contaminate
the carcass contaminate the slaughter equipment cross contamination of the
carcasses of the subsequently slaughtered flocks.
• Single counter flow water movement and maintaining the pH of scalder bath water
below 6.5 by adding CID LINES water acidifier will reduce microbial contamination
both of the birds and the scalding water
• Scalder water temperature must be between 51-53 o C
• Control of chilling parameters: air temperature, air movement, relative humidity and
filtering air can reduce Salmonella or other microbial growth
• Using per acetic acid in the water chiller with exact dosage and contact time reduces
Salmonella and other microbial contamination on the skin.
A control Measure to reduce or eliminate cross-contamination is logistic slaughter; in
other words, Salmonella negative flocks should be slaughtered before Salmonella positive
flocks
Slaughter equipments and especially killer blade, scalding tanks, plucker and defeathering;
must be cleaned with CID LINES alkaline Chlorinated or Non Chlorinated foaming
detergents, rinse with water and disinfect with CID LINES food grade disinfectants
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Conclusion
High level of biosecurity (Cleaning and Disinfection) will help to reduce the incidence
of diseases in poultry farms and food processing plants; while poor levels of biosecurity, can
cause disease outbreaks where total slaughtering of the whole flock will be a must.
So, when biosecurity measures are taken it means that the risk of reaching Salmonella or other
microorganisms to humans will be reduced to minimum
During Production phase, both hygienic measures and general farm management strategies
are the most important
During slaughter and processing phase, hygienic measures and logistic slaughtering are
important tools to Salmonella and other food borne microorganisms
For more detailed information about Salmonella control practices contact CID LINES
N.V. vatche.sagherian@cidlines.com
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