The US Poultry & Egg Association and the USPOULTRY Foundation are announcing the completion of a research project focused on developing a new sampling method for detecting Salmonella in broilers and turkeys. The project addresses an industry need for a consistent, cost-effective and practical sampling approach to accurately measure Salmonella levels at the flock level. The research is part of the USPOULTRY's comprehensive research program encompassing all phases of poultry and egg production and processing and is made possible in part through proceeds from the International Poultry Expo, part of the International Production & Processing Expo.

The research project, #F110 is titled, "Identifying a New Pre-harvest Gold Standard Salmonella Sampling Strategy to Predict Salmonella Burden on Broiler and Turkey Flocks Arriving for Processing," led by Nikki Shariat, Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center, Department of Population Health at the University of Georgia.

Through a recent study, Shariat and other research colleagues demonstrated that, for both broilers and turkeys, connecting Salmonella status (prevalence, load, serovar) between pre-harvest and post-harvest is complex. The project was conducted to determine the best live production sampling method for Salmonella detection and enumeration in broilers and turkeys. The researchers aimed to develop a recommended sampling strategy, including a timeline for collection, which correlates pre-harvest Salmonella with pre-intervention, post-harvest Salmonella.

For broilers, boot socks and boot socks wrapped around a roller were the best sampling method for Salmonella detection and enumeration. For turkeys, boot socks outperformed other methods for determining Salmonella prevalence and enumeration. Further, a live-production gold standard for detecting, enumerating and serotyping Salmonella in both broilers and turkeys that considers newer technologies beyond microbiological culture was determined.

Source: US Poultry & Egg Association