With funding from Georgia’s Traditional Industries Program for Food Processing, researchers with the University of Georgia’s Center for Food Safety, under the direction of Dr. Michael Doyle, recently completed the first year of a two-year study to develop an alternative chemical treatment to reduce Salmonella (in particular, Salmonella Enteritidis) contamination on poultry skin and features during production and transport while not adversely affecting animal health, growth rates or product quality.
“A major limitation of many chemical treatments used to kill harmful bacteria in animal-growing operations is the high organic load present that neutralizes their antimicrobial activity. Hence, many disinfectants like hypochlorite and ozone are not effective, so alternate treatments are needed,” explains Doyle.