No, the title of this column does not contain a typo. Under the right circumstances, most of which are unpredictable, Salmonella can give you a real body slam.
According to industry estimates, at least one-third of food recalls in North America may directly be related to sanitation, hygiene and material handling issues in food facilities. On an associative note, the CDC lists unsanitary equipment and surfaces as one of the top five contributing factors of foodborne illness outbreaks.
Salmonella vaccines are a proven, pre-harvest intervention to reduce the overall prevalence of Salmonella contamination of birds entering the processing facility.
There are several factors that can make controlling Salmonella in poultry difficult. Chief among them is the long-standing perception held by some operations that processing-plant interventions can eliminate most of the risk associated with any potential threat.