The three main components of pre-harvest intervention — probiotics and prebiotics in animal feed, pathogen resistance through vaccines or antimicrobials, and biosecurity protocols — all work together to reduce foodborne pathogens in beef, poultry and pork. Each operation, however, has to tinker with the formula to create its ideal solution.

A renewed interest in reviewing how foodborne pathogens proliferate in farms and how they behave in the transition from farm to processing plants is underway.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been the topic of hot news for over the past year in my realm of poultry production.

In the broiler sector, all eyes are on the possible return of avian influenza this fall and winter, as Canadian waterfowl begin to migrate south along the Atlantic flyway, which touches major broiler production areas in Delmarva, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

This winter, Foster Farms announced that a strain of avian flu was discovered at one of its commercial turkey ranches.

As the U.S. poultry industry continues to deal with highly pathogenic avian influenza virus infection in the Midwest, it is important to reflect on why this virus has spread through a section of the industry and how the poultry industry has prepared itself for control of this disease.