The research of the Campybro Project is ongoing. Combinations of products and other strategies, such as vaccination programs and feeding management, are being evaluated in different modules.
There remain a number of challenges to conducting this type of research. Often there is high variation in levels of Campylobacter infection or contamination in the birds. Also, testing so many possible solutions together sometimes dilutes the power of the trials and the application of the results under commercial conditions.
In an effort to help bring safe food to consumers worldwide, Diamond V has 12 controlled research projects in place for poultry and half of the projects related to food safety are focused on Campylobacter in pre-harvest broilers in Europe.
Dr. Ysunza is the manager for technical support—Europe, at Diamond V. Reach him at [email protected]. Le Ven is the manager for technical sales and support—France at Diamond V. Reach him at [email protected].
Campylobacter Research in U.S.
By Doug Smith, PhD
In the U.S., pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Escherichia coli are frequently associated with consumption of animal protein products and are often cited among the top five pathogens causing foodborne illness. Despite significant progress by the poultry industry in reducing foodborne pathogens, the rates of human illness persist.
Poultry companies are seeking effective pre-harvest food safety programs in order to lower the risk of human illness. While most pre-harvest food safety research continues to focus on Salmonella, there also are recent studies of Campylobacter in broiler chickens and turkeys.
Research published in Poultry Science found that broiler chickens challenged with Campylobacter had lower prevalence and numbers when fed a unique, proprietary, precision fermentation product as compared to control broilers not fed the product. Birds were fed either the fermentation product diet or a control diet then inoculated with C. coli at 14 days of age. Ceca were collected and analyzed at 42 days of age from 10 non-inoculated broilers (exposed to horizontal transmission) per pen. Ceca from birds fed the fermentation product had significantly lower prevalence than birds fed the control diet (1.3% versus 17.5%, respectively, P = 0.02). Numbers of C. coli in the ceca of birds fed the fermentation product were lower than those fed a control diet (1 versus 37 MPN/gram, respectively, P = 0.09).
Other research in Poultry Science found that turkey hens inoculated with C. coli had significantly (P < 0.05) lower prevalence and numbers in the ceca at 84 days of age when fed a unique fermentation product as compared to hens not fed the fermentation product in the diet. At 70 days of age, five turkey hens in each pen were inoculated with C. coli; at 84 days, ceca from both inoculated and non-inoculated hens were collected and evaluated for C. coli. The pathogen prevalence was significantly (P < 0.05) reduced in non-inoculated birds (exposed to horizontal transmission), from 93% to 75%, and overall C. coli was reduced by one log (from 4.5 to 3.5 log10) for fermentation product-fed turkey hens when compared to control hens.
Dr. Smith is the director of poultry food safety at Diamond V. Reach him at [email protected].
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