Is Your Pathogen Data Giving You the Full Story?

This can happen, for example, if the first group of birds entering the plant for the day comes in from a flock that has a high load or prevalence of Salmonella. That one flock–or even one bird–could leave Salmonella cells on the picker, cross-contaminating all other birds being processed for the rest of the day.

In this situation, it can be difficult to pinpoint what went wrong. Prevalence data does not distinguish between birds that were positive for Salmonella coming into the plant, and those that were cross-contaminated. The plant manager just knows Salmonella is present. By determining load and presence, the plant manager is able to detect the problem location and apply a potential solution.

Lower Load = More Effective Interventions

It’s difficult, if not impossible, for an antimicrobial to achieve zero pathogen prevalence in meat and poultry processing. This is because all live animals enter the plant carrying bacteria, and end products are not commercially sterilized. But, processing plants can focus on incoming pathogen loads, process controls, and the effectiveness of their food safety systems by measuring pathogen load and prevalence.

When it comes to Salmonella, the industry rule of thumb for a successful in-plant antimicrobial intervention is a 1 log reduction in load. The lower the incoming pathogen load, the better the chances are that an antimicrobial will successfully reduce the pathogen.

For example, animals or birds may come into the plant with a Salmonella load of 105 CFU/g. A multi-hurdle combination of antimicrobials and process controls may achieve a three-log reduction in the final product, lowering the load to 102. But imagine if the incoming load is only 103. That means the multi- hurdle combination of interventions will reduce load to less than 101 and lower the potential food safety risk.

Understanding and reducing the pathogen load throughout the system, including at preharvest, can identify hot spots and areas to improve control.

Good management systems throughout production can help decrease the load of Salmonella on incoming birds. Research shows that live production controls, including proper probiotics to help optimize gut health, may help reduce Salmonella prevalence in the poultry house and in ceca of the birds.

The benefits of reducing loads on incoming birds can be seen throughout the entire processing system to the final product.

In a real-world example, flocks from two different houses in the same complex enter the processing system with different levels of Salmonella. (See Table 1, below) As these birds are processed, those from the house with a lower incoming load register less Salmonella throughout the entire slaughter process. The house with the lower load was able to see the benefits from multi-hurdle antimicrobials more than the house that had a higher starting load.

Table 1. Example Salmonella Load at Various Production Stages

Continuous Improvement from Farm to Fork

In meat and poultry processing, USDA performance standards continue to tighten as regulatory bodies work to improve product safety and consumer trust. Allowable pathogen prevalence percentages continue to decrease.

Processors have successfully responded to and met every new performance standard; however, for continued improvement, the industry has reached a point where it’s necessary to incorporate live production factors with processing data. Measuring and understanding overall pathogen loads is one way the full food chain can work together. Communication and coordination between processors and live-side managers will help the meat and poultry industry continue to deliver a safe, reliable food supply.

Dr. Alvarado is technical services manager at Arm & Hammer Animal and Food Production. She can be reached at [email protected].