Poultry sanitation improved through work of Virginia Cooperative Extension specialist
BLACKSBURG, Va., March 4, 2004 – Thanks to research efforts at Virginia Tech, poultry processing plants are able to make better decisions concerning sanitation. Audrey McElroy, Virginia Cooperative Extension poultry specialist at Virginia Tech, recently completed a trial reviewing turkey carcass chilling, a crucial step in processing, at six commercial plants to optimize the procedure and to keep turkeys free as possible from Salmonella and Campylobacter, both food borne pathogens.
In most commercial processing plants in the United States, poultry carcasses are submerged in immersion chilling systems, which use a chlorine solution. When the chiller environment is properly managed, it serves as a tool for reducing microbial contaminants. However, if the system is not properly managed, then the effectiveness of this tool is reduced.
McElroy determined which factors for managing immersion chiller environments, such as immersion time, chlorine type, and pH of solution, were most effective in reducing the presence of food borne pathogens on commercially processed turkeys. Her findings were published in The National Turkey Federation Immersion Chiller Best Management Practices, and in the December issue of Watt Poultry USA. In the future, McElroy will examine scalding procedures and bird rinses to further reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter on turkey carcasses.
McElroy also is working to increase chickens' resistance to Salmonella through non-antibiotic dietary means. She is studying a plant extract, called capsaicin - the pungent component of peppers that gives them their ³hot² quality. McElroy found that feeding a chicken capsaicin reduced its susceptibility to Salmonella. Chickens readily consume capsaicin because they do not have the receptors to taste it. At the levels being evaluated, its presence has no effect on the chicken's flavor. While capsaicin has been studied for more than 10 years, McElroy is continuing to study proper introduction time, feeding period duration, and cost effectiveness. Capsaicin may prove to be an excellent way of keeping chickens healthy, as preventing the presence of Salmonella is preferred to removing it during live production or processing.
McElroy and Curtis Novak, also Virginia Cooperative Extension poultry specialist at Virginia Tech, are also researching a trademarked product Biomos, designed to latch onto bacteria before it can infect a chicken's gut. This product is designed to flush bacteria out of the chicken's system before they latch onto the intestinal lining. While this practice has not totally replaced traditional antibiotics, it has the potential to maintain the chickens' health.
Novak is also attempting to reduce phosphorous content in poultry waste. Up to 50 percent of the phosphorous that poultry consume remains in their waste, which can contribute to environmental pollution. Farmers may have to ship poultry manure up to 70 miles, to dispose of it in a place where phosphorous-based nutrient management plans are implemented. This process increases production cost. Novak is using a feed additive called phytase to increase digestion of bound phosphorous which will reduce phosphorus wastes. Novak said that up to two-thirds of organic phosphorous is bound up chemically making it unusable to the bird. Phytase, however, breaks these bonds, making more phosphorous available for digestion.
Novak is also using enzymes to increase feed digestion for turkeys and broilers after they have hatched. Novak said that keeping a turkey healthy in the early stages of growth is crucial to long-term health. Since chicks cannot digest feed immediately post hatch, the use of various additives to the feed allows birds to grow with increased performance.
Visit the Virginia Poultry Federation on the Web for more information.
Contact: Audrey McElroy
Poultry Specialist
Virginia Cooperative Extension
Virginia Tech
(540) 231-8750
amcelroy@vt.edu
Contact: Michael Sutphin
Writer
Communications and Marketing
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Virginia Tech
(540) 231-6975
msutphin@vt.edu
Writer: John Rougeux
Student Intern
Agriculture and Extension Communication
Virginia Tech