Waterkwaliteit in open drinkbakken kan veel beter !

In een proef met 1400 vleeseenden die het water onbeperkt via open drinkbakken verstrekt kregen, is het effect onderzocht van verschillende drinkwatertoevoegingen op de technische resultaten van de eenden en op de microbiologische waterkwaliteit in dedrinkbakken

Waterkwaliteit kan veel beter! : toevoegmiddelen getest in ronddrinkers bij eenden

Uit een proef van PP met drinkwatertoevoegingen in combinatie met intermitterende waterverstrekking blijkt dat het aantal endobacterien in ronddrinkers in eendenstallen met ruim 90 procent omlaag ka

Resistance of broiler outbred lines to infection with Salmonella enteritidis

Salmonella infections originating from poultry are one of the major causes of food-borne disease. For the control of salmonella in poultry a multifactorial approach is more likely to be effective, and the genetic resistance of poultry breeds to salmonella infections may be a valuable contribution. Experimental Salmonella enteritidis infections were examined in three different broiler outbred lines: the FC line, which had been selected for feed conversion efficiency; the R line, which had been selected for growth rate; and the C line, a commercially available line. The FC line had the highest mortality rate after intramuscular inoculation with 5 10 6 colony forming units (CFU) of S. enteritidis at 2 weeks of age (40% versus 21 and 20% in the other lines). However, at slaughter age, the number of birds carrying salmonella in caecal contents, and the concentration of salmonella in the caecal contents, was lowest in the FC line. The FC and R lines were compared by inoculation with doses ranging from 10 2 to 10 7 CFU S. enteritidis . At sublethal doses (10 5 CFU or less), the FC line carried significantly less salmonella in caecal contents and the rate of systemic infection was lower. The start of shedding was also delayed compared with the R line. At doses of 10 6 CFU S. enteritidis or higher, there were no differences in salmonella carriage between the lines, and the FC line showed higher mortality. In conclusion, resistance to mortality and resistance to the carriage of S. enteritidis do not necessarily coincide within lines, as the FC line showed high mortality but low carriage, both in survivors of high infection doses and in all birds at lower infection dose

Detection probability of Campylobacter

A rapid presence/absence test for Campylobacter in chicken faeces is being evaluated to support the scheduling of highly contaminated broiler flocks as a measure to reduce public health risks [Nauta, M. J., & Havelaar, A. H. (2008). Risk-based standards for Campylobacter in the broiler meat chain. Food Control, 19, 372–381]. Although the presence/absence test is still under development, an example data set of test results is analysed to illustrate the benefit of the detection probability concept. The detection probability of Campylobacter increases with the logarithm of the Campylobacter concentration in faeces according to an S-shaped curve which stretches about 2–3 log units. The detection probability is 50% at a Campylobacter concentration of 7.4 × 106 cfu/g. The uncertainty in the detection probability is 32% at the most for a 90% confidence interval. This type of information allows for realistic calculations on the Campylobacter status of different food processing paths after splitting. Usable quantitative estimates on detection probability await a data set of test results from a test that is ready for use or has similar propertie

Evaluation of the " testing and scheduling" strategy for control of Campylobacter in broilers in The Netherlands

“Testing and scheduling” has been proposed as a strategy for control of Campylobacter in broiler meat. By this strategy, flocks with high numbers of Campylobacter in fecal samples would be diverted away from fresh meat production at the entrance of the broiler meat processing plant. Risk assessment studies suggest that this would effectively decrease human health risks, if these flocks are responsible for the meat products with the highest Campylobacter numbers. To investigate the effect of this control strategy, the numbers of Campylobacter were determined in fecal samples from transport containers, and in cecal and breast meat samples from birds in 62 broiler chicken flocks. Results from direct plating and enrichment were combined by a statistical method that allows the inclusion of censored data. As the implementation of “testing and scheduling” requires a rapid on-site test to detect high numbers of Campylobacter, a lateral flow immuno-assay (LFA) was developed and applied to the fecal samples collected from containers. The Campylobacter prevalence in broiler flocks in the autumn of 2007 was found to be 85.4% by traditional microbiological methods. Campylobacter could be isolated from breast meat samples from 42% of the flocks. There was limited agreement between Campylobacter results for the three types of samples and weak correlation between the quantitative results for fecal or cecal samples and meat samples. Agreement between the results of LFA and traditional methods was poor. These findings do not support the implementation of “testing and scheduling” as a practical control strategy, because of both measurement uncertainties and shortcomings in understanding the dynamics of transmission and survival of Campylobacter in the broiler meat processing plant. The limited correlation between Campylobacter contamination of cecal samples and breast meat samples, as observed in this study, suggests that cecal samples are no good indicator for human exposure to Campylobacter