Prevalence of Salmonella enterica on poultry processing equipment after completion of sanitization procedures

Abstract

Salmonella is a poultry-borne pathogen that causes illness throughout the world. Consequently, it is critical to control Salmonella during the process of converting broilers to poultry meat. Sanitization of a poultry processing facility, including processing equipment, is a crucial control measure that is utilized by poultry integrators. However, prevalence of Salmonella on equipment after sanitization and its potential risk to food safety has not been evaluated thoroughly. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the persistence of Salmonella on poultry processing equipment before and following cleaning and sanitization procedure. A total of 15 locations within 6 commercial processing plants were sampled at 3 time points: (A) after processing; (B) after cleaning; and (C) after sanitization, on 3 separate visits for a total of 135 samples per plant. Salmonella -positive isolates were recovered from samples using the United States Department of Agriculture MLG 4.09 conventional method. Presumptive Salmonella colonies were subjected to biochemical tests for confirmation. Salmonella isolates recovered after sanitization were serotyped and tested for the presence of specific virulence genes. A completely randomized design with a 6 × 3 × 15 factorial arrangement was utilized to analyze the results for Salmonella prevalence between processing plants. Means were separated using Fishers protected least significant difference when P ≤ 0.05. For Salmonella prevalence between processing plants, differences ( P < 0.0001) were observed in the 6 plants tested where the maximum and minimum prevalence was 29.6 and 7.4%, respectively. As expected, there was a difference ( P < 0.0001) in the recovery of Salmonella because of sampling time. Salmonella prevalence at time A (36%) was significantly higher, whereas there was no difference between time B (12%) and C (9%). There was a location effect ( P < 0.0001) for the prevalence of Salmonella with the head puller, picker, cropper, and scalder having a significantly higher prevalence when compared with several other locations. At sampling time C, a trend toward a difference ( P = 0.0899) was observed for Salmonella prevalence between the 6 plants, whereas significant differences were observed because of location ( P = 0.0031). Five prominent Salmonella enterica serovars were identified, including Kentucky, Schwarzengrund, Enteritidis, Liverpool, and Typhimurium with S . Kentucky being the most prevalent. PCR analysis of 8 Salmonella virulence genes showed that the in...

Determination of Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns in Salmonella from Commercial Poultry as Influenced by Microbiological Culture and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Methods

“…Salmonella prevalence in carcass rinses has been reported as high as 54.09% [ 19 ]. A survey of 15 broiler processing plants indicated that even after sanitization procedures, Salmonella prevalence remained at a range of 7.4% to 29.69% [ 20 ]. A research study indicated that 7% of poultry origin Salmonella isolates in the southeastern United States exhibited resistance to at least one antimicrobial [ 21 ].…”

Role played by the environment in the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through the food chain

“…Contamination and cross‐contamination of workers, equipment and air can affect the further processing stages for chicken carcasses, with cleaning and disinfection procedures often being insufficient to eliminate bacteria contamination between working days, as shown for pathogens (Samapundo et al., 2019; Obe et al., 2020). Feathers may also act as a means of introducing antimicrobial contamination into the poultry slaughter process, despite the approved withdrawal period for medications being observed (Cornejo et al., 2018).…”

“…Hygiene and disinfection in transport and lairage (Mannion et al., 2008; Walia et al., 2017) together with management measures such as strict separation of animal batches, which can be extended to slaughter practices (Kudirkien≐ et al., 2011; Obe et al., 2020) may reduce the spread of ARB in these two stages. For disinfection, the appropriate choice of biocides, their concentration and application rate, validation and regular testing and potentially the rotation of biocide classes are of relevance.…”

Differences in biofilm formation of Salmonella serovars on two surfaces under two temperature conditions

“…Serovar‐to‐serovar differences can create challenges in eliminating Salmonella during poultry processing, and it is possible that processing interventions are selecting for phenotypic differences. Many recent studies have suggested that some Salmonella serovars can survive processing interventions and some can persist in the environment (Eastwood et al, 2021; Mourão et al, 2020; Obe et al, 2020). For example, the susceptibility of several Salmonella isolates in different serovars were evaluated and Salmonella serovars Enteritidis and Typhimurium showed the most resistance to benzalkonium chloride, a quaternary ammonium compound (Long et al, 2016).…”

“…Salmonella can attach and produce biofilm on different surfaces, including stainless steel and plastic, which are commonly found in the poultry processing environment (Lee et al, 2020; Veluz et al, 2012). This allows Salmonella to persist in processing environments and subsequently contaminate products (Obe et al, 2020). Since bacteria produce biofilm under stressful conditions, many studies have investigated the biofilm‐forming capacity of Salmonella under different environmental conditions.…”