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PROCESSING, PRODUCTS, AND FOOD SAFETY |



* Livestock Behavior Research Unit, USDA-ARS, West Lafayette, IN 47907;
National Animal Disease Center, USDA-ARS, Ames, IA. 50010; and
Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames 50011
2 Corresponding author: rostagno{at}purdue.edu.
| ABSTRACT |
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Key Words: turkeys Salmonella food safety epidemiology
| INTRODUCTION |
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Most of the information on Salmonella in poultry available to date derives from studies conducted on broiler chickens, with very limited information available on the epidemiology of Salmonella in turkeys. Stern et al. (1995) and Whyte et al. (2001) demonstrated that transport increased the isolation rate of Campylobacter from broiler chickens. Likewise, the isolation rate of Salmonella from broiler chickens has been reported to increase after subjecting the birds to the stressful preslaughter practices of feed withdrawal and transportation (Line et al., 1997; Ramirez et al., 1997; Corrier et al., 1999). Such events can result in birds entering the slaughter and processing line with considerably higher contamination levels, serving as a significant source of cross-contamination for other birds and flocks and the slaughter and processing environment. However, there is a lack of knowledge concerning sources of Salmonella contamination for market-age turkeys.
Therefore, this study was conducted with the objective of determining if the preslaughter practices of feed withdrawal, catching, loading, transportation, and holding at the abattoir affect the prevalence of Salmonella in market-age turkeys. Additionally, the study aimed to measure the relative sensitivity of different sample types to estimate Salmonella prevalence in turkeys.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Following feed withdrawal (8 to 10 h), catching, loading, transportation, and preslaughter holding (on the transport trailer), 30 birds from the same flock sampled on-farm were randomly selected on the slaughter line for sampling. Individual samples collected at slaughter included the following: crop, ceca, liver and gallbladder, and spleen. Samples were individually placed in sterile plastic bags and transported to the laboratory for processing on the same day.
The sample size (i.e., n = 30 birds/flock) was defined to allow estimation of the prevalence of positive birds at the 95% confidence level, with 10 to 15% precision of the estimate and with an expected prevalence of 20 to 30%, based on previous reports (Cox et al., 2000; Nayak et al., 2003). The experiment was repeated in 6 flocks, allowing the total comparison of 180 market-age turkeys on-farm and at slaughter.
Bacteriological Procedures
At the laboratory, each sample (1 g) was processed for the isolation and identification of Salmonella, using 2 conventional isolation methods. Method 1 consisted of preenrichment (1:10) in buffered peptone water (24 h at 37°C, Difco Laboratories, Detroit, MI), followed by enrichment (1:100) in 9.9 mL of Rappaport-Vassiliadis broth (Difco Laboratories) with 20 µg/mL of novobiocin (24 h at 42°C, Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO) and an additional enrichment (1:100) in 9.9 mL of Rappaport-Vassiliadis broth (24 h at 42°C, Difco Laboratories). Method 2 consisted of primary enrichment (1:10) in tetrathionate broth (24 h at 37°C, Difco Laboratories), followed by secondary enrichment (1:100) in 9.9 mL of Rappaport-Vassiliadis broth (Difco Laboratories) with 20 µg/mL of novobiocin (24 h at 42°C, Sigma Chemical Co.) and an additional enrichment (1:100) in 9.9 mL of Rappaport-Vassiliadis broth (24 h at 42°C, Difco Laboratories). From the last enrichment (for each isolation method), aliquots were plated on Xyl-Lysine Tergitol-4 (Difco Laboratories) and brilliant green sulfa agars (24 h at 37°C, Difco Laboratories). Suspect colonies were individually picked and streaked on Rambach agar plates (24 h at 37°C, DRG International Inc., Mountainside, NJ) for confirmation (Gruenewald et al., 1991).
Statistical Analysis
Salmonella prevalence for each flock was estimated based on each sample type collected and overall (i.e., based on the combination of the results from multiple samples from each individual bird). Relative sensitivity for each sample type collected and agreement (
statistic) between different sample types were determined according to Thrusfield (1995). Proportions were compared by
2, and P < 0.05 was applied for statistical inferences.
| RESULTS AND DISCUSSION |
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Prevalence estimates based on samples collected on-farm and at slaughter are presented in Tables 1
and 2
, respectively. The overall prevalence, based on any sample type (i.e., birds positive in at least 1 of the samples collected), was the same (33.3%) for both sampling points (i.e., on-farm and at slaughter). For individual flocks, no difference was found between the 2 sampling points for flocks A, E, and F, whereas a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in prevalence was found for flocks B and C. A significant increase (P < 0.05) was found only for flock D (Figure 1
). The absence of an effect of the preslaughter practices on Salmonella prevalence in market-age turkeys found in this study contrasts with the effect reported in broiler chickens (Line et al., 1997; Ramirez et al., 1997; Corrier et al., 1999). A possible explanation for this divergence may be based on the age of the birds. Whereas broiler chickens are subjected to the preslaughter practices at approximately 6 to 8 wk of age, tom turkeys only reach market age when they are approximately 18 to 21 wk old. Recent studies have shown that the complexity of the intestinal bacterial community, as well as the immune response against Salmonella infections in broiler chickens, increases with age (Van der Wielen et al., 2002; Lu et al., 2003; Beal et al., 2005). We hypothesize that an established and more complex bacterial community, as well as a higher level of immune resistance in the intestinal tract of older market-age turkeys, may create a hostile environment for the establishment of new pathogens, such as Salmonella, particularly when birds are exposed to low doses of the bacteria. An established, complex intestinal microbial community and a mature immune system could prevent a significant increase in the prevalence of Salmonella due to new infections, even during exposure of market-age turkeys to a set of stressors associated with the preslaughter practices of the poultry industry. This hypothesis is supported by reports on the successful administration of adult turkey intestinal contents to young poults in protecting against Salmonella challenges (Reid and Barnum, 1983; Seuna et al., 1985).
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A potential increase of the occurrence of Salmonella bacteremia (due to the stress associated with the pre-slaughter practices) was also investigated by monitoring changes in the isolation frequency of the bacteria from spleen and liver and gallbladder. Overall, no difference was found between the isolation rates of Salmonella from spleen samples collected on-farm (15%) and at slaughter (9%). However, a significant increase (P < 0.05) in the Salmonella isolation rate was found based on liver and gallbladder samples (3.3% on-farm vs. 14.1% at slaughter). Based on this observation, we hypothesize that the stress caused by the preslaughter practices favors the dissemination of Salmonella within the birds, which may result from an effect on the immune system or from an increase in virulence of the bacteria. The role of the neuroendocrine environment, particularly in the intestinal tract, in the pathogenesis of enteric bacterial infections is increasingly being recognized. It has been demonstrated (in vitro) that intestinal pathogens express virulence determinants in response to environmental signals indicating host stress (Alverdy et al., 2000). However, little is known about the effect of catecholamines released into the intestine on the carriage and virulence of bacterial pathogens in vivo (Vlisidou et al., 2004). Therefore, further studies are necessary to determine the validity of the hypothesis presented here.
Many believe that the prevalence of Salmonella-positive birds at slaughter will increase as a result of the stress associated with the preslaughter practices, which may lead to recrudescence of latent infections. Also, a potential increase in prevalence may occur due to the rapid transmission of Salmonella during transportation or in the pre-slaughter holding period, as demonstrated to occur in pigs (Hurd et al., 2001; Rostagno et al., 2003). Whatever the case, this study shows that, overall, it is not a common occurrence in flocks of market-age turkeys. However, although there was no prevalence increase from the production farms to the abattoir, our results indicate that turkey flocks still pose a significant food safety risk, based on the relatively high on-farm and abattoir prevalence found. Our results are aligned with the high Salmonella prevalence in turkey carcasses (19.6%), reported recently by Eblen et al. (2005).
Important aspects to be considered in Salmonella monitoring are the type of sample and the time of sampling to determine the infection status of flocks with the highest sensitivity. In this study, in addition to demonstrating that the common preslaughter practices of feed withdrawal, catching, loading, transportation, and holding do not affect Salmonella prevalence at slaughter in market-age turkeys, we determined that cecal contents constitute the sample of choice to estimate Salmonella prevalence in market-age turkeys, on-farm and at slaughter. Furthermore, this study shows that the convenient sampling of birds at slaughter can be applied to infer about on-farm Salmonella prevalence in turkeys.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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Received for publication December 30, 2005. Accepted for publication April 25, 2006.
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