Research Publications (Food Safety)

This longitudinal study aimed to determine the fecal shedding pattern and characterize Salmonella enterica and mcr-positive Escherichia coli from meat-type ducks raised in an open-house system in Thailand. Fecal samples (n = 1,475) were collected from ducks over a 6-month period. Overall, the detection rate of S. enterica was 5.4% and the highest fecal shedding rate was noted in 4-day old ducklings (28.8%).

Contamination of eggs by Salmonella has often been identified as a source of food-borne human illness. S. Enteritidis is deposited inside developing eggs when invasive infections of laying hens reach the reproductive organs. The susceptibility of hens in cage-based housing systems to S. Enteritidis has been associated with their stocking density, but the applicability of this information to extensive (cage-free) systems is uncertain.

To investigate the prevalence of avian hepatitis E virus (HEV) in chickens and gather evidence of viral vertical transmission, we collected 288 cloacal swabs and 288 yolks samples from 12 farms with clinically healthy chickens in 4 different areas in Tai'an City, Shandong Province, China (i.e., Daiyue District, Xintai City, Feicheng City, and Ningyang County).

Necrotic enteritis causes economic losses estimated to be up to 6 billion US dollars per year. Clinical and sub-clinical infections in poultry are also both correlated with decreased growth and feed efficiency. Moreover, in a context of increased antibiotic resistance, feed additives with enhanced antimicrobial properties are a useful and increasingly needed strategy.

Salmonellosis causes massive economic losses globally every year. Especially in poultry, numerous drug-resistant bacteria have emerged; thus, it is imperative to find alternatives to antibiotics. As a probiotic, Clostridium butyricum (C. butyricum) provides the latest strategy for inhibiting the proliferation of Salmonella. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of C.

Colonization of food-producing animals by antimicrobial-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, especially methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), has become a serious public health problem worldwide. In the current study, clonal diversities of livestock-associated S. aureus isolates collected from broiler farms, slaughterhouses, and retail chicken meat were examined. Two-hundred S.

Contaminated chicken meat is a major source of human Campylobacteriosis and rates of infection remain high, despite efforts to limit the colonisation of broiler (meat) chicken flocks on farms. Using conventional testing methods of culture or qPCR, Campylobacter is typically detected amongst broiler flocks from 3 weeks of age, leading to the assumption that infection is introduced horizontally into chicken rearing houses at this time.

The nomenclature of duck viral hepatitis (DVH) was historically not a problem. However, fourteen hepatotropic viruses among ten different genera are associated with the same disease name, DVH. Therefore, the disease name increasingly lacks clarity and may no longer fit the scientific description of the disease. Because one disease should not be attributed to ten genera of viruses, this almost certainly causes misunderstanding regarding the disease-virus relationship.

In this study, we investigate the effect of the probiotic E. faecium 669 strain on the gut integrity of broilers and the effect on intestinal colonization with Salmonella Enteritidis. In the in vivo experiment, 120 day-old broilers (Ross 308) were divided into four equally sized groups.

Dietary bacteriophages potentially can serve as a step to reduce Salmonella contamination of feed through direct lysis of the bacteria. However, poultry producers commonly vaccinate with live Salmonella vaccines, which could potentially be lysed by dietary bacteriophages. The objective of this study was to evaluate if dietary bacteriophages impacted the colonization of a live Salmonella vaccine.

Poultry is generally recognized as the main source of human campylobacteriosis and Campylobacter is highly prevalent at the farm level. To reduce the relative risk of human campylobacteriosis attributable to broiler meat, it is necessary to reduce Campylobacter loads in broiler ceca but to date, no effective, reliable and practical strategy is available.

Salmonella is the most important foodborne pathogen in poultry production systems and can infect humans via consumption of contaminated food. Ducks, an important waterfowl widely raised in China, are also a vehicle that transmits Salmonella through the food supply chain.

Salmonella is one of the most common Gram-negative pathogens and seriously threatens chicken farms and food safety. This study aimed to establish a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach for the identification of different Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica. The citE2 gene and interval sequence of SPS4_00301–SPS4_00311 existed in all S.

This experiment was conducted to evaluate diets containing a high level of corn silage and alfalfa meal in inducing molt and reducing susceptibility to Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) colonization in laying hens.

In order to enrich the knowledge of chicken transcriptomic response to Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis infection, 2-day-old chicks were orally inoculated with this bacteria (1.0 × 108 cfu/mL), and then the cecum tissues of 3 days post-inoculation were utilized for RNA sequencing (six replicates each for treatment group and control group). After analysis, we found a variety of inflammatory genes were triggered at the mRNA level upon infection.

This study compares kinetic parameters of Salmonella and the surrogate Enterococcus faecium in mash broiler feed during thermal inactivation. Two-gram samples of mash broiler feed were added into a filtered sample bag and inoculated with nalidixic acid (NaL, 200 ppm) resistant S. Typhimurium or E.

Salmonellosis remains one of the main foodborne zoonoses in Europe, with poultry products as the main source of human infections. The slaughterhouse has been identified as a potential source for Salmonella contamination of poultry meat. Despite the mandatory programme of the EU, there are companies with persistent Salmonella that are unable to remove the bacteria from their processing environment, compromising the entire production line.

Duck salmonellosis is a common acute septic infectious disease that spreads rapidly, with serious harm to the duck breeding industry and public health. To date, there are few reports about the epidemiological characteristics of drug resistance in Salmonella from ducks.

Conventional Salmonella surveillance requires a week for isolation, confirmation, and subsequent serotyping. We previously showed that this could be reduced by 24 hours by combining the pre-enrichment and enrichment steps into a single selective pre-enrichment step and was tested on directly after picking.

Non-typhoidal Salmonella infection was one of the predominant foodborne illnesses in humans. The medical burden and antimicrobial resistance of salmonellosis gained importance in public health and requested the poultry industry to seek effective measures to control the disease.

The reduction in antibiotic growth promoter use in poultry, due to antibiotic resistance concerns, has created a need for natural solutions that control enteric pathogens like Salmonella.

Campylobacteriosis is one of the most common types of bacterial gastroenteritis affecting humans, and poultry is considered a major source of the causative organism, Campylobacter spp. Broilers may arrive contaminated at slaughterhouses, and transport crates could be considered a potential source of contamination. Thus, cleaning and disinfection procedures are crucial to avoid cross-contamination among flocks.

The aim of the current study was to assess the influence of embryonic exposure to cadmium on basic and derived erythrocyte indices, the morphology and morphometric properties of erythrocytes, as well as erythrocyte spectrin distribution in newly hatched Gallus gallus domesticus chicks. The eggs were injected with cadmium (Cd) at a dose of 2 µg, 4 µg, 6 µg or 8 µg per egg on the 6th day of incubation.

Plant extracts contain bioactive substances which can provide some functional attributes that sub-therapeutic antibiotics provide to animals. However, their antibiotic-replacement potential depends on their polyphenolic profile. As we advance in the search for antibiotic alternatives, harnessing plant materials with excellent phenolic profile and total phenolic concentration (TPC) and identifying the best treatment combinations would be a quintessential approach.

Salmonella spp. is one of the most important zoonotic pathogens with economic impact in public health worldwide. The relevance of Salmonella increases with the appearance of resistant strains. The aim of this study was to determine the level of antimicrobial resistance in 332 Salmonella isolates selected from 3 different poultry productive orientations in Eastern Spain during 3 years (2015 to 2017).