High-Resolution Detection and Forecasting of Salmonella Population Dynamics in Poultry

The overarching goal is to accurately define Salmonella serotypes present in poultry, investigate how these serotype populations change, and to use this information to implement strategies to increase food safety. We have three specific objectives.Determine serotype population dynamics in breeders and develop models to assess serotype emergence and thresholds by:Assessing serotype diversity, persistence, and changes in 10 commercial breeder flocks. Developing mechanistic models and applying statistical learning algorithms to explain and forecast serotype incidence dynamics. Using regional collections of Salmonella, the relative serotype frequencies in breeder flocks in the Southeast will be determined.Address Salmonella surveillance limitations in food safety by:Improving the capacity to detect Salmonella from environmental poultry samples by improving pre-enrichment culturing step. Investigating individual serotypes that show bias during enrichment procedures.Assess the food safety risk posed by Salmonella Kentucky in poultry in the United States by:Determining the relative presence of two different serotype Kentucky lineages in US poultry. Assessing the competitive ability the two lineages to colonize chickens.