Poultry nutritional health to combat food borne pathogens

Poultry nutritional health to combat food borne pathogens

 

According to global nutritional health company Diamond V, reducing the pathogens in the gastro-intestinal tracts of their chickens and turkeys can help reduce the risk of pathogens in food processing and food products

Pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, Campylobacter and Escherichia coli are among the major pathogens causing foodborne illness worldwide. On the poultry farm, conventional approaches like increased bio-security, better hygiene, changes to management and husbandry and improved feed microbial security can help control pathogens. Going forward, however, major improvements in pathogen risk reduction require new tools — innovative nutritional health solutions — to assure greater food safety.

According to research published by Diamond V , effective pre-harvest food safety intervention against foodborne pathogens in poultry and other food animals requires proven reduction in prevalence, number, virulence and antibiotic resistance, which is a measure of the ability to survive, reproduce and cause disease despite antibiotic therapy that had controlled such infection in the past – reducing antibiotic resistance therefore increases the likelihood that someone who is infected will respond to therapy.

When poultry farmers reduce pathogens such as Salmonella, Campylobacter and E. coli in their birds, they are helping to reduce the pathogen load entering the processing facility. Reduced pathogen load in processing can result in lower costs and improved regulatory compliance for the food processor. Reduced pathogen load also helps reduce the risk of product recall, which helps maintain brand integrity and consumer confidence.

Nutritional health research published by Diamond V focuses on immunity, digestive health, performance, and pre-harvest food safety. The company will present its pre-harvest food safety research and expertise to the EuroTier international agricultural trade show in Hanover, Germany during 15-18 November. Dr Wael Abdelrahman, poultry technical service & business development manager for Diamond V in Europe and other experts from the company will be available at the event to discuss nutritional health technology to promote poultry product safety.