A number of emerging opportunities were identified at the safefood Campylobacter Knowledge Networks Annual Conference earlier this year.
Dr Declan Bolton, Principal Research Officer at Teagasc in Ashtown, chaired the conference. He points out that lactic acid was recently approved for use on beef carcasses. “There may be changes to EC legislation permitting chemical decontamination of poultry carcasses in the future.”
According to the World Health Organisation, Campylobacter bacteria are a major cause of foodborne diarrhoeal illness in humans. The infections caused it causes are generally mild, but can be more severe among young children, or elderly and immunosuppressed people.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) estimates that 20 to 30 per cent of these infections result from contaminated broiler meat and 50 to 80 per cent result from the entire chicken reservoir of broilers and laying hens. Campylobacter control along the poultry chain, freezing as a critical control point and training were all discussed on the day.
Consumer acceptance of chicken carcass treatments to reduce Campylobacter contamination is an area that requires research. A survey filled out by delegates showed that consumers would accept poultry treated with “clean-label ingredients, citric acid or lactic acid”, but were against other treatments.
One of the conference highlights, says Declan, was a visit to Alo Mohan’s broiler farm in Co. Cavan. “This was arranged to educate as many stakeholders as possible on broiler production and the limitations of some of the control options.”
The delegates suggested that culture-based testing of flocks to determine Campylobacter status should cease and be replaced by real-time testing of flocks as close as possible to slaughter. Declan says these proposals haven’t been implemented yet, but safefood, Teagasc, FSAI and FSA NI hosted a conference in Dublin on Nov 10th, which they hoped would prove a driver for change.
At the conference, those present worked together to progress some issues that were not solved at the event earlier this year, including problems with training and motivation of catching teams, and transport-crate hygiene.
Conference attendees enjoying the visit to a broiler farm
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