Safety management and pathogen monitoring in poultry slaughterhouse operations: the case of the United States

Abstract

Preventing foodborne illnesses in a cost-effective way is an important challenge for the poultry industry. This chapter begins by reviewing the common foodborne pathogens associated with poultry. We then discuss processing operations from live transportation of birds, to slaughter, to post-chill processing, and consider the effects of these operations on carcass contamination. We review food safety management programmes during poultry slaughter, focusing on effective measures for surveillance and control in the United States. Chemical, biological and physical antimicrobial treatments are reviewed. Finally, we consider how the efficacy of pathogen reduction systems can be validated and verified through microbial testing.