Microbial Safety of Chicken Grown Without Antibiotics
Poultry - 2004
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"Dr. Jacob’s research is critical to provide Minnesota producers with the latest science on how they can raise the healthiest birds possible. At the same time, Minnesota consumers are in need of more science so that they can make choices among the poultry products available to them."
David Wallinga, M.D., MPA, Co-director, Food and Health Program, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
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The Problem
Antibiotic use in animal agriculture, especially chicken meat production, has been receiving increasing attention. In Minnesota, the issue became contentious during the development of the Generic Environmental Impact Statement on Animal Agriculture. As a result, several bills were introduced into he Minnesota legislature related to the sub-therapeutic use of certain antibiotics in animal feeds. While scientists, industry, politicians and concerned citizens continue to debate the issue of antibiotic use in animal production, a growing number of independent farmers are marketing poultry raised without the use of antibiotics. However, research has shown higher levels of bacterial contamination in chicken raised outdoors. It is necessary to conduct a similar survey of poultry meat raised without sub-therapeutic antibiotic use.
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Objectives
The research objectives are to evaluate the microbial safety of chicken raised without antibiotics and identify management practices that may contribute to the presence of potentially harmful bacteria in order to develop corrective measures.
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Work Plan
Whole chicken carcasses will be purchased from producers raising chicken without the use of antibiotics. Cooperating producers will be identified through the SW Minnesota Poultry Cooperative and the Buckwheat Growers Association (which sells organic and transitional poultry feed) and through MDA inspectors at state inspected poultry processing plants. The target is to obtain a total of 300 samples from at least 30 different producers over the course of the typical rearing period (May to September) Standard USDA Salmonella and Campylobacter collection techniques will be used. Data collected will be compared between farms.
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Mid-Year Progress Report
This project involves sampling chicken carcasses from farms raising the birds without antibiotics and testing for the presence of food-borne pathogens and the level of antibiotic resistance of those pathogens. To date, State Inspectors with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture have collected rinse samples from 74 carcasses from 9 different farms. All of the samples collected have been found to be contaminated with Campylobacter, while only 2 farms were found to have problems with Salmonella. The antibiotic resistance testing has not yet been completed.
The funding was received at the tail end of the pasture poultry season, and no additional samples are expected until May 2004. The remainder of the samples will be collected from May – August 2004. The farm visits and producer interviews will also be done at this time. A graduate student working on the project as part of his Masters thesis will be conducting the farm visits and analyzing the data collected. He will also be submitting a grant proposal to the NCR-SARE graduate student program in an effort to obtain additional funding to take environmental samples from the farms in an effort to document the source of the Campylobacter contamination. Researchers have speculated that wild birds are the source of the contamination and want to take some environmental samples to confirm whether or not this is the case.
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