Current trends in the microbiological safety of poultry meat

Contamination of poultry meat products with Salmonella and Campylobacter spp. continues to be the main microbiological problem affecting both industry and consumers. In some countries, control measures appear to have reduced flock infection with Salmonella, but other issues have arisen; these include an increase in multiple resistance to antimicrobials in certain serotypes and the recent emergence of S. Paratyphi B variant Java, also frequently multi-resistant. For intensive production systems, there is much information on sources and routes of Salmonella transmission and the relative risk of infection/contamination at different stages of production. Some possible reasons for control failures are discussed. In contrast, less is known about Campylobacter in these respects, and a better understanding is needed of the physiology and host-interactions of the organisms, and of their behaviour in poultry operations. On such knowledge may depend the future development of effective controls.