Continuous Improvement Model for Reducing Salmonella in Poultry
Since the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched its initiative to reduce the number of Salmonella illnesses associated with poultry, there has been an increased focus on the importance of pre-harvest food safety solutions. Part of USDA’s initiative includes increased quantitative microbial monitoring of incoming flocks to processing plants, focusing on serotypes of concern.
Practical, data-driven approaches to measuring and improving Salmonella loads at pre-harvest exist, such as increasing flock monitoring for quantitative bacteria and the use of a pre-harvest food safety model based on continuous improvement (CI).