01 April 2010
Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ Panel) was asked to provide technical assistance on the link between Salmonella criteria at different stages of the poultry production chain. In particular, the BIOHAZ Panel was firstly asked to provide guidance on the detailed rules of a food safety criterion (FSC) for fresh poultry meat during shelf life with the purpose to be in accordance with the existing process hygiene criterion (PHC) on carcasses under conditions of processing and storage. The BIOHAZ Panel was further asked to provide guidance on a possible revision of both the FSC in fresh poultry meat and the PHC when the target for reduction of Salmonella in broilers has been achieved (1% or less flocks remaining positive for Salmonella enterica serovar enteritidis or Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium).
The BIOHAZ Panel concluded that there are major differences in the purpose between a PHC and an FSC, which make comparison difficult and which make it impossible to suggest food safety criteria which are precisely in accordance with the existing process hygiene criteria. Different points of sampling in the food chain may provide different estimates of the prevalence, dependant on the degree of cross-contamination and inactivation of organisms and differences in the definition of batches (origin of carcasses or products).
The prevalence of Salmonella in carcasses at slaughter will depend both on the prevalence of positive flocks, the within flock prevalence and the slaughter hygiene. Thus, some correlation between flock prevalence and carcass prevalence at slaughter is expected. If a target for only Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella typhimurium is set for flock prevalence, the impact on the prevalence of Salmonella on carcasses will depend on the relative contribution of those two serovars to all Salmonella serovars at primary production. Thus, if the current flock prevalence target is changed to a prevalence target for all serovars there may be a greater correlation between the occurrence of flock infection and the prevalence of Salmonella in carcasses.