Food Safety and Food Microbiology

What is it about?

Consumption of poultry and poultry products is growing rapidly in both developing and developed countries as a result of increasing demand for foods rich in proteins, a world population of over 7 billion, and increased concern about the role of red meat in health and nutrition. This has led to an integration of the poultry industry to achieve enhanced productivity through economies of scale. However, simple mistakes in management in a huge integrated commercial poultry production can have substantial adverse impacts due to a number of pests such as arthropods and rodents associated with foodborne infections. A large number of microorganisms that cause infection in humans or both human and poultry flocks are transmitted to poultry by these pests. However, concerns about pesticide residues are discouraging the use of these agents in poultry industries, thus increasing the reliance on bio-security practices to control infestations. Free range and pasture-flock poultry are popular, but the pasture-flock poultry and poultry products pose potentially higher microbial risks to a large population due to longer production cycle and easy access for pests and other animals. In this chapter, we focus on poultry pests involved in the transmission of microbial pathogens to poultry flocks which result in an increased risk of foodborne infections in humans, loss of food quality, and greater risks for poultry industries.

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Why is it important?

food safety; food microbiology; food science