Safe poultry meat production in the next century

The revolutionary industrialisation of the poultry industry in the last 30 years has made the food poultry meat available for large groups of consumers. Due to its nutritional, sensory and economical characteristics, poultry meat is by far the most popular animal food product world-wide. Epidemiological reports, however, incriminate poultry meat as a source for outbreaks of human food poisoning. The organisms involved are Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp. and, to a lesser extent, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Yersinia enterocolitica, Clostridium perfringens and Aeromonas spp. Contamination of the end-product with pathogenic microorganisms is a reflection of the contamination of the live birds and, therefore, measures to be taken by industry to avoid contamination of the consumer-ready product should start at that level. In terms of the critical control point approach of the HACCP concept, the quantitative contribution of critical phases in the production chain towards end-product contamination should be estimated in order to take the necessary intervention or corrective steps. To guarantee the production of safe poultry meat, knowledge of the capability of microorganisms to colonise the gastrointestinal tract is needed and the use of vaccines, antimicrobials and competitive exclusion microfloras as well as the implementation of new processing technology should be encouraged.