J Vet Sci. 2007 Jun;8(2):155-161   
 

Dissemination and tracking of Salmonella spp. in integrated broiler operation

Aeran Kim1, Young Ju Lee2,*, Min Su Kang1, Sang Ick Kwag3, Jae Keun Cho4

 

1National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service, Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry, Anyang 430-824, Korea
2College of Veterinary Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea
3College of Veterinary Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, Korea
4Daegu Metropolitan City Research Institute of Health & Environment, Daegu 706-732, Korea

* youngju@knu.ac.kr

 

Controlling Salmonella in integrated broiler operation is complicated because there are numerous potential sources of Salmonella contamination, including chicks, feed, rodents, wild poultry operations, and the processing plant. The objective of this study was to investigate the distribution of Salmonella through all phases of two integrated broiler operations and to determine the key areas related to the control of all known sources of infection. Two different Salmonella serotypes were observed at integrated broiler chicken company A. S. enteritidis, the predominant company A isolate, was consistently found in the breeder farm, hatcheries, broiler farms, and chicken slaughterhouse. At company B, a total of six different serotypes, S. heidelberg, S. senftenberg, S. enteritidis, S. blockley, S. gallinarum, and S. virchow, were detected. Although S. heidelberg was not found in the broiler farms, it was consistently found in the breeder farm, hatcheries, and chicken slaughterhouse. In addition, S. enteritidis was found in the hatcheries, broiler farm, and chicken slaughterhouse. In order to obtain the genetic clonality, 22 S. enteritidis isolates were digested with XbaI and analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrohporesis (PFGE). A difference in the PFGE pattern was found to be related to the origin of the integrated broiler operation. These data support the critical need to control Salmonella in breeder farms and hatcheries, and demonstrate important points related to the control of infection in large-scale poultry operations of Korea.