Salmonella in Poultry Production: Causes, Impacts, and Solutions

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Poultry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2024 | Viewed by 7309

Special Issue Editor

Department of Animal Science, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA
Interests: alternatives to antibiotics in poultry production; phytobiotics as emerging antimicrobials; multidrug-resistant bacteria; antibiotic resistance mitigation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Salmonella is a major foodborne enteropathogen, causing a significant number of human illnesses worldwide. This pathogen can colonize both cold- and warm-blooded animals and poultry. Poultry and poultry products are implicated in several outbreaks sourcing back to birds raised on farms. In addition to its presence on farms, the emergence of more virulent and antibiotic-resistant Salmonella has resulted in severe public health concerns and challenges to the poultry industry. Responding to the continuing health risks associated with this pathogen, regulatory agencies and industry have devised wide-ranging efforts to better understand Salmonella in the context of its impact on human health and industry economics and progress. This series will revisit the reasons for the Salmonella burden on farms, its implications for the industry, and current and emerging solutions to holistically address this pathogen for safer products on the market. 

Dr. Anup Kollanoor Johny
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Salmonella
  • poultry
  • chicken
  • broiler
  • laying hens
  • gut health
  • food safety
  • poultry production
  • egg
  • meat
  • epidemiology
  • outbreak
  • transmission
  • risk factor
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • virulence
  • public health
  • solutions

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1033 KiB  
Communication
A Preliminary Investigation of Salmonella Populations in Indigenous Portuguese Layer Hen Breeds
by Carla Miranda, Sónia Batista, Teresa Letra Mateus, Madalena Vieira-Pinto, Virgínia Ribeiro, Rui Dantas and Nuno V. Brito
Animals 2023, 13(21), 3389; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13213389 - 01 Nov 2023
Viewed by 868
Abstract
The sustainability of agroecological systems, biodiversity protection, animal welfare, and consumer demand for higher quality products from alternative and extensive farming methods have reinforced interest in local breeds that are well adapted to low-input environments. However, food safety needs to be safeguarded to [...] Read more.
The sustainability of agroecological systems, biodiversity protection, animal welfare, and consumer demand for higher quality products from alternative and extensive farming methods have reinforced interest in local breeds that are well adapted to low-input environments. However, food safety needs to be safeguarded to reinforce consumer confidence. The aim of this study was to conduct a preliminary investigation on the occurrence of Salmonella spp. in eggshells, hen’s cloaca, and litter materials from autochthonous Portuguese laying hens raised in a semi-extensive system for small-scale production. A total of 279 samples from 31 flocks belonging to 12 farms were obtained, with 63 samples from the “Preta Lusitânica” breed, and 72 samples each from the remaining autochthonous breeds, namely, “Branca”, “Amarela”, and “Pedrês Portuguesa”. None (0%) of the samples analyzed were positive for Salmonella spp. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first results of Salmonella evaluation from hen’s cloaca, eggshells, and litter materials in autochthonous Portuguese chickens, suggesting that a semi-extensive production system can contribute to better food security and a lower risk to public health and the environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Salmonella in Poultry Production: Causes, Impacts, and Solutions)
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13 pages, 1120 KiB  
Article
The Detection of Salmonella Enteritidis on German Layer Farms after Cleaning and Disinfection
by Pia Münster, Lars Pöppel, Ali Antakli, Doris Müller-Doblies, Dmytro Radko and Nicole Kemper
Animals 2023, 13(16), 2588; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13162588 - 11 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1183
Abstract
The presence of Salmonella Enteritidis in poultry houses after cleaning and disinfection can pose a potential risk to public health, as Salmonella remains one of the most important causes of foodborne diseases. This study focused on ten German layer farms (including floor-reared and [...] Read more.
The presence of Salmonella Enteritidis in poultry houses after cleaning and disinfection can pose a potential risk to public health, as Salmonella remains one of the most important causes of foodborne diseases. This study focused on ten German layer farms (including floor-reared and free-range systems) with a recent history of Salmonella Enteritidis, and samples were collected from July 2018 to March 2021 after the cleaning and disinfection process. A total of 244 swab samples were tested for the presence of Salmonella using real-time PCR, followed by a culture of positive samples. Results revealed that 61 out of the 244 swab samples tested positive for Salmonella, indicating a prevalence of 25% in the samples examined. Among the Salmonella-positive swab samples identified with the PCR assay, 65.6% (40 out of 61) were confirmed by the culture. Of the 40 isolates obtained from the culture, 36 were identified as Salmonella Enteritidis, while 4 were categorized as rough Salmonella strains. This study emphasizes the importance of both the surrounding area of the poultry houses in terms of infection carry-over and the meticulous implementation of cleaning and disinfection procedures to eliminate any remaining infection within the houses. To mitigate the risk of further Salmonella spread on layer farms, additional investigations are recommended to focus on the existing transmission pathways of Salmonella and their genetic diversity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Salmonella in Poultry Production: Causes, Impacts, and Solutions)
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15 pages, 3959 KiB  
Article
Recombinant Antimicrobial Peptide OaBac5mini Alleviates Inflammation in Pullorum Disease Chicks by Modulating TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB Pathway
by Shanshan Shen, Fei Ren, Junping He, Jie Wang, Yawei Sun and Jianhe Hu
Animals 2023, 13(9), 1515; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13091515 - 30 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1767
Abstract
Pullorum disease (PD), caused by Salmonella Pullorum (S. Pullorum), is a serious threat to the poultry industry worldwide. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have drawn extensive attention as new-generation antibiotics because of their broad antimicrobial spectrum, low resistance, and low cytotoxicity. AMP OaBac5mini [...] Read more.
Pullorum disease (PD), caused by Salmonella Pullorum (S. Pullorum), is a serious threat to the poultry industry worldwide. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have drawn extensive attention as new-generation antibiotics because of their broad antimicrobial spectrum, low resistance, and low cytotoxicity. AMP OaBac5mini exhibits strong antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria, but its efficacy and anti-inflammatory effects on chicks with PD remain unclear. The aim of this study was to generate recombinant OaBac5mini via the Escherichia coli (E. coli) recombinant expression system and evaluate its antibacterial effect against S. Pullorum in vitro and in vivo. Real-time cellular analysis (RTCA) results showed that recombinant OaBac5mini exhibited no cytotoxicity on IPEC-J2 and RAW 264.7 cells and significantly alleviated the drop in the cell index of S. Pullorum-infected cells (p < 0.0001). In the chick model of PD, recombinant OaBac5mini significantly attenuated the increase in organ indexes (heart, liver, spleen, and kidney) and bacterial loads (liver and spleen) induced by S. Pullorum. Histopathology examination showed that recombinant OaBac5mini ameliorated histopathological changes and inflammation in chicks with PD, including impaired epithelium of duodenal villi, infiltration of pseudoacidophilic granulocytes in the cecum and bursa of Fabricius, congested blood clots and increased macrophages in the liver, and increased lymphoid nodule and B lymphocytes in the spleen. Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) results indicated that recombinant OaBac5mini alleviated inflammation by modulating innate immunity through the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB pathway and by suppressing the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. These results suggested that recombinant OaBac5mini has good potential as a clinical substitute for antibiotics in PD intervention. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Salmonella in Poultry Production: Causes, Impacts, and Solutions)
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15 pages, 3718 KiB  
Article
Luteolin: A Phytochemical to Mitigate S. Typhimurium Flagellin-Induced Inflammation in a Chicken In Vitro Hepatic Model
by Patrik Tráj, Csilla Sebők, Máté Mackei, Ágnes Kemény, Orsolya Farkas, Ákos Kákonyi, László Kovács, Zsuzsanna Neogrády, Ákos Jerzsele and Gábor Mátis
Animals 2023, 13(8), 1410; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13081410 - 20 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1275
Abstract
The use of natural feed supplements is an alternative tool to diminish the damage caused by certain bacteria, improving animal health and productivity. The present research aimed to investigate the proinflammatory effect of flagellin released from the bacterial flagellum of Salmonella enterica serovar [...] Read more.
The use of natural feed supplements is an alternative tool to diminish the damage caused by certain bacteria, improving animal health and productivity. The present research aimed to investigate the proinflammatory effect of flagellin released from the bacterial flagellum of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and to attenuate the induced inflammation with luteolin as a plant-derived flavonoid on a chicken primary hepatocyte–non-parenchymal cell co-culture. Cells were cultured in a medium supplemented with 250 ng/mL flagellin and 4 or 16 µg/mL luteolin for 24 h. Cellular metabolic activity, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, interleukin-6, 8, 10 (IL-6, IL-8, IL-10), interferon-α, γ (IFN-α, IFN-γ), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations were determined. Flagellin significantly increased the concentration of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-8 and the ratio of IFN-γ/IL-10, while it decreased the level of IL-10, indicating that the model served adequate to study inflammation in vitro. Luteolin treatment at 4 µg/mL did not prove to be cytotoxic, as reflected by metabolic activity and extracellular LDH activity, and significantly reduced the flagellin-triggered IL-8 release of the cultured cells. Further, it had a diminishing effect on the concentration of IFN-α, H2O2 and MDA and restored the level of IL-10 and the ratio of IFN-γ/IL-10 when applied in combination with flagellin. These results suggest that luteolin at lower concentrations may protect hepatic cells from an excessive inflammatory response and act as an antioxidant to attenuate oxidative damage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Salmonella in Poultry Production: Causes, Impacts, and Solutions)
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12 pages, 672 KiB  
Article
Effect of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae Postbiotic Feed Additive on Salmonella Enteritidis Colonization of Cecal and Ovarian Tissues in Directly Challenged and Horizontally Exposed Layer Pullets
by W. Evan Chaney, Hannah McBride and George Girgis
Animals 2023, 13(7), 1186; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13071186 - 28 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1360
Abstract
Determining the efficacy of feed-additive technologies utilized as pre-harvest food-safety interventions against Salmonella enterica may be influenced by factors including, but not limited to, mechanism of action, experimental design variables, Salmonella serovar(s), exposure dose, route, or duration in both controlled research and real-world [...] Read more.
Determining the efficacy of feed-additive technologies utilized as pre-harvest food-safety interventions against Salmonella enterica may be influenced by factors including, but not limited to, mechanism of action, experimental design variables, Salmonella serovar(s), exposure dose, route, or duration in both controlled research and real-world field observations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the dietary inclusion of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation-derived postbiotic (SCFP) additive (Diamond V, Original XPC®) on the colonization of cecal and ovarian tissues of commercial pullets directly and indirectly exposed to Salmonella Enteritidis (SE). Four hundred and eighty commercial, day-of-age W-36 chicks were randomly allotted to 60 cages per treatment in two identical BSL-2 isolation rooms (Iowa State University) with four birds per cage and fed control (CON) or treatment (TRT) diets for the duration of study. At 16 weeks, two birds per cage were directly challenged via oral gavage with 1.1 × 109 CFU of a nalidixic-acid-resistant SE strain. The remaining two birds in each cage were thus horizontally exposed to the SE challenge. At 3, 7, and 14 days post-challenge (DPC), 20 cages per group were harvested and sampled for SE prevalence and load. No significant differences were observed between groups for SE prevalence in the ceca or ovary tissues of directly challenged birds. For the indirectly exposed cohort, SE cecal prevalence at 7 DPC was significantly lower for TRT (50.0%) vs. CON (72.5%) (p = 0.037) and, likewise, demonstrated significantly lower mean SE cecal load (1.69 Log10) vs. CON (2.83 Log10) (p = 0.005). At 14 DPC, no significant differences were detected but ~10% fewer birds remained positive in the TRT group vs. CON (p > 0.05). These findings suggest that diets supplemented with SCFP postbiotic may be a useful tool for mitigating SE colonization in horizontally exposed pullets and may support pre-harvest food-safety strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Salmonella in Poultry Production: Causes, Impacts, and Solutions)
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