ABSTRACT
Food-borne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year (Mead et al., 1999). Rostagno et al. (2006) stated that Salmonella is the second most common cause of bacterial food-borne diseases, and poultry products are implicated as a major source of human food-borne salmonellosis. During slaughter and processing, Salmonella from the gastrointestinal tract of carrier birds can contaminate carcasses and the slaughter and processing line. Because of these concerns, in 1996, the USDA-FSIS published the pathogen reduction/HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point) final rule (USDA-FSIS, 2001). ’is rule required that poultry companies in the United States control Salmonella and that the FSIS begin testing poultry carcasses in all plants to determine Salmonella prevalence. ’e reasons given by FSIS regarding why it considered Salmonella to be the appropriate organism to use as the measure of performance in pathogen reduction include the following:
1. Salmonella is a problem pathogen that is among the most common causes of food-borne illnesses associated with meat and poultry products.
