ABSTRACT
In a more indirect way, diseases that affect the integrity of the intestinal tract can also have an impact on fecal contamination, which may affect contamination of the carcass by Salmonella or Campylobacter during processing. ’e National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF, 1997) reported that because processing of raw broilers does not involve a lethal heat process, such as
pasteurization, delivering live chickens to the processing plant with as few pathogens as possible is necessary to control contamination of carcasses with Salmonella and Campylobacter. Other scientists have supported this conclusion by stating that reducing Campylobacter jejuni colonization in live chickens should reduce the prevalence of C. jejuni infections in humans, presumably because of less exposure to the organism (Morishita et al., 1997). Controlling factors that contribute to colonization of the live bird during grow out should have a significant impact on contamination of finished carcasses after processing.
