Summary

With recent outbreaks of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) in Australian eggs and the known occasional presence of ‘local’ SE strains in broilers it is important to gain an improved understanding of this organism through broiler production. SE in Australia is divided into three distinct clades, with clades A and C linked to small sporadic outbreaks and clade B recognized as a global epidemic lineage and considered exotic to Australia. Focusing on the Australian strains (clades A and C), this project will investigate the propensity of these strains to colonise the intestinal tract of broilers and the attack rate within a flock once birds are exposed using an oral challenge model. A number of strains will be selected after assessing the attachment and invasion of cell lines. The selected strains will be tagged with antimicrobial resistance markers to enable individual strains to be quantified throughout the animal inoculation studies, enabling a greater understanding of the epidemiology of SE in broilers. In later stages of the project, broiler breeders will be housed as they come into lay and inoculation of these birds will provide an understanding of the risk of vertical transmission in the broiler production chain. To understand the risk to human health via the food chain, SE strains will be assessed for their presence in various organs and tissues at slaughter age (inoculated birds) and for their survival through imitated processing. Implications and recommendations for the SE management plan will be derived.

Program

Chicken Meat

Research Organisation

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)