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USDA unveils new way to fight salmonella
March 19, 1998
Web posted at: 2:20 p.m. EDT (1420 GMT)WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The government Thursday unveiled an important new weapon in the war against salmonella, a major cause of food poisoning.
Researchers have developed a bacteria mixture that, when sprayed on newly hatched chicks, blocks the growth of salmonella in their intestines. Industry and health officials hope it will cut down on the amount of salmonella found in raw chicken and lessen the threat of food poisoning from undercooked chicken.
"Safety is a company's most valuable asset," Department of Agriculture chief Dan Glickman said in announcing the breakthrough. He called the cost of research and development of the new technique "a mere pittance" in comparison to what other industries spend to make their products safe.
Glickman Use of the mixture, being offered by MS Biosciences Inc. and dubbed Preempt, was quietly approved by the Food and Drug Administration last week.
It is estimated that 35 percent of the raw chicken on the market is contaminated with salmonella bacteria. It is carried primarily in an animal's digestive track and is transmitted through feces.
Processing plants use chlorine sprays and chilly temperatures to control the bacteria, but it frequently survives these efforts and winds up in the poultry grocery case. Consumers must cook chicken at reasonably high temperatures to be absolutely certain of safety.
Failure to cook the bird enough or getting the raw juices on other foods can cause sickness or death. Salmonella and other pathogens cause some 9,000 deaths from food poisoning every year in the United States, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Product shuts out harmful microbes
The new Preempt product is made up of 29 healthy, nonharmful bacteria naturally present in adult birds. Newly hatched chicks sprayed with the mixture peck at their wet feathers and ingest the solution that way.
The culture then grows inside the chicken and shuts out other microbes, preventing salmonella bacteria from attaching to the chicken's intestines. In tests of 80,000 chickens, 7 percent of the untreated birds developed salmonella, compared to none of the treated birds.
Farmers who use Preempt must take care not to feed their birds preventative antibiotics, because they could kill the "good" microbes. The poultry industry wants to move away from antibiotics anyway because harmful bacteria are developing resistance to them.
CNN interview with Mike Doyle of the Center for Food Safety
2 min. 30 sec. VXtreme video
Doyle comments on good bacteria
332K/27 sec. AIFF or WAV sound
Consumer groups say the product represents a big improvement in food safety. "Eliminating salmonella on the farm is a big step to reducing salmonella in the supermarket," said Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Mixture may also fight E. coli, other germs
USDA researchers say lab tests show the mixture also looks promising in the fight against other germs that infect chicken, including campylobacter, listeria and E. coli. Testing is not yet complete.
Food safety experts say consumers would still have to handle and cook chicken properly, because some of it could become contaminated with bacteria at the slaughterhouse.
It is unclear when the new product will be available to chicken producers. One researcher said he expects it will be on the market within the next few months.
Correspondent Eugenia Halsey contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Clinton wants ban on unsafe food imports - March 4, 1998
- Consumer group pushes food safety law - February 4, 1998
- Clinton wants even more funding for food safety - December 28, 1997
- How safe is your food? - December 1, 1997
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- U.S. Department of Agriculture Homepage
- Food Safety and Inspection Service
- Food and Drug Administration Home Page
- Poultry Processing and Meat Quality Research Unit
- Surveys Unlimiteds Quality Control Produce Inspection
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
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