Prevalence of Salmonella in poultry carcasses and their products in Belgium

During four subsequent years (1993 until 1996), a study was conducted to isolate and characterize Salmonella in poultry carcasses and their products sold in Belgium. This was a semiquantitative approach (absence per l00 cm2 or 25 cm2 or 25 g and absence per cm2 or g) to elucidate the degree of Salmonella contamination of the poultry. Serotyping was performed during the last two and a half years. Samples were frozen and kept at −20°C before analysis. This may have influenced the number of Salmonella recovered. No improvement in the rate of contamination was noted during these four years, with rates being 19.4% for 1993, 24.1% for 1994, 21.9% for 1995 and 36.7% for 1996. A 100% increase of Salmonella-positive samples resulted from cutting up the carcasses into individual parts. Chicken parts were more often contaminated with Salmonella than turkey parts. Boiling hen carcasses showed the highest Salmonella contamination. Prepared poultry, chicken parts and boiling hen carcasses are sometimes associated with Salmonella contamination levels of >1 cfu/cm2 or g. In 1996, respectively 15.1%, 4.2% and 4.2% of highly contaminated samples (>1 cfu/cm2 or g) were found for these product groups. The predominant three serotypes were S. enteritidis (16.3%), S. hadar (15.5%) and S. virchow (14.1%). S. newport was frequently isolated from turkey products.