An improved cleaning system to reduce microbial contamination of poultry transport crates in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Aim Following previous research on improving the cleaning of crates used to transport broiler chickens from the farm to the abattoir, a demonstration project was undertaken to investigate improvements in crate washing on a commercial scale. Methods and Results The soak tank of a conventional crate washing system was replaced with a high‐performance washer fitted with high‐volume, high‐pressure nozzles. The wash water could be heated, and a greatly improved filtration system ensured that the nozzles did not lose performance or become blocked. Visual cleanliness scores and microbial counts were determined for naturally contaminated crates which had been randomly assigned to different cleaning protocols. Conclusions When a combination of mechanical energy, heat and chemicals (i.e. detergent and disinfectant) was used, the results showed significant improvements to crate cleaning. Reductions of up to 3·6 and 3·8 log10 CFU per crate base were achieved for Campylobacter and Enterobacteriaceae, respectively, along with a marked improvement in visual cleanliness. Significance and Impact of the Study Broiler transport crates may become heavily contaminated with faeces and this may contribute to the spread of disease between farms. The results of this trial may be of use in reducing the spread of zoonotic pathogens in the poultry meat supply chain.

Identification of Transmission Routes of Campylobacter and On-Farm Measures to Reduce Campylobacter in Chicken

“…Insufficiently cleaned transport crates is another risk factor for chickens becoming colonized with Campylobacter especially during thinning, when birds in a flock are sent to slaughter in separate batches on two or more slaughter occasions [18,24,25]. In this study, 30% of transport crates dispatched by the slaughterhouse were contaminated with Campylobacter already on arrival at farm level before loading up the chickens to send to slaughter.…”

Avian influenza outbreaks: evaluating the efficacy of cleaning and disinfection of vehicles and transport crates

“…In addition, no correlation was observed between the AIV genome detection results and results of cleanliness inspection and microbiological counts. Regarding visual inspection, it is common to observe uncorrelated results between cleanliness and microbiological counts ( Allen et al, 2008 ; Atterbury et al, 2020 ). Visual inspection is a prerequisite before microbiological testing; the latter should be performed on visually clean surfaces only.…”

Cleaning and disinfection of transport crates for poultry – comparison of four treatments at slaughter plant

“…This makes them potential vehicles for transmission of Campylobacter between broiler flocks in conjunction with thinning ( Slader et al, 2002 ; Hansson et al, 2005 ). There is also evidence that current commercial washing systems for crates do not reduce microbial contaminants such as Campylobacter ( Slader et al, 2002 ; Atterbury et al, 2020 ). Hence there are risks of bacterial spread ( Allen et al, 2008b ; Frosth et al, 2020 ; Hertogs et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Several studies have shown that pathogenic bacteria, such as Campylobacter spp. and Salmonella spp., remain present on transport crates for chickens even after cleaning and disinfection ( Hansson et al, 2005 ; Atterbury et al, 2020 ). However, in applied research indicator bacteria are often used instead of pathogenic bacteria.…”

“…Enterobacteriaceae and total aerobic bacteria counts has been therefore used as indicators of fecal contamination, to evaluate efficacy of disinfection methods on transport crates and to estimate the risk of presence of pathogenic bacteria ( Allen et al, 2008a ; Atterbury et al, 2020 ).…”