STRATEGY ▶▶▶
Already on the market The air sampling system is already on the market. It is availa- ble from the German company Sartorius. If needed, a com- plete setup can be supported by the Danish consultancy company AirSampler Aps (
www.arisampler.dk). According to the Danish Professor, with the current fast development of new technologies, sampling systems that are more sophisti- cated could soon become available. “However, such sophisti- cations would compromise the simplicity and practicality of the system. One example is nano-chip devices that are used in highly specialised labs. Although interesting, they are also more prone to background noise usually found in such environmental samples.”
The new Campylobacter detection system snifs out four times as many infec- tions as the old sock sampling method.
Common Campylobacter and Salmonella testing
To get a good insight in the salmonella and campylobacter situation on a farm, samples are taken via the so called sock method. Results can be taken in ac- count in farm management, but more importantly they must be reported to the local authorities which are responsible for food safety controls. Depending of the production region in the world, the sock method is done under various guidelines. Looking at the European Union, regulations demand that the test are done at certain time intervals, certain pre slaughter age (21 days) and num- ber of socks send to the laboratory. It is possible for farmers to execute the tests themselves, which is time consuming or leave it in the hands of the veterinarian. This ensures quality and trust, which is the essence of the test. Handling of sam- ples needs to be safe and accurate, to prevent falls positives or cross contamina- tion. All samples have to be send to a certified laboratory within 24 hours. Re- sults must be in, before the birds go to slaughter, as EU regulations state that all poultry meat has to be free of salmonella SE and ST, which can have a negative impact on human health.
8 ▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 6, 2020
Future is in test packages The new air testing system offers even more benefits in addi- tion to this. In the future it could also include Salmonella, avi- an influenza or other pathogens in a single testing package that uses the same filter sample for multi-purpose pathogen detection or antibiotic testing. The applications are almost limitless, the Professor believes, as long as we can catch the pathogen in the air or dust and convert it to substances that are detectable with amplification techniques. One of the issues that animal producers are often concerned about is that sensitive tests detect pathogens that in reality do not exist: the issue of false-positive results. Professor Hoo- rfar: “But here we have shown that Norwegian flocks were completely negative in our sensitive test. Norway is known to have a very low prevalence of Campylobacter in chicken.” The lesson is that although the test is four times more sensitive, it still finds no Campylobacter where it should not. This is definitely a crucial point.
For every poultry house in the EU at least two pairs of socks need to be send to the laboratory.
PHOTO: DICK VAN DOORN
PHOTO: HANS PRINSEN
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