FormaXOL™ Benefits Feed Safety
Salmonella is an important cause of food-borne disease in humans throughout the world and is a significant cause of morbidity, mortality and economic loss in animals.
Animals can become infected with Salmonella from contaminated feed, and from the environment.
Control of the Prevalence of Infection with Salmonella in Animal Populations
The presence of Salmonella in animal populations is considered a risk factor for the presence of Salmonella in meat and eggs.
The basis for successful control of Salmonella infections in animal farms are good farming and hygiene practices (including all the aspects covering feed, people, vehicles, cleaning and disinfection, control of rodents, vermin, lizards, insects, wild birds, bedding materials, water supply, equipment, etc.) as well as regular testing and treatment of positive flocks.
The challenge of maintaining the biosecurity barriers to Salmonella ingress into each farm is crucial. Once ingress has occurred, the potential for spread within the holding becomes highly likely.
The prevalence of Salmonella in animals will be significantly reduced by ensuring that breeder feed and also the breeders themselves are Salmonella-free. This will in turn result in a significant reduction of contaminated carcasses with a consequent reduction in the number of human salmonellosis cases attributable to meat consumption.
Interventions to maintain a low prevalence of Salmonella are critical.
FormaXOL™ treatment of animal population is regarded as an additional measure to decrease the shedding of Salmonella. FormaXOL™ has a beneficial effect on the balance of commensal intestinal organisms and is a cost-effective option in Salmonella control.
Farms
The farm environment can contaminate feed, water, and animals.
On farms, feeder systems and feed transport systems are difficult to clean because the interior of the pipes is not accessible for cleaning and disinfection. If high levels of Salmonella have been introduced in feed, or via contamination of in-house slave feed hoppers by dust or rodent faeces, a persistent contamination may occur within the pipes leading to infection in consecutive animal flocks.
Residual feed that accumulates in the corners of the trough or the hopper may become moist and low levels of Salmonella in the feed may then multiply.
The feeding system is frequently contaminated with rodents which are difficult to control in cage and manure pit systems.
Biosecurity programmes which deal with multiple threats should be implemented.
Environment
Major sources of Salmonella contamination in the environment are air, dust, equipment, condensation, wild birds and rodents.
Persistent environmental contamination has been shown to be a major factor in the infection of feed and animals.
Slaughter
The slaughter process has an impact on the risk of carcass contamination.
Salmonella may be transferred to carcasses during processing from certain sources. One source is an infection in the batch of animals being slaughtered.
Another source of contamination is between a positive batch of animals and subsequent carcasses from negative batches (cross-contamination).
Another category of contamination is caused by the establishment of resident populations of Salmonella in biofilms associated with the processing equipment, environment and recycled water supplies.
Effective slaughter hygiene procedures and other interventions should be in place, keeping in mind that Salmonella can grow in the slaughterhouse environment.
FormaXOL™
FormaXOL™ can be used in programmes associated with higher prevalence or high risk of Salmonella infection.
FormaXOL™ gradually reduces the percentage of positive flocks in order to reach an acceptable target level as advised by feed regulators. A preventive FormaXOL™ programme thereafter will maintain an acceptable target level.
The protective effect of FormaXOL™ is a very useful monitoring tool, such that:
- FormaXOL™ gradually reduces the percentage of flocks positive for Salmonella.
- FormaXOL™ has a preventive action to maintain a low Salmonella prevalence status
FormaXOL™ is a cost-effective solution to control Salmonella and other zoonotic pathogens in animal population, reducing significantly its prevalence in the feed and food chain and thus in food produced from animal origin. FormaXOL™ contributes to food safety.
