NAS reports on pathogens in poultry ....

NAS reports on pathogens in poultry . . .

Current federal inspection procedures for poultry focus onremoving diseased broiler chickens identified by sight, smell and touch on the basis of a bird-by-bird analysis. However, such organoleptic (human-sense based) inspections "are not designed to detect the most important human pathogens on poultry,' according to a recently released study by a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel. The study says that epidemiological data suggest that contaminated chicken not only accounts for roughly 48 percent of gastroenteric disease in the U.S. caused by Campylobacter jejuni bacteria, but also for many of the Salmonella bacterial poisonings. The two most common human pathogens detected in chicken, Salmonella and Campylobacter together infect up to one in 50 persons in the United States annually.

To attack the problem, the panel recommends: thatorganoleptic inspections be supplemented with detailed laboratory analysis of microbe contamination in some statistically sampled portion of those birds passing through the slaughterhouse; that pathogen levels in "market-ready poultry' be measured and compared against both incidence of human disease and changes in industrial pathogen-control strategies; and that educational campaigns be developed to teach consumers how to handle poultry so that any pathogens present need not lead to disease.

The NAS panel also found that toxic chemical contaminationof poultry poses a potential health risk. And like the pathogens, toxic chemicals are also largely undetectable under the current federal poultry inspection program. Although the NAS study concludes that adequate methods exist for identifying chemical contaminants and for controlling their entry, it states that "a comprehensive approach to the control of chemical residues [in poultry] is not now possible'--in part because acceptable human-tolerance levels for many chemicals do not yet exist.