Control of Salmonella and Campylobacter in poultry production and processing through the application of novel technologies

The overall objectives of the project will be to develop, validate and verify the efficacy of disinfection technologies to control pathogens at the hatchery stage and terminal poultry processing step. The specific objectives will be: 1) Validate methods for pathogen recovery and measurement of quality metrics of shelled eggs and poultry. 2) Undertake a comparative study to assess the decontamination efficacy of gas plasma, AOP (advanced oxidation process) or vacuum-ozone to surface disinfection of shelled eggs without negatively affecting shelf-life or embryo development. 3) Develop carcass decontamination methods based on gas plasma, vacuum-ozone or AOP for treating carcasses without negatively affecting meat quality. 4) Verification trials on selected technologies under commercial conditions to confirm process efficacy. 5) Final reporting and recommendations