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Hot air pasteurisation was investigated in the RESCAPE project as innovative treatment for surface bacterial decontamination of table eggs. Possible side effects of the treatment on egg quality traits were also studied. Each egg was submitted simultaneously to two flows of hot air generated by two electric heathers (above the eggs) and one flow of air at room temperature (below the egg). The selected thermal cycle was characterised by two shots of hot air at 600°C for 8 sec, each shot, with a cooling interval of 32 sec between the two shots. The decontamination power of the selected thermal treatment was evaluated over one month on shell eggs experimentally inoculated with either Salmonella Enteritidis, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes and on shell eggs containing only the indigenous microflora. The S. Enteritidis load on treated eggs was lower than the positive control until day 21 with a mean of 1,3 log reduction. A similar log reduction of 1,2 log was observed on L. monocytogenes load of eggs immediately after the treatment. No statistically significant results were obtained comparing E. coli on treated and untreated eggs as well as indigenous microflora on treated and untreated eggs. No detrimental effects on quality traits immediately after the treatment as well as after 28 days of storage at 20°C were recorded.

Hot air pasteurisation was investigated in the EU funded project named RESCAPE as innovative treatment for surface bacterial decontamination of table eggs. Possible side effects of the treatment on egg quality traits were also studied. The decontamination power of hot air was evaluated over one month on shell eggs experimentally inoculated with Salmonella Enteritidis, Escherichia coli or Listeria monocytogenes. The S. Enteritidis and L. monocytogenes populations on the surface of treated eggs showed a significant reduction in comparison to untreated ones. No statistically significant results were obtained comparing E. coli loads on treated and untreated eggs. No detrimental effects on quality traits immediately after the treatment as well as after 28 days of storage at 20°C were recorded.

In order to improve the animal welfare, the Council Directive 1999/74/EC (defining minimum standards for the welfare of laying hens) will ban conventional cage systems since 2012, in favour of enriched cages or floor systems. As a consequence an increased risk of bacterial contamination of eggshell is expected (EFSA, 2005). This has lead the European Commission to issue a specific project (RESCAPE Food CT 2006-036018) with the aim to search for efficient techniques to reduce eggshell contamination by bacterial pathogens, and thus to prevent any potential or additional food safety risk for Human health. In the present study an eggshell hot air pasteurisation process was set up and its decontamination power was evaluated on the shell of table eggs, experimentally infected with S. Enteritidis, E. coli and L. monocytogenes. To initially search for the best thermal cycle a simplified finite element model, describing the thermal interaction between the air and egg, was developed. The numerical model, that was validated using an egg simulant equipped with thermocouples, permitted to quickly evaluate an high number of testing conditions. Particularly it was solved in transient conditions, as a virtual bench, sampling the parameters space: air temperature; air speed; duration of the treatment; revolving speed of the egg; rest interval between successive treatments. Subsequently a specific apparatus composed by two hot air generators, one cold air generator and rolling cylinder support, was built to physically condition the eggs. The best thermal cycle, selected for the microbiological tests, was characterized by two shots of hot air at 600°C for 8 sec, spaced by a cooling interval of 32 s. The bacterial load of inoculated and not inoculated eggs was investigated at days 0, 1, 2, 3, 8, 10, 15, 21, 24 and 28 post infection. No significant results were obtained comparing E. coli on treated and not treated eggs. On the contrary a mean reduction of 90% of bacterial population was observed on other pathogens. Furthermore no detrimental effects on quality traits of treated eggs were recorded. These results support the hot air pasteurisation technique for the surface decontamination of table eggs as an effective industrial process.

The main aim of this study was to evaluate the genetic diversity between and within Campylobacter spp. and Clostridium perfringens broiler isolates collected in three different EU countries. A total of 190 Campylobacters (i.e. 63 C. coli and 127 C. jejuni) from the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy and 94 Clostridium perfringens from the Czech Republic and Italy were automatically ribotyped by HaeIII and EcoRI, respectively. Overall, 97 different ribotypes were identified for Campylobacter and 45 for Clostridium perfringens. In particular, 38 Campylobacter ribotypes were shared between isolates and 59 were associated to single strains. Furthermore, 14 Clostridium perfringens profiles were shared between isolates and 31 were associated to single strains. Finally, 6 and 3 Campylobacter and Clostridium perfringens ribotypes, respectively, were associated to strains collected from broilers reared in different countries. This study was supported by project FOOD-CT-200X-007076 (www.poultryflorgut.org)

The aim of this surveillance, performed along the whole laying hen cycle, has been to compare the bacterial contamination of 302 environment and egg samples collected in 2 conventional cage systems (N=186) and in 3 organic farms (N=116) in Italy. Total counts of aerobic bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae, as well as presence of Salmonella, with particular focus on the serotype Enteritidis, have been investigated on environmental swabs and dusts as well as on eggshells and on edible part of egg sampled at the hen age of 24, 48 and 72 weeks. The data were analysed by ANOVA using the GLM procedure of SAS (1989). The rate of Salmonella positive samples observed among environmental swabs and dusts, faeces, eggshells and edible part of eggs collected in conventional cage and organic systems did not show any statistically significative difference. The samples more frequently contaminated by Salmonella have been environmental dusts in both organic and conventional houses (i.e. 11.1 and 6.6%) as well as on faeces (i.e. 9.5 and 8%). Eggs with Salmonella positive eggshells were collected only within organic production units whereas their edible parts were Salmonella negative. This result demonstrated the inhibitory efficacy of antimicrobial enzymatic systems of the inner egg able to reduce the aerobic bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae which were always lower than the detection limits, corresponding to 10 and 1 colony forming unit (CFU) per g, respectively. Overall, total aerobic counts on both environmental samples and eggshells did not show a statistically significant increase over time. In fact, they ranged between 4.82 and 5.18 Log10 CFU/g and between 4.65 and 4.75 Log10 CFU/g within organic and conventional cage houses, respectively. The same trend has been observed for the Enterobacteriaceae total counts, ranging between 1.83 and 1.92 Log10 CFU/g and between 2.16 and 2.43 Log10 CFU/g within organic and conventional cage houses, respectively. These values justify the low rate of Salmonella contamination and agree with those described in literature. The total aerobic counts on environmental dusts sampled within organic and conventional cage houses did not show any statistical differences, whereas the Enterobacteriaceae count on environmental dusts sampled within organic units has been statistically lower than that observed in conventional cage houses (i.e. 3.45 vs 5.19 Log10 CFU/g). On the contrary, the total aerobic and Enterobacteriaceae counts on eggshells of eggs collected within organic and conventional cage houses did not show any statistical difference. In conclusion, from an environmental point of view, the overall microbial contamination is lower in the organic system, whereas the rate of Salmonella resulted higher in the eggshells of organic eggs. This result may be attributable to a higher incidence of dirty eggs, mainly contaminated with faeces, therefore improvements in hygienic management procedures might increase the egg safety.

There is no data in literature regarding Helicobacter pullorum occurrence in Turkey, therefore from September to December 2006, caecal contents from 55 animals coming from 11 different intensive farms (5.samples/farm) were collected at the slaughterhouse. Gramnegative curved rod bacteria, isolated by a modified Steele-McDermott membrane filter method, were identified as H. pullorum using two different Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assays based on 16S rRNA and on gyrA gene. One isolate from each farm was randomly selected and subjected to phenotypic characterisation by biochemical methods and 1D SDS-PAGE analysis of whole cell proteins, and to Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) for seven different antibiotics by agar dilution method. According to the PCRs results, 42 (76.4%) out of 55 animals examined were positive for H. pullorum and 100% of farms resulted infected. The 1D SDS-PAGE whole protein profile analysis showed a high similarity among 11 isolates tested and the type strain of H. pullorum. A monomodal distribution for the MIC values was found for ampicillin (2–32 lg/ml), chloramphenicol (4–32 lg/ml), gentamicin (0.25–0.5 lg/ml) and nalidixic acid (8–128 lg/ml), while a bimodal trend was observed for erythromycin (MICs range 2–8 lg/ml and ‡ 256 lg/ml), ciprofloxacin (0.25–0.5 lg/ml and 16–128 lg/ml) and tetracycline (1–4 lg/ml and 128 ‡ 256 lg/ml) indicating a probable acquired resistance. This is the first report of isolation and characterisation of H. pullorum from Turkey. The occurrence and antibiotic susceptibility of H. pullorum observed in turkeys resulted similar to previous descriptions of this microorganism in broiler chickens and laying hens in Italy. The detection of a high number of colonies phenotypically similar to H. pullorum , in the first isolation plates, suggests that this micro-organism, when present, colonizes the caecum of Turkey at a high concentration.

Salmonella is one of the major causes of food borne illnesses in humans. According to the Commission’s report on zoonoses (EFSA, 2005) Salmonellosis represent the second most frequent zoonosis with 176,395 reported human cases Amongst foodstuffs, Salmonella was most often reported from fresh poultry and pig meat where proportions of positive samples up to 18% were detected. In table eggs, findings of positive samples ranged from 0% to 6%, but over the past 5 years an overall decreasing trend in occurrence of Salmonella in eggs was observed. In animal populations, Salmonella was most frequently detected in poultry flocks. In general poultry farms and food related are an important source of human Salmonella infections. Therefore recent European Community legislation foresaw Salmonella reduction for animal population including breeding, laying hens, broiler and turkey flocks. This paper will evaluate the foodborne salmonella prevalence in human in relation to the main foods contaminated by this pathogen. In accordance with the Community legislation on zoonoses aiming at reducing the incidence of food-borne diseases in the European Union (Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003), a European Union-wide baseline survey was carried out to determine the prevalence of Salmonella in breeding flocks of Gallus gallus, laying hens and broilers. The results, recently published by EFSA will be presented in relation to different countries and different type of farms. Moreover national control programmes submitted to the European Commission for its approval, in order to reduce the salmonella dissemination in animal population, will be presented. Measures to reduce Salmonella prevalence in live animals is believed to be one of the most effective ways of reducing the contamination of foodstuffs and the number of human salmonellosis cases. For this reason the direct and indirect prophylaxis measures that can be adopted in poultry farms will be discussed as well as the research studies more promising in order to decrease or eliminate the salmonella contamination in eggs and poultry meat.

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the possibility to use automated EcoRI ribotyping to address, during the same analysis, both identification and genetic characterisation of 38 Staphylococcus aureus and 64 coagulase-negative staphylococci collected from surgical injuries. The ribotyping identification results confirmed those obtained using the API Staph system for 96% of the isolates. All strains were successfully genotyped and the ribotyping discriminatory power, calculated using the Simpson's index of discrimination, was very high for both groups of staphylococci tested. The same, as well as different biotypes, were identified among isolates with the identical ribotyping profile.

A research was conducted to determine the incidence of Deep Pectoral Myopathy (DPM) in broiler chickens reared under intensive conditions. The study was carried out in a major Italian processing plant on a total of 128,300 broilers from 164 different flocks during a 6 months period. The evaluation of DPM was performed on P. minor muscles and consisted in a visual assessment of the presence/absence of the myopathy as well as the determination of muscle damage level as being in an “early” (hemorrhagic appearance) or “old” (grey/green discoloration) developing stage. The overall incidence of the myopathy was found to be 0.80% (0.58 and 0.22% in early and old stages, respectively). Moreover, a higher incidence of the myopathy was found in Ross 508 genotype when compared with Cobb 500 (1.20 vs. 0.34%, P