Fecal Contamination of Broiler carcasses

A "workshop" was held at the Poultry Industry Council to look into the above problem. The following is a short summary of points discussed and some of the recommendations re: bird handling and feed withdrawal prior to crating.

It has been well documented that feed passage through the digestive tract slows down and virtually ceases when birds are stressed by crating. Hence, broilers should be taken off feed long enough before crating in order to allow complete emptying of the gut.

There are a number of factors that can alter normal rate of food passage in the bird. It is important that producers consider all, not just a few, of these factors. Feed will usually take 2 to 3 hours to move through the digestive tract of a bird.

However, one must remember that the bird has a crop which acts as a "storage tank" and depending on how full this "storage tank" is, the longer it takes for consumed feed to completely clear the digestive tract.

At the workshop, it was mentioned that there were occasions where birds had been off feed for up to 6 hours prior to crating and there were still feed residues in the intestinal tract. This could be the result of birds being "meal fed". It has been reported that whereas birds fed on a continuous basis will clear feed from their digestive tract in several hours, birds fed 2 to 3 times a day still had feed residues in their gut after 6 hours. It would appear that birds fed continuously will govern rate of feed consumption with rate of gut clearance. However, anything that encourages birds to "meal eat" will alter normal digestive tract physiology with the result that emptying of the gut can be markedly delayed.

Another factor influencing the emptying of the digestive tract is time of feeding relative to "lights out" or settling down of the birds. After lights are turned off, birds will retain feed residues in the lower portion of their digestive tract and this is usually defecated shortly after lights are turned on in the morning. Hence, time of feeding, quantity of feed consumed and lighting program are 3 important factors to consider in a management program designed to reduce fecal contamination at the processing plant. Anything that encourages birds to consume feed in "meals" rather than on a continuous basis should be minimized.

Some factors that may result in meal feeding include:

All of the above factors must be taken into account when designing a feed withdrawal program. The workshop, which included growers, processors and inspectors, also identified that there is very poor communication between the processor and grower. Growers felt that feedback from processors is inconsistent and little or no follow-up as the norm. Processors felt that follow-up is usually inconclusive because producer records generally were not adequate to investigate a problem for a flock already marketed. Little incentive exists for growers to concentrate on decreasing fecal contamination since the losses due to contamination are absorbed by the processor. It is therefore in the processors' best interest to work with growers and provide suggestions and factual information on ways to alleviate the problem.

Fecal contamination affects product quality and should be looked on as an industry problem. All segments of the industry should work together to solve it.

The following should be considered when implementing a feed withdrawal program.