Optimizing hatchery conditions throughout the year is crucial to limiting chick mortality and maintaining long-term bird viability, according to a poultry health expert.

Chris Williams, PhD, director, technical services devices for Zoetis, said seasonal temperature changes outside the hatchery affect temperatures and air pressure inside. 

Some direct-fed microbial additives with live cultures have been found to impact the efficacy of modified-live vaccines.

Sanderson Farms’ Phil Stayer, DVM, said the firm made the findings relatively recently as part of work to reduce Salmonella levels on poultry going into processing plants.

Using a range of testing methods for Salmonella Infantis can help broiler companies build a better picture of how effective interventions against the pathogen are performing. 

 With the USDA having lowered the acceptable baseline for Salmonella in plants, understanding the pathogen load of birds entering processing facilities is vital, said Chuck Hofacre, DVM, president of the Southern Poultry Research Group.

Limiting stress in broiler flocks is key to preventing birds from succumbing to an infectious respiratory disease which is showing a resurgence in some areas of the US, according to a poultry expert.

Tom Tabler, poultry extension officer at Mississippi State University, said coryza, a bacterial infection which causes illness similar to the common cold, is a problem mostly encountered in  backyard and commercial layer flocks.

Investing in vaccination programs to develop cross-protection against some of the most common strains of Salmonella could help limit the number of foodborne outbreaks of the pathogen, according to a poultry expert.

Charles Hofacre, DVM, PhD, president, Southern Poultry Research Group Inc., said increases in drug-resistant foodborne outbreaks of Salmonella highlighted the need for everyone in the broiler sector to work on reducing incidences of the pathogen.

And he said that vaccinating broilers and breeders could help limit multiple types of Salmonella seen in processing plants, which could in turn reduce food-safety issues.

A few essential adjustments in the way infectious bronchitis vaccines are handled and administered at the hatchery can improve vaccine efficacy, Brian Jordan, PhD, assistant professor, University of Georgia, told Poultry Health Today.

“Frozen vaccines that come out of liquid nitrogen have to have a little bit more care,” Jordan cautioned.

Mountaire Farms is the first animal protein company to carry the One Health Certified label, demonstrating its commitment to animal production standards established by the program.

Don Ritter, DVM, director of technical marketing for Mountaire Farms, said that to carry the One Health Certified label, his company had to be audited by USDA to verify its compliance with the program, which was officially launched in January 2020.

There are five pillars to the One Health Certified program: disease prevention, veterinary care, antibiotic use, animal welfare and environmental impact.

Greater flexibility is needed in official Salmonella and Campylobacter testing regimes in order to support poultry producers and processors who are trialing new interventions to tackle both pathogens.

Dr. Ashley Peterson, PhD, senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs, National Chicken Council, said the US poultry industry has made great progress in reducing Salmonella levels to well below the standards set by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

However, because methods for controlling Salmonella might not have similar success with Campylobacter, processors and producers need freedom to trial different interventions without facing punishment if those techniques are not as successful as they hoped.