On meat chicken farms, a range of biosecurity measures are implemented to reduce the risk of introduction of foodborne pathogens ( see biosecurity), water supplies are treated to kill bacteria in the drinking water, and the timing of feed and water removal prior to harvesting is carefully managed to reduce the risk of contamination between farm and processing plant and during processing. Hygiene in the hatchery is critical to ensure that the possibility of contamination of day old chicks within the hatchery itself is minimised, and heat treatment of feed manufactured for meat chickens helps to reduce the risk of these bacteria being introduced to meat chickens through their food.

Handling of the raw chicken in the kitchen then becomes crucial to maintaining safety of the chicken meat.Įfforts to minimise these bacteria in the supply chain start right back at the breeding farms, where the industry concentrates on reducing the prevalence of these bacteria in breeding flocks to limit the possibility for their transmission from parent hens to their day old chicks via the eggshell of hatching eggs. They are also considered to be ‘commensals’ of chickens, which means that they are part of the normal microflora of the chicken gut, where they can live without affecting the chicken. However, some strains of Salmonella and Campylobacter can cause illness in humans.ĭelivering safe chicken meat products to Australian consumers is an imperative for the chicken industry and significant effort is put into minimising contamination of chicken meat with these bacteria. However, some bacteria can cause illness in humans if food is not handled correctly.īoth Salmonella and Campylobacter are bacteria that occur naturally on a range of foods, including meat, eggs and all other fresh food including salads, vegetables, fruit and nuts. Most of these bacteria are harmless or even an essential part of the production process such as in cheese.

All foods (with the exception of sterilised foods such as canned produce) contain bacteria.

Cooked absorbent pad under chicken