The European Food Safety Authority was asked by the European Commission to update the report from the Task Force on Zoonoses Data Collection on proposed technical specifications for a coordinated monitoring programme on Salmonella and Campylobacter in broiler meat in the EU that was adopted on 16 October 2006. In this revision the possibility of using the result for assessing the implementation of the Community Salmonella criteria set for meat preparations from poultry meat and poultry carcasses is, in particular, addressed. The programme will also provide information for formulation of Community Salmonella criterion for fresh poultry meat.

The proposed technical specifications focus on sampling those categories of broiler meat, which enable the best characterisation of the health risk for consumers. According to the proposal, fresh broiler meat and meat preparations would be targeted at retail outlets serving the final consumer. A programme undertaken at retail will provide information on the exposure of consumers to Salmonella and Campylobacter via broiler meat. This information will compliment the results from the baseline survey in broiler meat in slaughterhouses that is carried out in 2008 in the European Union Member States.

A modelling and simulation approach is proposed to be used in the analyses of the results in order to assess the effectiveness of implementation of Community Salmonella criteria for broiler meats. A similar model may be used to inform the future setting of the details for Community Salmonella criterion for fresh poultry meat.

Standardised analytical methods where available or methods in the process of being standardised are proposed to be employed in the analyses of samples. Detection of Salmonella and enumeration to obtain quantitative information on Campylobacter and Salmonella in the broiler meats are proposed.

Further Reading

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Find out more information on Salmonella by clicking here.

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Find out more information on Campylobacter Infection by clicking here.