Abstract
While most of the focus on poultry microbiome research has been directed toward conventional poultry production, there is increasing interest in characterizing microbial populations originating from alternative or non-conventional poultry production. This is in part due to the growing general popularity in locally produced foods and more specifically the attractiveness of free-range or pasture raised poultry. Most of the focus of microbiome characterization in pasture flock birds has been on live bird production, primarily on the gastrointestinal tract. Interest in environmental impacts on production responses and management strategies have been key factors for comparative microbiome studies. This has important ramifications since these birds are not only raised under different conditions, but the grower cycle can be longer and in some cases slower growing breeds used. The impact of different feed additives is also of interest with some microbiome-based studies having examined the effect of feeding these additives to birds grown under pasture flock conditions. In the future, microbiome research approaches offer unique opportunities to develop better live bird management strategies and design optimal feed additive approaches for pasture flock poultry production systems.
Highlights
Pasture flock or free-range raised poultry continues to be a popular market option for retail poultry products for a variety of reasons including the attractiveness of being locally produced and sold for retail [1,2,3,4]
Foodborne pathogens that have been associated with freerange birds either in preharvest production or from retail birds include Campylobacter, Listeria, and Salmonella [12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]
The objective of this review is to examine and discuss the use of these approaches for gaining a better understanding of the microbial populations in pasture or free-range poultry production
Summary
Pasture flock or free-range raised poultry continues to be a popular market option for retail poultry products for a variety of reasons including the attractiveness of being locally produced and sold for retail [1,2,3,4]. As the production of naturally-raised poultry either as pasture flock or free-range grown chickens increases, consideration of factors such as environmental impact and food safety concerns have to be taken into account [4,5,6] This impact may include changes in nitrogen and phosphorus levels as well as antimicrobial runoff and pathogen contamination [6, 7]. Small poultry producer operations both in the U.S and internationally are highly diverse in management styles and present challenges for making uniform recommendations [8, 9] Given this diverse range of management approaches, food safety problems can be somewhat unpredictable, and coupled with the more restrictive nature of mitigation options, present a challenge for restricting the prevalence of foodborne pathogens [7, 10]. This combined with favorable public opinion regarding free-range livestock production, represents a dilemma for food safety risk management [11]
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.