Description of 44 biosecurity errors while entering and exiting poultry barns based on video surveillance in Quebec, Canada

Abstract

The effectiveness of biosecurity measures depends largely on the consistency of their applications by all those involved in poultry production. Unfortunately, poor biosecurity compliance has been reported repeatedly in poultry, as well in all other major animal productions. As part of a larger study, we conducted an investigation on eight poultry farms in Quebec, Canada, to evaluate compliance of existing biosecurity measures using hidden cameras. The objectives were to evaluate and describe the application of biosecurity measures when entering and exiting poultry barns. A total of 44 different mistakes were observed from 883 visits done by 102 different individuals. On average, four errors were recorded per visit. The maximum number of errors made by one individual during one visit was 14. People observed over several visits made on average six different errors. Twenty-seven out of the 44 errors (61.4%) were related to area delimitation (clean versus contaminated), six to boots (13.6%), five to hand washing (11.4%), three to coveralls (6.8%) and three to logbooks (6.8%). The nature and frequency of errors suggest a lack of understanding of biosecurity principles. There is thus a need to improve biosecurity training by making educational material available to all poultry personnel demonstrating why and how to apply biosecurity measures.