New Technique Promises Bacteria Reduction In Chicken

WASHINGTON (March 19, 1998 01:18 a.m. EST http://www.nando.net) -- A new technique that grows harmless bacteria inside chickens holds promise that hazardous microbes like salmonella could be reduced or even eliminated in the birds, researchers say.

John DeLoach, who led development of the technique at the Agriculture Department and is now a top officer of the company licensed to market it, said the process "will reduce the risk of foodborne illness from salmonella from poultry."

The Food and Drug Administration last week quietly approved use of Preempt -- as the product from MS Biosiences Inc. is known -- and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman planned to announce the breakthrough in a speech Thursday.

Salmonella, one of the leading causes of foodborne illnesses and a particular problem in poultry, is carried primarily in an animal's digestive track and is transmitted through feces. It and other pathogens cause some 9,000 deaths from food poisoning every year in the United States, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control.

Processing plants use chlorine sprays and chilly temperatures to control the bacteria, but it frequently survives these efforts and winds up in the poultry grocery case. Consumers must cook chicken at reasonably high temperatures to be absolutely certain of safety.

Preempt is a culture of 29 other harmless bacteria isolated by researchers that can prevent salmonella from taking route inside a chicken. The FDA trials reduced salmonella contamination to zero.

"It just can't live. It can't survive and it dies out," DeLoach said in an interview Wednesday.

The technique involves spraying newly hatched chickens with a solution containing the 29 "good" bacteria. The chicks will peck at their wet feathers and ingest the solution that way. The culture then grows inside the chicken and shuts out other microbes.

Although the FDA approval is only for control of salmonella in chicken, DeLoach said tests have indicated success against other illness-causing bacteria such as campylobacter and listeria.

Farmers who use Preempt must take care not to feed their birds preventative antibiotics -- a majority of growers do today -- because they could kill the "good" microbes. The poultry industry wants to move away from antibiotics anyway because harmful bacteria are developing resistance to them.

By CURT ANDERSON, AP Farm Writer