Source: MEATINGPLACE, 4/29/16

The prevalence of salmonella in retail poultry reached its lowest level since testing began in 2002, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in its latest report that covers the time period from January 2014 through June 2015.

The prevalence of salmonella in retail chicken dropped to 9 percent in 2014 from 15 percent in 2008. In ground turkey, the prevalence of salmonella declined to 6 percent in 2014 from a high of 19 percent in 2008.

The FDA report measures antimicrobial resistance in salmonella isolated from raw retail meat and poultry collected through the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS).

Salmonella resistance to ceftriaxone, an important antibiotic used to treat seriously ill patients, from chicken sources continued to decline steadily from a high of 38 percent in retail chicken meats in 2009 to 18 percent in 2014 and 5 percent during the first half of 2015.

In ground turkey isolates, ceftriaxone resistance was detected in 7 percent of 2014 isolates and 4 percent of 2015 isolates collected through June, representing an 80 percent decline since 2011, when resistance peaked at 22 percent, FDA said.

The National Chicken Council said the data show that continued judicious use of antibiotics by poultry producers are helping reduce the pathogen and antibiotic resistance.

Most producers are well ahead of the December deadline to phase out medically important antibiotics for growth purposes, NCC noted.

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