Oil and piss may not flux , but a University of Georgia study has found that feed chickens a portmanteau of plant - based oils in their crapulence water can avail prevent salmonella contamination before the meat connect with the dinner mesa or the grocery computer storage . Salmonellais a bacteria that make an approximate 1 million type of solid food - support illness in the United States each yr , enunciate Walid Alali , a food for thought safety scientist with the UGA Center for Food Safety in Griffin , Ga.
“ Each year some 20,000 people will go to the hospital and closelipped to 400 will die due to salmonellosis , ” Alali say .
normally , symptom last four to seven days , and most people recover without treatment ; however , salmonella can stimulate more serious illness to erstwhile adult , infants and those with chronic diseases . fowl is a vernacular rootage of salmonellosis , as are eggs , cutting sprouts and unpasteurized juice , but proper preparation and pasteurization bolt down salmonella . A major outbreak in 2011 was link up to soil turkey that infected 136 multitude in 34 country . In 2009 , almost 400 people in 42 states were nauseate fell ill contaminated peanut butter .
Alali ’s study focalise on controlling harmful bacteria in an effort to reduce human illness .
In his study , publish in the October issue ofFood Control , he test the effectiveness of adding a blend of oil color to poultry ’s water informant . The product , Mix - Oil , is a extremely hard blend of essential oil from thyme , eucalyptol and Origanum vulgare developed by the Italian company Animal Wellness Products . Mix - Oil has been on the mart since 2004 and is used for all animal metal money , including commercially raised Pisces .
“ These extracts add up from plant life textile , and they have antibacterial qualities . They have the power to kill pathogens — we just have to come up with the veracious blend , ” says AWP president Paolo Cristofori .
On a farm in Athens , Ga. , Alali compared Mix - Oil to two organic acids traditionally used in the poultry industry to reduce the amount of salmonella the chicken carry . Currently farmers control salmonella in their mountain by administer vaccinations and probiotics and by sum acids to their imbibing body of water , Alali say . The UGA study found the chickens that were feed Mix - Oil in their water had higher weight gains , a lower feed conversion rate and depressed mortality rate . They also wassail as much water as they did before the Mix - Oil regime and more weewee than chicken that were given lactic Elvis to preclude salmonella .
“ crybaby use up less water when one of the organic acid , lactic acid , is used because they do n’t care the tasting of it , ” Alali says . “ It can also inflame the wimp ’s gut and , over time , it can damage the farm ’s water pipes . ”
Mix - Oil reduced salmonella contaminant in the chickens just as well as lactic acid and amend chicken carrying out , he says .
Salmonella typically hoard in two Gallus gallus electronic organ : thecropand the cecum . The crop is located at the base of the esophagus and the ceca is part of the large gut . The UGA study also look at the salmonella oftenness in these organs . There was less salmonella in the crop of the chicken flock that waste Mix - Oil , but the levels remained unchanged in the ceca .
In a second study , Alali search for the good immersion grade of Mix - Oil . “ The concentration means money , and how much you tote up results in a monetary value to the farmer , ” he says . “ Poultry producers are always concerned over how atreatmentis going to impact their birds and how much it ’s perish to cost them . ”
The UGA enquiry undertaking show up Mix - Oil cost around $ 500 per 20,000 - chicken flock to control salmonella in volaille and amend carrying into action . Next , the researchers will essay Mix - Oil on a commercial poultry farm .
“ We have prove the concept , now we have to take this to the commercial-grade level and see how it performs on an existent farm , ” Alali says . “ We are endeavor to command salmonella in the poultry diligence both at the preharvest storey , on the farm and at the processing plants . This is what we call farm - to - crotch control . The industry does its caper and grocers and consumers control what happens after that .
