Bill Potter, Ph.D.
Dr. Bill Potter received Ph.D. & MS degrees in Poultry Science from the University of Arkansas, and a BS in Animal Science with an MBA from Texas A&M. His areas of expertise include food safety, quality, & pathogen intervention technologies.
The Evolution of Food Safety in Egg Production
Over the years the egg industry has transformed from many small egg production farms to farms that are much larger, with modernized layer hen facilities designed for streamlined egg collection, processing and packaging. As the industry consolidated and farms got larger, production risks grew as well. In response, the industry began to put into place additional controls to support bird health, disease prevention and food safety.
As farms were increasing in size, consumers and regulators were looking to egg producers to reduce food safety risks in raw shell eggs and processed egg products. In 2010, the FDA’s Final Rule on Egg Safety went into effect. The Egg Safety Rule was written to address prevention, monitoring and testing of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) through on-farm practices including biosecurity, house cleaning and disinfection, fly and rodent control, environmental sampling, egg refrigeration and an SE testing program based on environmental samples.
After its rollout, the FDA Egg Safety Rule pushed the egg industry to evaluate farm and agricultural practices as well as what changes could be made to have a positive and direct impact on food safety. As a result, in the layer industry more producers begin to adopt and implement vaccination programs to prevent Salmonella in egg production.
Future of food safety and eggs
A decade after the FDA’s Egg Safety Rule, consumer demands for safe and healthy products continues to have an impact on egg production in the U.S. Here are some forward-looking projections on how the increased attention to food safety could impact egg producers and the food industry as a whole.
- Increased involvement by the FDA. Even though the FDA’s Final Egg Rule went into effect in 2010, egg producers can continue to expect a higher level of involvement from the FDA, including an increase in surveillance visits. This will require egg producers to be even more vigilant in their biosecurity, house cleaning and disinfection, fly and rodent control, SE testing, and recordkeeping.
- Egg retailers will advocate for validated processes. Within the meat and poultry industry, retailers are increasing the demand for the validation of food safety processes, and this will be no different for many egg retailers. Retailers are expected to be looking for validation processes that would be compliant with either a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) audit approach, adherence to a customer standard, or compliance with a government verified audit process through FDA or the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service.
- Increased adoption of rapid testing and genome sequencing. When using a traditional method of testing for Salmonella, it can take at least three to five days before a producer receives the preliminary results. Confirmation testing and serotype analysis takes even longer. With the increased emphasis on food safety within egg production, many producers will begin to utilize rapid test technology to manage their risk more quickly and efficiently. Some rapid screening methods can produce results within 48 hours or less. In addition, whole genome sequencing (WGS) of bacterial strains found in products may increase in the future, as this technology is being adopted by federal agencies to determine the DNA fingerprint of bacterial strains.
- Advancements in product traceability. One of the next steps in food safety that will have an impact on egg producers — and the whole food chain — is the advancement in product traceability systems. Many of the larger retailers have already adopted Global Standards One (GS1) systems to automate tracing through bar codes. There is a movement toward utilizing “blockchain” computer technologies to track food supply chains in real-time, for almost instantaneous lot identity over web portals. This is especially beneficial in expediting recalls during a food safety crisis with designated product lots. There are already advancements on the horizon that will allow for faster methods of traceability of food products back to the farm. Distributors are working to track food in real time so that interested consumers can receive information about the journey their food took to go from the farm gate to the dinner plate.
- Continued use and adoption of Salmonella vaccines. Salmonella vaccines play an important role in helping the layer industry meet food safety requirements. Use of Salmonella vaccines is not currently mandated under the FDA’s Final Egg Rule. However, because these vaccines have proven so effective, a significant number of producers in the layer industry are either currently using or considering the adoption of a Salmonella vaccination program. The opportunity for animal health companies is to continue to provide vaccines that are effective and utilize the latest technology. It will also be important for companies to continue being poised to offer an autogenous vaccine in preparation for when a producer encounters a unique Salmonella strain that can’t be treated using a traditional vaccine regimen.
- Increased use of feed additives for food safety and nutritional health. The layer industry utilizes mature hens to produce eggs for many weeks, so maintaining the overall bird health, gut integrity and disease immunity is critical to optimal egg production and food safety. The layer industry has found that some feed additives can have certain benefits, such as reduced food safety pathogens, improved bird health and/or improved egg production efficiency.
Learn more about future trends in food safety and Elanco’s approach to Salmonella control.
Katrina Morgan
Katrina is a licensed veterinary technician and earned her bachelor’s degree in business from Thomas College. She has more than 15 years of animal health experience and has worked in the vaccine industry for 15 years with a specialization in autogenous vaccines for the last 6.
Tags
Salmonella
Salmonella vaccine for poultry
Salmonella infections
Egg safety
Food safety and eggs
Egg industry
