Agriculture Business Week

Have you been wanting to start your own duck business? Here’s a no-nonsense guide to jumpstart your way to success.

Samonellosis is a bacterial disease affecting ducklings. This is caused by Salmonella anatum and S. typhimurium. This disease is characterized by diarrhea and dehydration, ruffled feathers, dry sunken eyes, leg swelling and sudden collapse. Salmonellosis is transmitted through direct contact and ingestion of contaminated feed and water.

Salmonellosis may be prevented by strict sanitation practices, thorough and frequent cleaning and disinfection of feeders and waterers, and maintaining litter and ground to be clean and dry.

(more…)

Researchers from Ireland found that treatment with probiotic bacteria reduced Salmonella infection in pigs and may have potential human applications. They report their findings in the March 2007 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Salmonella spp. is one of the major causes of food-borne gastroenteritis worldwide, with an estimated 160,000 cases reported annually in the European Union alone.

Probiotics, described as live microorganisms believed to promote a health benefit in the host when administered in controlled amounts, have emerged in recent years as an alternative method to counteract bacterial infections. Previous studies have focused largely on the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) group and many have shown beneficial effects in small animal models challenged with gastrointestinal infection.

(more…)

WHAT TYPES OF FOOD ARE MOST LIKELY TO SPREAD SALMONELLA?
Salmonella germs are common in uncooked food products from animals, such as eggs, egg products, meat, meat products, poultry, unpasteurized milk and unpasteurized dairy products. This is because thorough cooking and processing kill the germ. Salmonella can be in any type of food if Salmonella germs get on the food. For example, a food handler with salmonella may get germs on the food if his or her hands are not washed thoroughly before preparing food.

In July 2008, U.S. officials-after focusing on tomatoes as a possible source of contamination-traced a Salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 1,300 people to a batch of Serrano peppers shipped from a Mexican farm.

(more…)

The Department of Health(DoH) and the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD), according to a Manila Bulletin news report, recently served a suspension order on Samuya Food Manufacturing Inc. following the results of a laboratory examination that showed its peanut butter products Yummy Sweet and Creamy Peanut Spread and Ludy s Sweet and Creamy Peanut Butter were contaminated with Salmonella.

The suspension order dated March 20, 2009 was served personally by health officials led by DoH Secretary Francisco T. Duque III in an impromptu visit to the Samuya manufacturing plant in Hidalgo Village, Pasay City. The DoH order also faulted the company for failure to comply with Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMPs) set by the BFAD for food manufacturers.

“It is hereby declared that all your food products manufactured are imminently injurious, unsafe or dangerous. Thus, pursuant to article 10 of Republic Act No. 7394 or the Consumer Act of the Philippines, -you are hereby directed to immediately recall or cease from public sale or distribution all your food products manufactured by your establishment at the above address. Further, on the strength of section 16 of Republic Act no. 3720, as amended, your license to operate as food manufacturer is immediately suspended and as such you are ordered to submit to BFAD, for its appropriate action, the original copy of your license to operate from receipt of this order,” the DoH order said.

(more…)

Salmonellae are widely distributed in our fond chain and environment. The bacteria can be found in raw meats, poultry, eggs, impasteurized milk, and daily products. People may also become exposed to Salmonella bacteria through contact with animals such as, pet chicks, dogs, cats, and reptiles.

Salmonella is a genus of rod-shaped Gram-negative Enterobacteria that causes typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, and the foodborne illness salmonellosis. Most Salmonella species are motile and produce hydrogen sulfide. There are approximately 40,000 cases of Salmonella infection reported in the United States each year.

DISCOVERER
The genus Salmonella was named after Daniel Elmer Salmon, an American veterinary pathologist. While Theobald Smith was the actual discoverer of the bacteria that causes hog cholera (Salmonella enterica var. Choleraesuis), Salmon was the administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture research program so the organism was named after him.

(more…)