Nutritional strategies to combat Salmonella in mono-gastric food animal production

Nutritional strategies to minimize Salmonella in food animal production are one of the key components in producing safer food. The current European approach is to use a farm-to-fork strategy, where each sector must implement measures to minimize and reduce Salmonella contamination. In the pre-harvest phase, this means that all available tools need to be used such as implementation of biosecurity measures, control of Salmonella infections in animals at the farm as well as in transport and trade, optimal housing and management including cleaning, disinfection procedures as well as efforts to achieve Salmonella-free feed production. This paper describes some nutritional strategies that could be used in farm control programmes in the major mono-gastric food production animals: poultry and pigs. Initially, it is important to prevent the introduction of Salmonella onto the farm through Salmonella-contaminated feed and this risk is reduced through heat treatment and the use of organic acids and their salts and formaldehyde. Microbiological sampling and monitoring for Salmonella in the feed mills is required to minimize the introduction of Salmonella via feed onto the farm. In addition, feed withdrawal may create a stressful situation in animals, resulting in an increase in Salmonella shedding. Physical feed characteristics such as coarse-ground meal to pigs can delay gastric emptying, thereby increasing the acidity of the gut and thus reducing the possible prevalence of Salmonella. Coarse-ground grains and access to litter have also been shown to decrease Salmonella shedding in poultry. The feed can also modify the gastro-intestinal tract microflora and influence the immune system, which can minimize Salmonella colonization and shedding. Feed additives, such as organic acids, short- and medium-chain fatty acids, probiotics, including competitive exclusion cultures, prebiotics and certain specific carbohydrates, such as mannan-based compounds, egg proteins, essential oils and bacteriophages, have the potential to reduce Salmonella levels when added to the feed. These nutritional strategies could be evaluated and used in farm control programmes.