Food safety

Ensuring the food safety of Australian chicken meat is a core priority of the AgriFutures Chicken Meat Program. Pathogens, such as Salmonella and Campylobacter, can cause food-borne disease in humans. The proper handling of chicken meat products along the supply chain and the education of consumers regarding the safe handling and preparation of chicken meat products is therefore important to ensure food safety.

The Australian Chicken Meat Federation website contains food safety instructions and consumer resources for buying, storing, and preparing chicken meat products. For example, consumers should store fresh chicken meat below 5°C and separately from cooked foods to prevent cross contamination. During preparation, chicken meat should not be washed, different utensils should be used for preparing other foods and all parts of the chicken meat should reach 75°C when cooking.

Current methods to reduce the incidence of food pathogens on poultry farms rely on excellent hygiene standards. At the processing plant, careful removal of innards and sanitation along the processing line removes bacteria from the carcase and reduces the likelihood of contamination. For detailed information, see the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code for the Primary Production and Processing Standard for Poultry Meat.

Research

Research is important for developing and improving the safe production and handling of chicken meat products in Australia. Recent and current food safety research projects funded by the AgriFutures Australia Chicken Meat Program include:

• Current and potential food safety interventions for meat chicken production
• Guidelines for decontaminating a poultry shed
• Sanitisers for commercial use in chicken meat production
• Evaluating sanitisers for widespread use in the Australian chicken meat industry
• Rapid detection & quantitation of Campylobacter jejuni/coli in processing
• Current and potential food safety interventions for meat chicken production
• Review and efficacy of antimicrobial nanomaterials for chicken meat processing
• Managing Salmonella Enteritidis in the Australian Chicken Meat Industry
• Evaluation of bioprotective bacteria to reduce Campylobacter on raw chicken meat at the end of primary processing
• Study of dominant Salmonella serovars in chicken meat industry and their role

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This website is administered on behalf of the AgriFutures Chicken Meat Program.

For more information about the AgriFutures Chicken Meat Program, click here.